Etymologically
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Pause

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpaʊ̯zə/, [ˈpaʊ̯zə][1]

Forms

Pause f (genitive Pause, plural Pausen, diminutive Päuschen n or (Austria, Bavaria) Pauserl n)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German pūse, borrowed from Old French pause, from Latin pausa (“halt, stop, end”), from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis, “rest, ceasing”), from παύω (paúō, “to make cease, stop”).[2][1][3] Pfeifer, Paul and the DFWB give the French source as pose (“rest, period of time”), a noun of poser (“to rest, to stop working”), from Late Latin pausō (“to halt, rest”).[4][5][6] Kluge dates the borrowing to the 14th century, and the DFWB places it in Middle High German times.[2][6] The same word is Dutch pauze, English pause, French pause and Swedish paus.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German pūse “pause, rest” is first recorded in a charter of 1275 and then in Ottokar's Reimchronik (early 14th century), which has âne aller sûmung pûse, “without any pause for delay”.[3][6] The glossaries of the 14th to 16th centuries record it often and explain it with rast, ruwe and wîle.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century it took a special sense in the theatre and in music, the prescribed silence in playing or singing and the sign for it: about 1400 Vintler advises a speaker to make ain pause mitterlaich, “a moderate pause”, and in 1481 singers are told to keep an even pace and pauszen.[6][7] Adelung still names music as its chief field.[8] The verb pausieren is recorded in 1449.[5] Today it is also the break between school lessons and a rest from work.[9][6]

Timeline

  • 1275 – Middle High German pūse appears in a charter.[3]
  • Early 14th century – Ottokar's Reimchronik uses pûse.[6]
  • c. 1400 – Vintler uses the word of a pause in speaking.[6][7]
  • 1449 – First record of pausieren.[5]
  • 1481 – The word is used of pauses in singing.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A short break in an activity for rest: In der großen Pause essen die Kinder ihr Brot.[9][1]
  2. A brief, often unintended interruption or silence: Nach einer langen Pause antwortete sie.[9][1]
  3. (music) A rest, a part of a bar without notes; also the sign for it.[9][10]
  4. (prosody) A beat required by the metre but not filled by speech.[9][10]

Word family

  • Pausenbrot
  • Pausenhof
  • pausenlos
  • Atempause
  • pausieren

Usage notes

A second noun Pause “tracing” belongs to the verb pausen “to trace”, recorded from the 18th century.[2][1] Kluge derives the verb from French poncer (“to rub with pumice, to pounce”), since lines were traced by dusting charcoal through pricked holes, while the DFWB sees a blend of that verb with ébaucher (“to sketch”).[2][6] Campe (1807) records the noun as Bause, and the compound Pauspapier dates from the end of the 19th century.[6][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 690
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  7. ^ 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, 1514
  8. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 616