Schüler

Forms

Schüler m (genitive Schülers, plural Schüler, feminine Schülerin)^[1] Older New High German often had the unumlauted form schuler, still usual in Upper German dialects; the umlauted Schüler became more frequent in the written language from the 17th century and is now the only standard form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German schuolære, inherited from Old High German scuolāri, an agent noun formed from Old High German scuola + -āri (the ancestor of Schule), probably under the influence of Late Latin scholāris (“belonging to the school”).^[3][4][5] Wiktionary and the Duden dictionary derive it directly from Medieval Latin scholāris.^[1][6] The Grimms' dictionary also takes it as a reshaping of the Latin adjective.^[2]

The noun scuola was borrowed, probably around the 6th century, from Late Latin schola (“school”) after its vowel had been lengthened, as the Old High German diphthong /uo/ shows.^[4][3] The Latin word comes from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “leisure; learned talk; place of lectures”), a formation with an l-suffix belonging to the aorist of ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”).^[3][4] Old English scōl and Old Norse skóli were borrowed from Latin in the same way.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German scuolāri appears in the 9th century;^[4][8] Köbler records it five times, with the senses “pupil, scholar, disciple”.^[4][8] Adelung found it as early as Otfrid, in the form scular.^[9] The Grimms' dictionary suggests that it first named the inmates of the monastery schools, chiefly future clergy, and then any learned man.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In older German the word also covered students at a university: a Middle High German tale speaks of a schuoler who had gone to Paris for learning.^[2] The fahrender Schüler (from about 1400 farender scholer) was the wandering student who moved from one university to another, after Medieval Latin scholares vagi.^[4][6] Middle High German also used it for a young cleric or an assistant priest.^[10]

Around 1800 Adelung observed that the word had narrowed to those learning the rudiments in the lower schools, so that it was no longer said of university students, while in the widest sense it still named anyone who followed a teacher or master, as Raphael's pupils.^[9] Both uses survive: the schoolchild and the disciple of a master or a school of thought.^[6]

Timeline

• 9th century – Old High German scuolāri is recorded.^[4]
• About 1190 – Middle High German schuolære in Tundalus.^[10]
• 1362 – A Strasbourg chronicle names the schůlern among the clergy expelled from the city.^[2]
• About 1400 – farender scholer “wandering student” is recorded.^[4]
• 17th century – The umlauted Schüler becomes frequent in the written language.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pupil, a boy or young person who attends a school: ein fleißiger Schüler.^[6][1]
2. A disciple, someone trained by a master in an art or science who follows his teaching or style: ein Schüler Dürers.^[6][1]
3. (historical) fahrender Schüler: a wandering student of the Middle Ages.^[6][4]

Word family

• Schülerin
• schülerhaft
• Schülerschaft
• Mitschüler

Related words

• Schule
• Scholar
• schulen

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 15, 1937
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 829
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling