Etymologically
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Oktober

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Pronunciation

  • /ɔkˈtoːbɐ/[1]

Forms

Oktober m (genitive Oktobers or Oktober, plural Oktober)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German octōber, borrowed from Latin Octōber, from octō (“eight”): it was the eighth month of the old Roman year, which began in March, and kept its name after the calendar reform made it the tenth.[2][3][4] Wahrig notes that the ending ⟨-ber⟩ is of unclear origin.[5] Middle High German also had octember, after November.[3][6] Kluge dates the borrowing to the 14th century.[2] The same Latin name gave Dutch oktober, English October, French octobre and Swedish oktober.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German october is recorded from the third quarter of the 13th century, in the Jüngerer Titurel, and in a document of 1275, meaning the tenth month.[7][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old High German the month was called windumemānōth “month of the grape harvest”, from Latin vindemia, one of the names given by Charlemagne;[4][8] Luther in the 16th century still used Weinmond.[4][8] The Latin name prevailed in the end.[8] The compound Oktoberfest, the Munich festival, was borrowed into English and Hebrew.[9]

Timeline

  • 3rd quarter of the 13th century – Middle High German october appears in the Jüngerer Titurel.[7]
  • 1275 – The word appears in a document.[7]
  • 16th century – Luther still uses the native name Weinmond.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. October, the tenth month of the year.[10][1]

Word family

  • Oktoberfest
  • acht
  • Oktave
  • English October

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 669
  3. ^ a b 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 (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 595
  5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  6. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 140
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  10. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag