Etymologically
Log in

Idee

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 18:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /iˈdeː/, [ʔiˈdeː], [ʔɪˈdeː][1]

Forms

Idee f (genitive Idee, plural Ideen, diminutive Idechen n or Idelein n)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin idea (“idea, archetype”), used in German in its Latin form from the early 16th century; the present form arose in the 17th century under the influence of French idée.[2][3][4] The source is Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéa, “appearance, form, kind”), a verbal noun of ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see, perceive”), originally the aorist of εἰδέναι (eidénai, “to know”).[3][4] The Greek verb is related to wissen and to videō (“to see”).[4][5]

In Plato the Greek word meant the unchanging archetype of things, and with his philosophy it entered the languages of Europe.[4][5] Kluge notes that the step from “an idea of” to “a very little” happened only in German.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch finds the Latin form in German texts from 1524, first as the key term of Plato's doctrine: the archetype behind the deceptive appearances of the world.[2] Seckendorff in 1685 still writes ein concept und ideam von Gott, with the Latin case ending.[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1642 Descartes widened the Latin word to mean anything the mind perceives directly, and under French influence the German word came to mean “mental image, notion, concept” in the 17th century, in Leibniz and Thomasius.[2][4] In the first half of the 18th century it was sometimes written with the French accent, as in Zinzendorf's sermons.[6][2] Herder used it for “opinion”, and Goethe for the leading thought of a work and a plan.[4] Kant restored a Platonic sense, defining an Idee as a concept of reason to which nothing in the senses corresponds.[6]

Through these uses the philosophical term became an everyday word, meaning a sudden inspiration and, in the 19th century, “a trifle, a little”, probably from “a mere hint of a notion”.[4][5] The Duden dictionary calls this Idee the breath of a thought.[5] The adjectives ideal and ideell belong to the same family;[4][3] ideell (about 1800) was formed after the pair real and reell.[4][3] Estonian idee comes from German.[1]

Timeline

  • 1524 – Latin idea is first used in a German text.[2]
  • 1642 – Descartes uses Latin idea for whatever the mind perceives.[2]
  • 17th century – The German form Idee appears, in Leibniz and Thomasius.[4]
  • 1747 – Zinzendorf writes idée with the French accent.[6]
  • c. 1800 – ideell is formed.[4]
  • 19th century – eine Idee comes to mean “a little”.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (philosophy) In Plato, the pure archetype underlying appearances; more generally, a highly abstract concept of something.[7][8]
  2. A guiding idea or ideal that shapes someone's thinking and actions: Sie glaubte fest an die Idee der Gleichheit.[7][8]
  3. A (creative) thought, notion or good idea: Ich habe eine bessere Idee.[7][1]
  4. (colloquial) eine Idee: a little, a touch: Die Suppe braucht eine Idee mehr Salz.[7][9]

Word family

  • ideell
  • ideal
  • Ideal
  • Idealismus
  • Idealist
  • idealistisch
  • wissen
  • Idol
  • Idylle
  • Ideologie
  • Kaleidoskop

Usage notes

Eine fixe Idee is an idea someone cannot be talked out of, and keine Idee von etwas haben (colloquial) means not to know the first thing about it.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  3. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 435
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 387
  6. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2039
  7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org