Etymologically
Log in

Liste

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 18:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

Liste f (genitive Liste, plural Listen)[1] The word was first used with the Italian ending, Lista, and kept it in commercial language into the 18th century; from the German plural Listen, and probably under the influence of French liste, a new singular Liste arose at the beginning of the 17th century.[2][3] Wallhausen has Liste in 1616, while Nehring's lexicon still gives lista in 1736.[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian lista (“strip, border; list”), borrowed at the end of the 16th century.[5][2][6] The Italian word, like Medieval Latin lista (“edge, border, strip”), came from the Germanic word continued in Old High German līsta (“edge, hem, border”), līste and modern Leiste, which probably reached Romance early through trade.[2][3][7] In Italian bookkeeping the sense “strip, border” developed into “row” and then “list in a column”.[2][4] Adelung explains that such lists were once written on long narrow strips of parchment.[8] The word thus came back to German from Romance, as a doublet of the native word for a strip or border.[7][1]

The Germanic noun is Proto-Germanic *leistō, also found in Old Norse lista (“edge”) and Old English līste (“hem, border”).[9][10] Its origin is unclear: Kluge suggests that it started from the sense “track” and belongs with Leisten “shoemaker's last”.[9] The same borrowing is Dutch lijst, English list, French liste and Swedish lista.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of 1597, has the Italian form: ein Lysta alter vnd newer Restanten “a list of old and new arrears”.[3][7] It was at first a word of commercial bookkeeping, for an inventory or catalogue.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the language of merchants the word passed into general use, for lists of members, ships and the dead.[4][7] Adelung speaks of entering soldiers in the Liste and of lists of births and deaths.[8] It is also short for Wahlliste, a list of candidates for an election.[7][11]

A schwarze Liste is a secret list of suspect persons or banned books;[7][11] Peter Weiss writes in 1964 of someone who is “on Marat's black lists”.[7][11] Hungarian borrowed lista “list” in 1661.[12]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Old High German līsta “strip, border” is recorded.[2]
  • 1597 – First record of Lysta “list”, still with the Italian ending.[3][7]
  • 1616 – The German form Liste appears in Wallhausen.[3][7]
  • 1661 – Hungarian lista is first recorded.[12]
  • 1736 – lista is still the headword in Nehring's lexicon.[4]
  • 1964 – Peter Weiss uses schwarze Listen.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A list: a written series of people or things set down one after another, usually one below the other: Wir haben eine Liste der Gäste angelegt.[11][1]
  2. Short for Wahlliste: a list of candidates in an election.[11][7]

Word family

  • Wahlliste
  • Warteliste
  • Einkaufsliste
  • Bestenliste
  • Leiste
  • Leisten
  • English list

Usage notes

Auf der schwarzen Liste stehen is to be among those regarded as suspect, especially by a regime;[11] schwarz refers to something kept hidden.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e f 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 1069
  5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 580
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 516
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 2, 2080
  9. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 571
  10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  12. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de