Sekunde

Forms

Sekunde f (genitive Sekunde, plural Sekunden, diminutive Sekündchen n or Sekunderl n)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin secunda, short for pars minūta secunda (“second diminished part”), borrowed in the later 15th century.^[2][3][4] Pfeifer names the source as Medieval Latin secundum, a neuter, and Kluge, who dates the word to the 17th century, explains it as made from secundus after the phrase secunda pars.^[4][5] In the sexagesimal system of Ptolemy, dividing an hour or degree by 60 gave the first diminished part, the Minute, and dividing that again by 60 gave the second.^[2][3] The adjective “following, second” is an old participle of sequor (“to follow”).^[2][3] The word was at first neuter in German, as in Latin, and became feminine under the influence of the word for “minute” or from the more frequent plural.^[4] The same word is Dutch seconde, English second, French seconde, Swedish sekund and Icelandic sekúnda.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, from 1477, is astronomical: a text on Ptolemy gives the sun's apparent diameter in minutes and secund.^[3] A book of commercial arithmetic of 1519 divides each minute into 60 seconds and each second into 60 thirds, using the neuter ein jetzlichs secund.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the unit of time and of angle, the word was used from the 16th century in music for the second note of a diatonic scale and the interval of a second (Simon Rot, 1571), and since the mid-17th century in fencing for a guard position, after French seconde.^[6] In printing it named, from 1634, the second or inner forme of a sheet and the signature mark on it.^[6] Older German also used Secunde for a second in a duel and for the second-highest string of a lute.^[7] The time sense came to stand for a very short moment, as in Schiller's in wenigen Sekunden seh ich Madrid “in a few seconds I shall see Madrid”, and in phrases such as im Bruchteil einer Sekunde.^[6][3] The adjective sekündlich “every second” is recorded from the mid-19th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1477 – First record, in an astronomical text on Ptolemy.^[3]
• 1519 – A book of commercial arithmetic uses the word as a neuter.^[3][4]
• 1571 – First use as a musical term.^[6]
• 1634 – First use as a printing term.^[6]
• Mid-17th century – A fencing position is called Sekunde, after French.^[6]
• Mid-19th century – The adjective sekündlich appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A second, the sixtieth part of a minute and the base unit of time; abbreviation Sek., symbol s: Der Läufer verfehlte den Rekord um zwei Sekunden.^[8][1]
2. (colloquial) A very short time, a moment: Ich bin in einer Sekunde fertig.^[8][9]
3. (music) The second note of a diatonic scale, or the interval between two neighbouring steps: eine große Sekunde, a whole tone.^[8][1]
4. (technical) The 3600th part of a degree of angle; symbol ″.^[8][1]
5. (printing) The number with an asterisk on the third page of a sheet, which shows the binder the order of the sheets.^[8][9]

Word family

• Sekundenzeiger
• sekündlich
• Schrecksekunde
• sekundenlang

Related words

• Minute
• sekundär
• sekundieren

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 773
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
4. ^ a b c d e Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 841
6. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 409
8. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag