Person

Forms

Person f (genitive Person, plural Personen, diminutive Persönchen n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German persōne, borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask of an actor; role, character; person”).^[2][3][4] Kluge dates the loan to the 12th century, the Duden to the 13th.^[2][4] The same Latin word gave Dutch persoon, English person, French personne, Swedish person and Icelandic persóna.^[2]

The origin of the Latin noun is disputed.^[2] The Duden considers a borrowing from Etruscan, comparing Etruscan phersu (“mask”);^[4] Wahrig, Köbler and the Grimms derive it from persōnō (“to sound through”), from per (“through”) and sonō (“to sound”), because the voice sounded through the mouth of the mask,^[5][6][7] an explanation that has been strongly contested.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German persōne is found from the Antichrist poem of about 1160–1180 and then in Meister Eckhart, Tauler and legal charters;^[6] persōn appears in Konrad of Megenberg's Buch der Natur (1348/50).^[6] It meant a person, a human individual, and also figure or appearance, and in theology a person of the Trinity.^[6][9][10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “role in a play” came into German only in the 16th century, through translations of Latin comedies: Hans Sachs writes of plays mit dreien personen “with three characters”, and the sense was still alive in the 18th century in Goethe and Schiller.^[7][10] The sense “figure, stature” is already Middle High German, and survives in phrases like klein von Person “small of stature” (Luther, Luke 19:3) and jemanden von Person kennen “to know someone by sight”.^[10][11] Under French influence in Person (French en personne) came into use.^[10]

The commonest use is for a human individual of either sex, as opposed to a thing; the legal juristische Person is a fictitious individual.^[10][12] From the beginning of the 18th century, after French personne, the word was also used of a woman, mostly disparagingly.^[10][4] The Latin grammarians' sense “person of the verb” was taken over in the 15th century, and Gueintz and Schottelius established erste, zweite, dritte Person in 1641.^[3][10] The Duden notes that Unperson, a person deliberately ignored, comes from English unperson, coined in Orwell's 1984, translated into German in 1950.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1160–1180 – Middle High German persōne in the Antichrist poem.^[6]
• 1348/50 – persōn in Konrad of Megenberg's Buch der Natur.^[6]
• 15th century – The grammatical sense “person of the verb” is taken over;^[3][10] persönlich is formed.^[3][10]
• 16th century – The sense “role, character in a play” enters German through translations of Latin comedies.^[7][10]
• 1641 – Gueintz and Schottelius use erste, zweite, dritte Person as grammatical terms.^[10]
• Early 18th century – Person is used, mostly disparagingly, of a woman, after French personne.^[10]
• 1950 – Unperson comes in with the German translation of Orwell's 1984.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person, a human being as an individual: Der Eintritt kostet fünf Euro pro Person.^[12][1]
2. A person considered with regard to outward, physical qualities.^[12]
3. A character in a play, novel or film.^[12][8]
4. (law) A bearer of rights and duties: natürliche Person, juristische Person (a corporate body).^[12][8]
5. (grammar) A category of the verb and the pronoun: die erste Person Singular.^[12][8]
6. (emotive, often derogatory) A woman or girl.^[1][13]

Word family

• personal
• personell
• persönlich
• Persönlichkeit
• Personal
• personifizieren
• Unperson

Related words

• English person

Usage notes

Ich für meine Person “as for me” goes back to Luther, and in Person means “personally”;^[10][12] etwas in Person sein is to be the embodiment of something (die Geduld in Person).^[10][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. 694
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 d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 627
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1561
8. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
13. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag