Schloss

Forms

Schloss n (genitive Schlosses, plural Schlösser, diminutive Schlösschen n or Schlösslein n or Schlosserl n)^[1] The older spelling is Schloß.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German sloȥ, inherited from Old High German slōz, sloz, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *slot (“bar, bolt”), a derivative of schließen.^[2][3][1] The same word is Dutch slot (“lock”), and it is related to English slot.^[1]

That verb is Old High German sliozan, beside which Kluge compares, without the initial /s/, Latin claudō (“to close”), related to clāvis (“key, bar”) and Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, hook, key”): to close was “to put a bar across”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German sloz is recorded from the 8th century, first meaning “door fastening, bolt”; as a semantic loan from conclūsio it also meant “conclusion”.^[2][3][5] Middle High German sloz covered a lock, bolt, fastening, bond or fetter, an enclosure, a conclusion, the keystone of a vault, and a castle.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Since the 13th century the word has also named a castle.^[2][3] Kluge and Wahrig explain this as a fortress that closes off the land or a watercourse;^[2][7] Duden allows two readings, passive “what is locked” (compare Klause) and active “blocking structure”.^[3] From the fortified castle came the sense of the residence of princes and nobles, distinguished in meaning from Burg, Feste and Festung.^[3][2]

The sense “lock” was extended to the clasp of a bag or necklace and to the firing mechanism of a gun.^[8][1] The craftsman who made locks is the Schlosser.^[2] English used schloss for a German castle or manor house from 1617,^[9] and Estonian borrowed the word as loss.^[1]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German sloz “door fastening”.^[2]
• Before 1190 – Middle High German sloz.^[6]
• 13th century – The word is first used for a castle.^[2][3]
• 1617 – English schloss “German castle or manor house”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lock (on a door, a drawer or a case).^[8][1]
2. A padlock.^[8][1]
3. A clasp, snap fastening (on a handbag, a necklace).^[8][5]
4. The breech or firing mechanism of a firearm.^[8][1]
5. A palace, castle, stately home of the nobility.^[8][1]
6. The people living in a palace.^[8]
7. (zoology) The hinge of a mussel's shell.^[5]

Word family

• Schlösschen
• Schlosser
• Vorhängeschloss
• Luftschloss

Related words

• Schlüssel
• schließen
• Schluss
• Verschluss

Usage notes

Hinter Schloss und Riegel (colloquial) is “in prison”, unter Schloss und Riegel “under lock and key”, and ein Schloss vor dem Mund haben is to keep silent about something.^[8] Schlösser in die Luft bauen is to build castles in the air (compare Luftschloss).^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 812
3. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 811
5. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de