Nachricht

Forms

Nachricht f (genitive Nachricht, plural Nachrichten)^[1]

Etymology

It is a shortening of the Early New High German noun Nachrichtung, or a parallel formation from German nach + richten.^[2][3][1] Like Latin īnstrūctiō, it first meant “instruction”, that by which one is to direct oneself, and was then generalized to “message”.^[2][4] Compare Dutch naricht.^[1]

Adelung found the first element obscure and suggested that the word was modelled on relātiō, since German often renders the Latin prefix re- by nach.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer dates the word to about 1600.^[6] The first record, from 1608 in an Austrian legal record, has an instruction read out “for everyone's direction”, that is, as guidance on how to act.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense moved from a notice telling people what to do to any communication of a fact: the Grimms' dictionary quotes Goethe, Schiller and Wieland for news given, brought or received, and lists local, official and political Nachrichten in the newspapers.^[7][8] Between the 16th and 18th centuries it gradually displaced the longer Nachrichtung.^[6][4] The plural came to mean the news bulletin on radio and later television in the 20th century.^[6][8] A proverb in Wander says that good news always comes at the right time, bad news always too early: gute Nachricht kommt stets gelegen, schlechte immer zu früh.^[7]

The verb benachrichtigen “to inform” is recorded by Kaspar Stieler in 1691.^[8] In Bavarian, Nachricht could also mean the dish served after the main meal, the dessert, as the opposite of Vorricht.^[7]

Timeline

• 16th century – The older noun Nachrichtung “what one is to go by, instruction” is in use.^[6][4]
• About 1600 – Nachricht appears.^[6][1]
• 1608 – First dated record, in an Austrian legal record.^[8][7]
• 1691 – Kaspar Stieler records benachrichtigen.^[8]
• 20th century – The plural Nachrichten names the news broadcast.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of news, a message or notification telling someone the latest state of a matter: Seit Wochen hat die Familie keine Nachricht von ihrem Sohn.^[9][1]
2. (in the plural) The news, a news programme on radio or television: Um acht kommen die Nachrichten.^[9][1]
3. (telecommunications) A message sent from a source to a receiver, such as a text message or e-mail.^[1][10]

Word family

• benachrichtigen
• Nachrichtendienst
• Nachrichtenagentur
• Nachrichtensendung
• Nachrichtensprecher
• nachrichtlich

Related words

• nach
• richten
• Bericht

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 645
3. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
4. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 583
5. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 103
8. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org