Kontakt

Forms

Kontakt m (genitive Kontaktes or Kontakts, plural Kontakte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin contāctus (“touch, contact”), the noun of Latin contingō (“to touch”), a compound of Latin con- (“with, together”) and Latin tangō (“to touch”).^[2][3][4][5] Pfeifer calls it a learned borrowing of the 17th century.^[3] The same word is Dutch contact, English contact, French contact and Swedish kontakt.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1681, in a treatise by Lebenwaldt on the devil's tricks, where it means physical “touch”.^[6][7] Kluge says that the sense was at first negative, “contagion”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Kluge notes that the positive sense later won out over the negative one.^[2] The word became common only in the 19th century, as in Alexander von Humboldt's “contact with the world of the senses” (1845), and was furthered by electrical engineering; the sense “connection between people” became frequent only in the 20th century.^[7][6] Pfeifer adds that it established itself under the influence of the international technical languages, against the early resistance of the language purists, and formed a great many compounds after 1950.^[3]

Paul dates kontaktarm, kontaktfreudig, Kontaktperson and similar words mostly after 1945; the verb kontaktieren “to get in touch with” follows English contact and French contacter.^[7] Hebrew borrowed the word as Modern Hebrew קונטקט (kontakt) for self-adhesive film.^[8]

Timeline

• 1681 – First record, in Lebenwaldt.^[6][7]
• 1794 – Lichtenberg writes of things in “immediate contact”.^[6]
• 1845 – Humboldt uses it in the Kosmos.^[6][7]
• 1941 – The Duden records Kontaktglas for a contact lens.^[7]
• After 1945 – Compounds such as kontaktarm and Kontaktperson spread.^[7][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Contact, a connection with someone, made once or kept up: Wir haben den Kontakt zu unseren alten Nachbarn verloren.^[9][1]
2. (formal, technical) Touch, physical contact: Das Material darf nicht mit Wasser in Kontakt kommen.^[9][10]
3. (electrical engineering) A touch that lets current flow; also the terminal or part that makes the connection: Die Kontakte der Batterie sind korrodiert.^[9][1][11]
4. (chemical engineering) A solid catalyst.^[9][10]

Word family

• kontaktieren
• kontaktlos
• kontaktfreudig
• kontaktscheu
• Kontaktperson
• Kontaktanzeige
• Kontaktlinse

Related words

• Tangente
• English contact

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 526
3. ^ a b c d 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 Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 465
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
11. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag