Linie

Forms

Linie f (genitive Linie, plural Linien)^[1] Until the 17th century it was also written linge, linig or lenie; the learned spelling linie won out in writing.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German linie, borrowed from Latin līnea (“linen thread, string; line”), the noun use of the feminine of līneus (“of flax, linen”), from līnum (“flax; thread”).^[3][4][5] In Latin the word first named the stretched linen cord with which straight lines were drawn, and then the line itself.^[4][6] Corresponding words are Dutch lijn, English line, French ligne and Swedish linje.^[3]

An early borrowing appears in Old High German glosses as linna, from Medieval Latin linea, with a diminutive linnol.^[7][8] Kluge and Duden treat it as the ancestor of the modern word.^[3][5] Wiktionary holds instead that the Old High German loan was not continued and that the Middle High German word was borrowed anew.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German linna is recorded only from the 11th century, in glosses, where it renders Latin linea as a boundary line (in Prudentius) and a line of writing (in Jerome's preface to Daniel).^[8][9] Pfeifer dates it to about 1000.^[4] Middle High German linie appears in the Minnesang, the Passional and the mystics, meaning a line, a row or a line of descent.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

From the idea of keeping a direction, Linie came to mean a guiding rule already in Middle High German, the source of politische Linie and Parteilinie.^[12] Josua Maaler (1561) has the mathematical sense, a length without breadth.^[12] From the genealogical lines drawn in family trees it came to mean a line of descent in the 16th century.^[4] Sailors called the equator die Linie (1629), short for the equinoctial line, whence the ceremony of the Linientaufe.^[12][4] In the 18th century it became a military word for the battle line of an army or fleet, and the front.^[4]

As a unit of length, a tenth or twelfth of an inch, it was used from the 18th century until the metric system replaced it.^[12] In sport it is the boundary line, and Linienrichter (1903) was formed after English linesmen.^[12] Colloquially auf die schlanke Linie achten (1938) is to watch one's figure.^[12] Other senses grew from the line as a route: a regular transport route and the vehicles that serve it.^[13] The verb linieren goes back to 1469.^[14] Czech linie and Slovak línia were borrowed from German, and English took over Siegfried Line and Benrath line.^[15]

Timeline

• About 1000 – Old High German linna is recorded.^[4]
• 11th century – linna appears in glosses.^[9][8]
• End of the 13th century – Middle High German linie in the Passional.^[11]
• 1469 – First record of the verb liniieren.^[14]
• 1561 – Maaler records the mathematical sense.^[12]
• 16th century – Sense “line of descent”.^[4]
• 1629 – Sailors' sense “equator”.^[12]
• 18th century – Military sense “battle line, front”.^[4]
• Early 19th century – The adjective linear appears.^[4]
• 1903 – Linienrichter is formed after English linesmen.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A line, a longer straight or curved stroke that is drawn or visible: die Linien eines Hefts.^[13][1]
2. (mathematics) A continuous one-dimensional figure without breadth.^[13][16]
3. (sport) A marking or boundary line.^[13][16]
4. An outline, a contour;^[13] (colloquial, jocular) one's figure: auf die schlanke Linie achten.^[13]
5. An imagined line connecting places;^[13][1] (nautical) the equator;^[13][1] (chess) a file.^[13][1]
6. A row: in einer Linie stehen.^[13]
7. (military) The front, the zone of the troops' positions.^[13]
8. A regular route of public transport, or the vehicles serving it: die Linie 5.^[13][17]
9. A line of descent.^[13]
10. The general direction or policy followed in a plan or behaviour.^[13]
11. (formerly) A small unit of length.^[13][12]

Word family

• linieren
• linear
• -linig
• geradlinig
• Richtlinie
• Parteilinie
• Luftlinie
• Linientaufe
• Linienrichter
• Mittellinie
• Buslinie

Related words

• Lein
• Lineal
• English line

Usage notes

In erster Linie “first and foremost” and auf einer Linie stehen “to rank equal” come from the older sense of a line as a value or position in a reckoning.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 1039
3. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 579
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 514
6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1318
8. ^ a b c Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1020
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1927
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ a b 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
15. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
16. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
17. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org