Etymologically
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Name

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Pronunciation

Forms

Name m (genitive Namens, plural Namen)[1] Like Funke it was a weak noun; the strong genitive des Namens has replaced des Namen since the 16th century.[2] A nominative der Namen (genitive des Namens) is now dated.[3] Older spellings include Nahme and Nahmen, used by Stieler and Adelung.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German name, inherited from Old High German namo, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *namō, inherited from Proto-Germanic *namô (“name”).[5][1][6] The same word is Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌼𐍉 (namo) (a neuter, as the original gender was), Old Norse nafn, Old English nama, Old Frisian noma and Old Saxon namo, and today Dutch naam, English name and Swedish namn.[5][6][4]

It continues the Indo-European word for “name”, also found in Sanskrit नामन् (nā́man), Ancient Greek ὄνομα (ónoma), Latin nōmen, Old Church Slavonic имѧ (imę), Old Irish ainm, Tocharian B ñem and, with an irregular initial, Hittite lāman.[5][7][8] Kluge notes that the forms agree only in their consonants and that the vowel alternation cannot be explained; similar words in Finno-Ugric suggest a very old word.[5] Wiktionary calls the exact form of the Indo-European word highly uncertain and gives Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥;[1][6] Kroonen reconstructs a paradigm Proto-Indo-European *h₃néh₃-mn̥ with the zero grade generalised in Germanic.[1][6] The verb nennen is an old derivative of the noun.[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German namo is first recorded in glosses of about 765 and in the Abrogans, and then very often (498 times, says Köbler) in Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “name”, also “word, noun”, “meaning” and “renown, rank”.[10][11][12]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old High German the word covered both the proper name and the general term: eiganēr namo “proper name” and gimeinēr namo “general term” rendered Latin nomen proprium and a general term.[11][2] Paul notes that Name refers to any designation, including the names of classes, as when Adam gives each animal its name in Luther's Genesis, and also to the name of an individual.[2] From “name” came “reputation, renown”, as in sich einen Namen machen.[3][11]

Among the derivatives, namhaft goes back to Old High German namahaft (8th century), and nämlich and namentlich continue Middle High German namelich “named”, the latter with an inserted t as in eigentlich.[8][9] Namenstag, a celebration on the day of one's patron saint, appears in the 17th century, and Namensvetter “namesake” in the 18th.[9][13]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German namo appears in glosses.[10]
  • 8th century – namahaft “renowned” is recorded.[8]
  • 16th century – The genitive des Namens begins to replace des Namen.[2]
  • 17th century – Namenstag appears.[9]
  • 18th century – Namensvetter appears.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A word for a kind of thing, a designation: für diese Pflanze gibt es mehrere Namen.[3]
  2. A name that identifies a person, place or thing; a forename or surname: ihr Name ist Anna.[3][1]
  3. Reputation, renown: die Firma hat einen guten Namen.[3]
  4. (grammar, in compounds) A noun, as in Eigenname “proper noun”.[1]

Word family

  • nennen
  • namens
  • namentlich
  • namhaft
  • nämlich
  • namenlos
  • Namenstag
  • Namensvetter
  • Vorname
  • Nachname
  • Beiname
  • Spitzname
  • Eigenname
  • Kosename
  • Nomen
  • anonym
  • English name

Usage notes

Im Namen means “on behalf of” (im Namen des Volkes), and etwas beim Namen nennen is to call a spade a spade.[3] Name ist Schall und Rauch “a name is mere sound and smoke” comes from Goethe's Faust.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  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, 322
  5. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 647
  6. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 584
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 6, 803
  12. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 233
  13. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de