Meter

Forms

Meter m or (dated, formerly in technical usage) n (genitive Meters, plural Meter)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”).^[2][3][4] The French word was recommended in 1790 as the name of the basic unit of length in the system of measures set up by the National Assembly, and the measure was fixed in 1795.^[3][2] The Duden dictionary gives the French word's source as Latin metrum, from the Greek.^[5] Wahrig connects the Greek noun with μετρέω (metréō, “to measure”).^[6]

The same word forms Kilometer, Millimeter and Zentimeter, which came from French in the 19th century.^[3][4] A separate element is the suffix -meter “measuring instrument”, taken directly from the Greek in learned compounds such as Barometer and Thermometer from the 17th century on.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the German word to the 18th century, with the measure fixed in 1795, while Pfeifer and the Duden place the borrowing in the 19th century.^[2][3][4] It became the legal unit of length by a law of 1868.^[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The law of 1868 also gave the unit the German name Stab “rod”, but this never took hold against the foreign word.^[8] Hungarian borrowed méter by 1837.^[9] The word has been masculine in general use and neuter in technical language;^[7][1] in Switzerland only the masculine is used.^[10] Today it is the SI base unit of length, defined by the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.^[11]

Timeline

• 1790 – The French name mètre is recommended to the National Assembly.^[3]
• 1795 – The measure is fixed in France.^[2]
• 1837 – Hungarian méter is recorded.^[9]
• 1868 – Meter becomes the legal unit of length in Germany.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A metre, the basic unit of length; symbol m: das Regal ist zwei Meter hoch.^[5][1][11]

Word family

• Kilometer
• Zentimeter
• Millimeter

Related words

• Metrum
• Metrik
• Barometer
• Thermometer

Usage notes

Laufende Meter or am laufenden Meter (slang) means “again and again, continuously”.^[5] The older language had an unrelated feminine Meter, a name of the plant feverfew and of lemon balm, a corruption of Latin matricaria.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 618
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 551
5. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ a b 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 2146
9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
10. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
12. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 2145