Position

Forms

Position f (genitive Position, plural Positionen)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin positiō (“a placing; position”), borrowed in the 16th century, the noun of action of pōnō (“to put, place, lay”), past participle positus.^[2][3][4] Duden and the DFWB think that French position influenced the borrowing, which the DFWB holds probable above all for the technical uses of the 18th century.^[5][4] Many other German words go back to the same Latin verb, among them Posten, positiv, Präposition and komponieren.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DFWB's first record is from 1536, in documents from Tübingen.^[4][6] The early uses belong to law, administration and philosophy: a “positing, statement”, and in legal procedure a point of a complaint, often paired with Artikel.^[4][7] Latin forms are found in technical use until the 18th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word was also adapted as positz “a position, a positing”, with Fischart's diminutive positzlin.^[8] In philosophy and grammar it was the opposite of Negation.^[8][6] Paul dates the military sense, Position der Armee, to 1772, and the commercial sense “item” to 1853; seamen's language had Positionslaterne “navigation light” by 1899.^[6]

The sense “rank, post” is recorded from 1877, and in 1891 a high military post could be called a “brilliant” position.^[6] Sport has used it for a placing in a race since 1929, and the most recent sense, “opinion, stance”, appears in Position beziehen “to take a stand”.^[6] Pfeifer stresses how widespread the word is in philosophy, the army, fencing, navigation, commerce, astronomy and sport.^[3]

Timeline

• 1536 – First record, in documents from Tübingen.^[4]
• 1772 – Position der Armee: the military sense appears.^[6]
• 1853 – The commercial sense “item” is recorded.^[6]
• 1877 – The sense “rank, post” is recorded.^[6]
• 1899 – Positionslaterne is recorded in seamen's language.^[6]
• 1929 – The sporting sense “placing” is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A (senior) professional post: eine leitende Position.^[9][10]
2. A place within an institution, a system or a ranking; in sport, a placing: auf Position drei liegen.^[9][10]
3. The situation someone is in, especially relative to others: eine starke Position.^[9][10]
4. A standpoint, attitude: eine klare Position vertreten.^[9][11]
5. A spatial position or posture; the location of a ship or aircraft.^[9][10]
6. (economics) An item in a list, plan or invoice (abbreviated Pos.).^[9][10]
7. (philosophy) A positing, that which is posited.^[9]
8. (prosody) Length of a short vowel before two or more consonants.^[9][8]

Word family

• positionell
• Positionslaterne

Related words

• Posten
• positiv
• Präposition
• English position

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 716
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 d e f 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
5. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 648
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
8. ^ 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, 2012
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org