Etymologically
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Quelle

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkvɛlə/, [ˈkʋɛlə][1]

Forms

Quelle f (genitive Quelle, plural Quellen)[1] Beside the feminine there has been a masculine Quell since the 15th century, now mainly poetic.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German quelle, inherited from Old High German quella (“spring”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljā (“spring, well”).[2][1][4] The same word is Old Saxon quella, Middle Low German quelle and Old English cwylla.[2][3] It is a noun formed from the strong verb quellen, Old High German quellan (“to well up”), which Kluge records from the 10th century.[2][5][3]

The verb is found elsewhere in Germanic only in the Old English participle collenferhþ (“bold, proud”), properly “swollen-spirited”.[6][3][5] Pfeifer and the Duden dictionary connect it with Sanskrit गलति (galati, “drips, falls down”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *gu̯el- (“to drip, well up”),[3][6][1] while Kluge only tentatively compares Ancient Greek βλύζω (blúzō, “I gush forth”).[5]

The sources disagree on whether the modern noun continues the Old High German one.[2][6][3] The EWA takes the late Middle High German form as the continuation of the Old High German noun.[2] The Duden dictionaries point out that it is missing in classical Middle High German and take it to be a new back-formation from the verb in East Central German, from where it spread,[6][7] and Pfeifer leaves both possibilities open.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German quella is recorded once, in an 11th-century gloss on Prudentius, where the accusative plural quellon translates scatebra (“bubbling spring”), water gushing from rock.[4][2] The compound brunquella “spring” is older, from the 8th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle German a qwelle is recorded in 1440, glossing latex, but the word became common only with Luther, who used it in the Bible for springs and wells.[8] From the 15th century it was used figuratively for an origin or beginning,[3] and the Early New High German dictionary also has it for a watering place or well.[9] The Grimms' dictionary takes the masculine Quell as a later formation from the feminine, with a change of gender.[8]

In New High German it also came to mean a text used as evidence for research, and a person or place from whom information is obtained directly.[2][7]

Timeline

  • 8th century – The compound brunquella “spring” is recorded.[5]
  • 11th century – Old High German quella glosses Latin scatebra in a manuscript of Prudentius.[4][2]
  • 15th century – The masculine quell and the figurative sense “origin” appear.[2][3]
  • 1440 – Middle German qwelle is recorded in a glossary.[8]
  • 16th century – The word becomes common through Luther's Bible.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A spring: water coming out of the ground, the source of a stream or river: eine heiße Quelle.[7][1]
  2. A well from which oil or gas is obtained.[1]
  3. A source, origin of something: eine Quelle der Freude.[7][1]
  4. A source text: a document or text used as evidence in research: historische Quellen auswerten.[7][10]
  5. A person or place from whom information is obtained directly: aus sicherer Quelle wissen.[7][10]
  6. (physics) A point from which a vector field flows out, the opposite of a Senke.[10]

Word family

  • Quell
  • Quellcode
  • Quellwasser
  • Quellenangabe
  • Quellenkritik
  • Quellensteuer
  • quellen
  • Qualle
  • Qualm

Usage notes

Aus erster Quelle is “at first hand”;[7] an der Quelle sitzen (colloquial) is to have good connections and get things on favourable terms.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 44
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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. 7, 491
  5. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 738
  6. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 665
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ 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, 2342
  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 Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org