Etymologically
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Jugend

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈjuːɡənt/, [ˈjuːɡŋ̍t][1]

Forms

Jugend f (genitive Jugend, no plural)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German jugent, inherited from Old High German jugund, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *jugunþi (“youth”).[2][3][1][4] The same word is Old Saxon juguð, Old English geoguþ, Dutch jeugd and English youth.[2][5][3]

It is an abstract noun with the suffix ⟨-ti-⟩ formed to the Indo-European adjective for “young” that also underlies jung: Sanskrit युवन् (yúvan, “young”), Latin iuvenis, Lithuanian jáunas.[2][5][6] The closest parallels are Sanskrit युवति (yuvatí, “young woman”), iuventūs (“youth”) and Old Irish oítiu.[5][2] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂iu-Hn-ti-.[3][1]

The /g/ is a West Germanic development: Kluge and Kroonen explain it from an older *juwunþi-, in which /w/ between two high vowels became /g/,[2][3] while Pfeifer and Wiktionary also consider the influence of Tugend.[5][1] Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (junds) avoided the change;[2][3] Kroonen notes that a Gothic feminine often cited beside the Latin one is a ghost form.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German jugund is recorded from the 8th century in glosses and in Isidor, then in the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning youth, the age of a young man, puberty and also virginity.[4][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German jugent meant both youth as a time of life and young people, boys.[4][5] In older usage it was mainly opposed to Alter “old age” rather than to childhood.[9] Josua Maaler's dictionary of 1561 speaks of the youth “which has no beard”, while for legal purposes the dictionaries of Dasypodius (1536) and Serranus (1539) limit it to the years from 21 to 28.[9] The collective sense “young people” is in Maaler too, and compounds like Dorfjugend (1782) followed.[9]

The adjective jugendlich goes back to Middle High German jugentlich.[6] Jugendstil (late 19th century) is named after the Munich magazine Jugend, and Jugendherberge and Jugendweihe are 20th-century compounds.[6]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German jugund appears in glosses and Isidor.[4][8]
  • 1561 – Maaler's dictionary records the collective sense “young people”.[9]
  • 1782 – Dorfjugend “village youth” is recorded.[9]
  • Late 19th century – Jugendstil is named after the magazine Jugend.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Youth: the time of being young, between childhood and adulthood: In seiner Jugend spielte er Fußball.[10][1]
  2. (biology, medicine) The early stage of growth of a living thing.[10]
  3. The state of being young; youthful freshness and vigour.[10]
  4. Young people collectively: die Jugend von heute.[10][1]

Word family

Usage notes

Die reifere Jugend (humorous) means people who are no longer young but not yet old.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 458
  3. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 306
  5. ^ a b c d e Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 405
  7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 170
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag