Mehrheit
Pronunciation
- /ˈmeːɐ̯haɪ̯t/, /ˈmɛɐ̯haɪ̯t/[1]
Forms
Mehrheit f (genitive Mehrheit, plural Mehrheiten)[1]
Etymology
It is from German mehr + -heit, formed after Dutch meerderheid (“majority”).[2][3][1][4] Pfeifer says Kramer coined it in 1719 from the Dutch word, and the Duden and Duden's large dictionary add French majorité as a model;[2][3][5] Wiktionary takes the Dutch word itself as a calque of pluralité (“majority”).[1] There was an earlier Old High German mērheit (“being more”), but it left no descendants.[2][6][1]
Mehr is Middle High German mēr, Old High German mēr, a comparative Proto-Germanic *maiz (“more”), also in Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍃 (mais), Old Norse meir and Old English mā, built on the root Proto-Indo-European *mē- (“great, considerable”).[2][3][7]
Earliest recorded meaning
Notker used Old High German mērheit around 1000, beside minnerheit, for “being more” and “being less”.[6][8][9] The modern word has its first record in Heinrich Bullinger's Haußbuoch (Zurich, 1558), according to the ZDL word history,[4] while the Grimms and Pfeifer find it first in Kramer's Dutch–German dictionary of 1719: mit mehrheit der stimmen etwas beschlieszen “to decide something by a majority of votes”.[6][2]
Semantic evolution
The word at first referred mostly to shares of votes, and so became a central term of politics: the number of votes needed to win.[4] It came into frequent use after the middle of the 18th century, in Klopstock, Möser and Schiller,[6] whose Demetrius asks was ist die mehrheit? mehrheit ist der unsinn (“what is the majority? the majority is nonsense”).[6] In the 18th century it was also used for the larger number of other things, and by about 1800 for the social group that outnumbers others.[4] Adelung records that some grammarians used it for the plural.[10] Mehrzahl and Majorität are its synonyms from the 18th century on.[4] The phrase die schweigende Mehrheit is a loan translation of English the silent majority.[5]
Timeline
- c. 1000 – Notker uses Old High German mērheit.[8][6]
- 1558 – First record of the modern word, in Bullinger's Haußbuoch.[4]
- 1719 – Kramer's dictionary gives Mehrheit after Dutch meerderheit.[2][6]
- Mid-18th century – The word comes into common use for majorities of votes.[6]
- c. 1800 – It is applied to the larger part of a society.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- (no plural) The majority, the greater part of a group: Die Mehrheit der Schüler fährt mit dem Bus.[5][1]
- (politics) A majority of the votes cast: absolute Mehrheit (more than half), relative or einfache Mehrheit (a plurality).[5][1]
- The group that has won the greater part of the votes.[5]
Related words
- mehr
- mehren
- mehrere
- Mehrzahl
- English more
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
- ^ a b c d e f g Wortgeschichte digital (2020–), Zentrum für digitale Lexikographie der deutschen Sprache (ZDL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, zdl.org/wb/wortgeschichten
- ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 1896
- ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
- ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 220
- ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf