Etymologically
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Luft

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Pronunciation

Forms

Luft f (genitive Luft, plural Lüfte, diminutive Lüftchen n or Lüftlein n or Lüfterl n)[1] The word was masculine in Gothic, masculine or feminine in Old Saxon and Old High German, and has always been masculine in Upper German, where der Luft is still heard.[2] The feminine was Dutch, Low German and Central German, and spread in the written language from the 16th century, following Luther.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German luft, inherited from Old High German luft, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *luftu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air”).[4][1][5] The same word is Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (luftus), Old Saxon luft, Old English lyft (“air, sky”) and Old Norse lopt (“air, sky; upper room”).[4][6][7] Middle Low German lucht and Dutch lucht show the change of /ft/ to /xt/ typical of Low German and Dutch.[6][8]

Its origin is unclear.[4][6][8] Kluge links it with words for an upper storey and for lifting, such as the Old Norse verb lypta (“to lift”) and Middle High German lüften (“to lift”), and mentions Sommer's view that they go back to a sound gesture Proto-Indo-European *lup- for a quick upward movement.[4] Pfeifer and Kroonen start from “roof, covering”: Kroonen takes *luftu- as a tu-stem from the root of *laubą (“foliage”), meaning a roof made of bark, as suggested by Russian луб (lub, “bast”), and Pfeifer also compares Lithuanian lùpti (“to peel”), Latin liber (“bast”) and Ancient Greek λύπη (lúpē, “grief”), under a root *leup-.[6][7][1] Orel allows that the development may have run the other way, from “air” to “upper room”.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German luft is recorded from the 8th century, in the Abrogans and other glosses from 765, then in the Benedictine Rule, the Muspilli, Otfrid and Notker.[5][10][11] It meant air, the sky and heavens, the ether and a breath of air, glossing Latin aer, aether, aura and caelum.[5] Old Saxon luft appears in the Heliand.[5]

Semantic evolution

Paul thinks the first sense was a current of air, since movement made the air noticeable; that sense survives in Upper German and in the poetic plural Lüfte and the diminutive Lüftchen.[3] Opposed to the room indoors, Luft is the open air, as in an die Luft gehen and jemanden an die Luft setzen “to throw someone out”.[3] Luftschloss “castle in the air” dates from the 17th century, after the 16th-century phrase ein Schloss in die Luft bauen.[8][12] Jemandem Luft machen first meant to remove the pressure that stops someone breathing, and Goethe wrote ich machte meinem Herzen Luft.[3] Compounds such as Luftballon and Luftpumpe date from the 18th century, and Luftschutz and Luftwaffe from the first half of the 20th.[8] Russian borrowed the word as люфт (1957) for the play between the parts of a machine.[13]

Timeline

  • 765 – Old High German luft appears in glosses.[10]
  • 16th century – The feminine gender spreads in the written language, and the phrase ein Schloss in die Luft bauen is recorded.[2][8]
  • 17th century – Luftschloss is formed.[8]
  • 18th century – Luftballon and Luftpumpe appear.[8]
  • First half of the 20th century – Luftschutz and Luftwaffe appear.[8]
  • 1957 – Russian люфт “play, clearance” is recorded.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (no plural) air, the mixture of gases, chiefly oxygen and nitrogen, that surrounds the earth and that people and animals breathe: Nach dem Gewitter war die Luft klar und kühl.[14][1]
  2. (no plural) Breath: Nach dem Sprint bekam er kaum noch Luft.[14][15]
  3. (plural elevated) The open space above the ground, the sky.[14][15]
  4. (plural only poetic) A light wind, a breeze.[14][1]
  5. (no plural; colloquial) Room, play, free space: Im Zeitplan ist noch etwas Luft.[14][15]

Word family

  • lüften
  • luftig
  • Luftschloss
  • Luftballon
  • Luftwaffe
  • Luftikus
  • Lüftung
  • Lift
  • lüpfen
  • Laub
  • English loft

Usage notes

Many colloquial phrases use the word: die Luft ist rein “the coast is clear”, dicke Luft “a tense atmosphere”, Luft für jemanden sein “to be ignored by someone”, in die Luft gehen “to blow one's top”, and seinem Ärger Luft machen “to vent one's anger”.[14][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 1237
  3. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  4. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 586
  5. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1488
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 209
  12. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  14. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  15. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org