Etymologically
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Hilfe

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Pronunciation

Forms

Hilfe f (genitive Hilfe, plural Hilfen)[1] Luther's Central German form Hülfe prevailed from the 16th century until Adelung and Campe.[2][3] Hilfe became binding with the 9th edition of the Duden in 1915.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German hilfe (also helfe), inherited from Old High German hilfa (also helfa), inherited from Proto-Germanic *helpō (“help”), an action noun from the strong verb helfen.[4][5][6] The older form, with /e/, is the same word as Old Saxon helpa, Old Frisian helpe, Old English help and Old Norse hjǫlp.[4][6] The form with /i/, recorded from the 9th century, took its vowel from the present forms of the verb, such as the third person singular.[4][1] A third form with /u/, Old Dutch hulpa and hülfe, is continued in Dutch hulp.[6][7]

The verb is Proto-Germanic *helpaną, also in Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐍀𐌰𐌽 (hilpan), Old English helpan and Old Norse hjalpa.[8] It has no exact match outside Germanic: Kluge considers Lithuanian šel̃pti (“to support, help”) and a link with Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide, protect”), the root of hehlen.[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German helfa is recorded from the 8th century in the Abrogans and other glosses, and then in the Benedictine Rule, the Murbach Hymns, Otfrid and Notker.[5][6][9] It meant “help, assistance, support, protection”, also “reinforcements”, and appears in phrases such as zi helfo queman “to come to someone's aid”.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the word could also mean a levy or tax, a compensation, and a helper.[10][11] The use for a helping person survives in compounds such as Aushilfe and Sprechstundenhilfe, while the helper is otherwise Helfer or Gehilfe.[7][12]

Paul records jemandem zu Hilfe kommen from Stieler and the cry zu Hilfe! from The Magic Flute,[2] and erste Hilfe is first aid at an accident.[2] Hilfsmittel is recorded in 1581, and Hilfsleistung in the 16th century;[2][6] the grammatical term Hilfszeitwort was preferred by Campe in 1808 where Adelung had written Hülfswort, and is now usually Hilfsverb.[2] An Upper Silesian Polish hilfka names a school for children with learning difficulties.[13]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German helfa appears in the glosses.[4][14]
  • 9th century – The form hilfa is recorded.[4][6]
  • 16th century – Luther spreads the form Hülfe.[6][3]
  • 1581 – Hilfsmittel is recorded.[2]
  • 1808 – Campe prefers Hilfszeitwort to Hülfswort.[2]
  • 1915 – The Duden makes Hilfe the only correct spelling.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. help, assistance: acting to support someone;[15][1] mit Hilfe der Nachbarn, um Hilfe rufen.[15][1]
  2. Financial aid, support in money.[15][16]
  3. (riding, usually plural) The rider's aids: signals given to the horse by leg pressure, weight and reins.[15][16]
  4. A helping means or device; a helper, assistant: sie ist mir eine große Hilfe in der Küche.[15][1][16]
  5. (computing) The help function of a program.[16]

Word family

  • Gehilfe
  • hilflos
  • Hilflosigkeit
  • hilfreich
  • Hilfeleistung
  • Abhilfe
  • Aushilfe
  • Beihilfe
  • Nachhilfe
  • Selbsthilfe
  • Mithilfe
  • Hilferuf
  • Hilfsmittel
  • Hilfsverb
  • Entwicklungshilfe
  • Sterbehilfe

Usage notes

Erste Hilfe is the first aid given by a layperson at an accident, before medical treatment.[15] Mit Hilfe is also written as one word, mithilfe.[15][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1323
  4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 416
  5. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 930
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  7. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 370
  8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 409
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 147
  10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1229
  11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  12. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  13. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  16. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org