November

Forms

November m (genitive Novembers or November, plural November)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German november, borrowed from Latin November, the Roman name of the month, a derivative of novem (“nine”).^[2][3][4] It was so called as the ninth month of the old Roman year, which began on the first of March.^[2][3] Wahrig calls the ending of unclear origin.^[5] The Latin numeral is related to neun.^[4]

The name was taken over early elsewhere too: Old Saxon november occurs in a 10th-century homily,^[6] and Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌹𐌼𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂 (naúbaímbaír) stands in a calendar of the 5th or 6th century, though Wiktionary notes that its reading is contested.^[7][3][1] The native name was Old High German herbistmānōd (“autumn month”).^[3][4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the German word to the 11th century.^[2] Middle High German november occurs in the Meinau natural history, which explains it “from novem and ymber”, in Konrad von Megenberg, who calls it the eleventh month, and in the Elisabeth legend; in charters it is found from 1287.^[9][7][10]

Semantic evolution

The native herbistmānōd, one of the month names associated with Charlemagne, could denote September, October or November and did not survive.^[11][8] Hans Sachs also called November the wintermon, and a few purists later proposed Nebelung or Nebelmond “mist month”.^[7][11] The Grimms' dictionary quotes compounds such as Novembersturm, Novembertage and novemberlich from 19th-century writers, for whom November is the grey, stormy month.^[7] After 1918 the political right used the name as a term of abuse for the Weimar Republic and its representatives, in compounds such as Novemberverbrecher and Novemberrepublik.^[11]

Timeline

• 830–840 – The native name herbistmānōd is recorded.^[8]
• 10th century – Old Saxon november appears in a homily.^[6]
• 11th century – First record of the German november.^[2]
• 1287 – November appears in charters.^[10]
• 20th century – Novemberverbrecher and Novemberrepublik become terms of abuse for the Weimar Republic.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. November, the eleventh month of the year; abbreviated Nov.^[12][1]

Related words

• neun
• English November

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 660
3. ^ a b c d 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 596
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 6, 1391
7. ^ 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, 966
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 117
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag