Jugendlicher

Forms

Jugendlicher m (adjectival, definite nominative der Jugendliche, genitive (des) Jugendlichen, plural Jugendliche, definite plural die Jugendlichen, feminine Jugendliche)^[1]

Etymology

It is the adjective jugendlich “youthful” used as a noun, and it keeps the adjective's endings.^[1][2][3] The adjective goes back to Middle High German jugentlich and Old High German jugundlīh (9th century), formed from the noun Jugend “youth”.^[3][4]

That noun is Middle High German jugent, Old High German jugund, recorded from the 8th century, from Proto-West Germanic *jugunþi and earlier Proto-Germanic *juwunþiz.^[5][3][6] The same word is Old Saxon juguð, Middle Low German jȫget, Old Frisian jogethe, Old English geoguþ, English youth and Dutch jeugd.^[5][3] Pfeifer explains it as an abstract noun with the suffix *-tis built on the adjective stem Proto-Indo-European *i̯uu̯en- (“young”), of the root Proto-Indo-European *i̯eu- (“young”), which also gave jung; other suffixes appear in Latin iuventa and iuventūs.^[3] The West Germanic forms have a /g/ where a /w/ would be expected, which Pfeifer puts down to the influence of the word family of Tugend.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German jugund appears from the 8th century in glosses, in Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “youth, the age of a young man, puberty” and also “virginity”, glossing Latin iuventus, adulescentia and pubertas.^[5][7][6] The adjective jugundlīh follows in the 9th century.^[3] The noun Jugendlicher, mostly in the plural Jugendliche “young people, adolescents”, belongs to the 20th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Grimms' dictionary found the adjective jugendlich in Old and Middle High German, but rare beside the usual junglich, and widespread only in the century before their article.^[8] The noun formed from it became the ordinary word for an adolescent in the 20th century.^[3] In law and administration it names a person between 14 and 18 years of age, while in general use it covers roughly the years from about 13 to the early twenties.^[2]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German jugund “youth” is recorded in glosses.^[5][3]
• 9th century – The adjective jugundlīh appears.^[3]
• 19th century – jugendlich becomes widespread, displacing junglich.^[8]
• 20th century – The noun Jugendlicher, mostly in the plural, comes into common use.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young person between childhood and adulthood; an adolescent, a teenager (male, or of unspecified gender): Die Jugendlichen trafen sich am Bahnhof.^[1][2]
2. (law) A person aged between 14 and 18.^[2]

Related words

• Jugend
• jugendlich
• jung
• English youth

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 170
8. ^ 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, 2365