Niederlage

Forms

Niederlage f (genitive Niederlage, plural Niederlagen)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German niderlāge (“a lying down; a stopping place; a defeat”), a noun to niederlegen, originally “the act of laying or lying down”.^[2][1][3] Its parts are nieder and lāge (“a lying, position”), which belongs to liegen.^[4] The Middle Low German form was nedderlāge.^[5]

The verb legen, Old High German leggen, is Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”), the causative of the verb for lying, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”); the same verb is Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan), Old Norse leggja and Old English lecgan, continued in English lay.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German niderlāge is first recorded in the Väterbuch (1275–1300).^[4] Its Middle High German senses were the act of lying or sinking down, as in a faint, a stopping place or stay, rest, and the slaughter of an enemy.^[7][6][4] Paul dates the merchants' sense “place where goods are deposited” to the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early New High German used it above all for the storing of goods, the right to keep a depot, the depot or trading post itself and the fee paid for it, and also for a lodging or night's rest.^[8] The Grimms' dictionary records the sense “stopping place, lodging” from 1444 to Lessing and Freytag, and “being bedridden by illness” into the 19th century.^[5][2]

The sense “defeat in battle”, recorded from 1456, became the dominant one.^[2][5] Adelung still gives the defeat of an army, being bedridden and a warehouse side by side.^[3] The commercial sense survives in “depot, especially for beer” and a dated “branch shop”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1275–1300 – First record, in the Väterbuch.^[4]
• 13th century – First record of the sense “depot for goods”.^[2]
• 1444 – A town chronicle uses it for a stopping place.^[5]
• 1456 – First record of the sense “defeat in battle”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A defeat: being beaten in a battle, a contest or a dispute.^[9][1]
2. A depot or intermediate store, especially for beer.^[9]
3. (dated) A branch shop.^[9]

Related words

• niederlegen
• legen
• liegen
• Lager

Usage notes

Eine kannensische Niederlage (educated usage) is a crushing defeat, after Hannibal's annihilation of a Roman army at Cannae in 216 BC.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 3, 495
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 769
6. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 72
8. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag