Sicht

Forms

Sicht f (genitive Sicht, plural Sichten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German siht, inherited from Old High German siht (“sight, appearance”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sihti (“seeing, sight”), an abstract noun formed from the verb Proto-Germanic *sehwaną (“to see”) (see sehen).^[2][3][1][4] The same noun is Middle Low German sicht, Middle Dutch sicht, Dutch zicht and the element Old English -siht in compounds, and English sight is related.^[2][3][5] The Grimms point out that the bare noun is rare outside German: the English word goes back to gesiht, and sihþ is found only once.^[6] The EWA likewise suspects that the isolated forms in the other Germanic languages were shortened from prefixed ones, as the suffix Proto-Indo-European *-tis prefers compounds.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German siht is found in the Abrogans and in a single gloss of the end of the 9th century, meaning “appearance, vision” (Latin species, visio).^[4][7][8] Middle High German siht meant the act of seeing and the sight of something, and seems to have been mainly Central German.^[9][6]

Semantic evolution

As a free word Sicht long had a small range: the older dictionaries do not list it, and Frisch notes that it is mostly used in compounds such as Absicht, Ansicht and Aussicht.^[6][10] Two special uses brought it back.^[10][3] In the trade language of the Hanseatic League, Middle Low German phrases such as up sicht (16th century) translated Italian a vista and meant “on presentation” of a bill of exchange; from this came the sense “term of a bill” (17th century) and the phrases auf lange, auf kurze Sicht “in the long, short term”.^[3][10][5] Adelung (1793) knows the word only in this commercial use.^[11] In the Low German language of seamen sicht meant “range of vision” (15th century), and in the 19th century this passed into the general language: in Sicht, außer Sicht, gute Sicht.^[3][10][5] The figurative sense “way of looking at something, point of view” (aus meiner Sicht) is more recent.^[10][12]

German Sicht was borrowed into Danish sigt and Swedish sikt.^[1]

Timeline

• End of the 9th century – Old High German siht is recorded in a gloss.^[4][2]
• 15th century – Middle Low German sicht is used by seamen for the range of vision, and Hanseatic merchants pay bills na gesichtes.^[3][5]
• 16th century – nach Sicht des Wechselbrieffs appears in High German.^[3][10]
• 17th century – auf lange, auf kurze Sicht is used of the term of a bill.^[3]
• 19th century – The seamen's sense “visibility” enters the literary language.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. visibility: the possibility of seeing into the distance, a clear view: Bei Nebel hat man auf der Autobahn kaum Sicht. Der neue Zaun nimmt uns die Sicht auf den See.^[12][1]
2. Range of vision: in Sicht, außer Sicht: Land in Sicht!^[12][1]
3. A way of seeing something, a point of view: Aus meiner Sicht war die Entscheidung richtig.^[12][1]
4. (commerce) Presentation of a bill of exchange: zahlbar bei Sicht; hence auf lange, kurze Sicht “in the long, short term”.^[12][3]

Word family

• sichten
• besichtigen
• sichtbar
• sichtlich
• Absicht
• Ansicht
• Aussicht
• Rücksicht
• Vorsicht

Related words

• sehen
• Gesicht
• English sight

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 847
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 1208
5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 780
6. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 737
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 280
9. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 919
10. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 4, 80
12. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag