Serie

Forms

Serie f (genitive Serie, plural Serien)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin seriēs (“row, sequence, chain”), from serō (“to join, link, string together”).^[2][3][4] Late Middle High German had already borrowed the word as serje (“row, strip; sequence, course of time”), but the modern use goes back to a new borrowing from Latin in the early 18th century,^[2][3][5] perhaps influenced by French série.^[6][1] The same word is Dutch serie, English series and Swedish serie.^[2]

The Duden dictionary groups the Latin verb with sors (“lot, fate”), originally perhaps a row of lots for an oracle, and with Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to string together”), under a root Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to line up, link”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The renewed loan is first recorded in 1728, in the order of chapters of a book (in der serie der Capitel), and in 1734 for things not set in any order; at first it was used mainly in trade and publishing.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

From the 18th century the word named a set of separate volumes or works that form a whole, and later any series of similar things or events.^[7][6] In the 20th century it became a word of industry for mass production (1929: Serienarbeit ist billiger als Einzelanfertigung, “series work is cheaper than single manufacture”), with the phrase in Serie gehen “to go into production” and compounds such as Serienbau and Serienproduktion.^[5][6] serienmäßig “standard, as series equipment” was listed in 1949.^[5] It was then applied to a sequence of articles, broadcasts or television episodes.^[5] Hungarian borrowed it from German as széria (1896).^[8]

Timeline

• Late Middle High German – serje “row, sequence” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1728 – First record of the new loan, for the order of chapters.^[6][5]
• 1896 – Hungarian széria is recorded.^[8]
• 1929 – Serienarbeit “series production” is recorded.^[5]
• 1949 – serienmäßig is listed in a dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A series or set of similar things that belong together: eine Serie Briefmarken.^[9][1]
2. A production run: a number of products made in the same design: in Serie fertigen, in Serie gehen “to go into mass production”;^[9][10] (jargon) Serie sein, to be standard equipment.^[9][10]
3. A sequence of related broadcasts or publications, especially a television serial: eine Serie in zehn Folgen.^[9][10]
4. A succession of similar events: eine Serie von Einbrüchen.^[9][1]

Word family

• serienmäßig
• serienweise
• Fernsehserie

Related words

• seriell
• Sorte
• inserieren
• English series

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 845
3. ^ a b c 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 626
8. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org