Literatur

Forms

Literatur f (genitive Literatur, plural Literaturen)^[1] The spelling Litteratur was usual until the 19th century.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin litterātūra (“writing in letters; grammar, philology”), a learned borrowing of the 16th century.^[3][2][4] In Late Latin the word also meant “written works”.^[2] It is formed from littera (“letter”), whose plural litterae meant “documents, letters, learning”,^[2] and Kluge connects the noun with linō (“to smear”).^[3] Kluge sees the Latin word as a loan translation of Ancient Greek γραμματική (grammatikḗ), in the sense “philology”, which developed differently in the two languages.^[3]

The same word is Dutch literatuur, English literature, French littérature and Swedish litteratur.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 16th century it meant learning or scholarship: Simon Rot's dictionary of 1571 explains it as writing, the art of writing, and the knowledge of the learned.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word covered all written works as well as the knowledge of languages, learning and the sciences.^[2][4] In 1765 Herder named languages, the arts of taste, history and philosophy as the four lands of Litteratur, and a title of 1775 uses it for a bibliography.^[5] From about 1770 it means the body of texts of a people, as in Garve's definition of 1773, and at the beginning of the 19th century it became shorthand for imaginative literature, the sense that prevails today.^[5][2]

Compounds followed: Literaturgeschichte in the 18th century, replacing Literarhistorie, and Literaturwissenschaft in the 19th.^[2] The adjective literarisch is current from the 18th century, and Literat meant “scholar” in the 16th century and “writer” in the 19th, now often with a slighting tone.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 16th century – Borrowed from Latin.^[3]
• 1571 – Simon Rot glosses it as the art of writing and learning.^[5]
• 1765 – Herder's “four lands of literature”.^[5]
• 1773 – Garve uses it for the whole body of a people's works.^[5]
• Early 19th century – It comes to mean imaginative literature.^[5]
• 19th century – Literaturwissenschaft appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Written or printed works generally: die wissenschaftliche Literatur.^[6][1] Graue Literatur is material not sold through bookshops, such as reports of offices and firms.^[6]
2. The literature on a subject, the works an author consults: die Literatur zum Thema sichten.^[6][1]
3. (music) The repertoire of written works for an instrument or voice.^[6][7]
4. Imaginative writing, belles-lettres: die Literatur der Romantik.^[6][1]

Word family

• Literaturgeschichte
• Literaturwissenschaft
• Literaturkritik
• Literatursprache
• Literaturpreis

Related words

• Letter
• literarisch
• Literat
• English literature

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 580
4. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 516
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org