Etymologically
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Kosten

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkɔstn̩/[1]

Forms

Kosten pl (plural only)[1]

Etymology

It is the plural form, inherited from Middle High German koste (“value, price, expense”), inherited from Old High German kosta (“value”), borrowed from Medieval Latin costa (“expense”).[2][3][4] Medieval Latin also had a masculine costus.[2][4] Kluge prefers an early Romance noun, late in its records but presupposed by the Romance languages.[5] The noun belongs with the verb Vulgar Latin *cōstō, from Latin cōnstō (“to stand firm; to cost”), which in Roman business language had already passed from “to stand still” (probably of a balance) to “to come to, cost”.[2][5] The verb kosten “to cost” was borrowed separately, around 1200 on the Middle Rhine, from Old French coster.[2][5] The same Romance word lies behind Dutch kosten, English cost and French coût.[5]

Singular forms of the noun, feminine and masculine, were used in this sense until the plural alone prevailed in the 18th century.[2][6] The singular Kost kept the special sense “expenditure on food”, hence “food, fare”.[3] The verb of the same spelling meaning “to taste” is a native word with its own history.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German kosta “value” is recorded only once, in a gloss of a 13th-century manuscript, translating Latin pondus.[4][2] Köbler dates the gloss to the 12th century.[7] Middle High German koste, kost meant “value, price, means, expenditure”, and also “provisions, food”.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

Adelung (1793) gives the word only in the plural, for the outlay made to reach an aim, especially in cash, and figuratively for disadvantage or damage, as in praising one friend auf Kosten of another.[9] The synonym Unkosten has a parallel in Middle Low German unkost.[2] Kostspielig “expensive” is an 18th-century formation.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 12th or 13th century – Old High German kosta is recorded in a single gloss.[7][4]
  • c. 1200 – The verb kosten “to cost” is borrowed from Old French.[2]
  • 13th century – Middle High German koste “expense” in common use.[5]
  • 18th century – The plural Kosten replaces the singular forms;[2] kostspielig appears.[2]
  • 1793 – Adelung records the word as plural only.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Costs, expenses: money spent or to be spent on something: die Kosten der Renovierung “the cost of the renovation”.[6][1]

Word family

  • kostspielig
  • Unkosten
  • Kostenvoranschlag

Usage notes

Auf seine Kosten kommen (colloquial) is “to get one's money's worth, be satisfied”.[6] Auf jemandes Kosten means both “at someone's expense, paid by him” and “to someone's disadvantage”.[6][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  3. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 471
  4. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 720
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 534
  6. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 2, 1730