Nachfolger

Forms

Nachfolger m (genitive Nachfolgers, plural Nachfolger, feminine Nachfolgerin)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German nāchvolgære, late nahvolgari, an agent noun formed from German nachfolgen + -er, “one who follows after”.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paul records late Old High German nahvolgari.^[3] In Middle High German, from the Litanei (after 1150) on, nāchvolgære meant a successor, a follower and also a pursuer.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Early New High German the word was much used in religious language for a person who follows the teaching and life of Christ, and also for the adherent of a teacher or doctrine and for a successor in an office or a legal position.^[6] A vocabulary of 1482 still has it for a retainer or follower, other glossaries for a pursuer, and Grimmelshausen used it for the men riding behind him.^[3][4]

Adelung (1793) knows it chiefly for one who follows another in a dignity, office or right, the opposite of Vorgänger, with Upper German Nachfahrer beside it, and only marginally for the follower of a doctrine.^[7] Today it is also used of a product that replaces an older one.^[2][8]

Timeline

• Late Old High German – nahvolgari is recorded.^[3]
• After 1150 – Middle High German nāchvolgære appears in the Litanei.^[5]
• 1482 – A German–Latin vocabulary gives the sense “follower, retainer”.^[3]
• 1793 – Adelung records the senses “successor” and “adherent”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A successor: a person who takes over another's post, office or position: Die Bürgermeisterin stellte ihren Nachfolger vor.^[2][1]
2. A product that replaces an earlier one.^[2][8]
3. (mathematics) The next higher number in a set, especially of the whole numbers.^[8]

Word family

• Nachfolgerin

Related words

• Nachfolge
• nachfolgen
• folgen
• Vorgänger

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 53
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
7. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
8. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org