Situation

Forms

Situation f (genitive Situation, plural Situationen)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French situation (“position, site”), borrowed in the late 16th century, at first sometimes with Latin or French inflection.^[2][3][4] Kluge and Duden derive the French noun from situer (“to put in the right place”), from Medieval Latin situō (“to place”);^[2][4] Pfeifer takes it as formed after Medieval Latin situātiō from Old French situé (“situated”), from Late Latin situātus.^[5] The source is Latin situs (“position, site”), which Kluge explains as the past participle of sinō (“to let, set down”).^[2]

The same word is Dutch situatie, English situation and Swedish situation.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record (1589) uses it of the varied lie of the land, mountains, rivers and lakes; a text of 1616 speaks of die Situation der Oerther, the situation of the places.^[3] The first sense, “geographical position, site, area”, was mostly military.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The geographical sense lasted into the 19th century, and Situationsplan “site plan” into the 20th.^[5][6] From the middle of the 18th century, following French, the word meant the state of affairs or circumstances someone is in, and in drama a constellation of figures, a scene: Lessing writes in 1767 of laughter that arises from situations.^[6][3] Hence Situationskomik and Herr der Situation sein “to be master of the situation”.^[3][6] Jaspers coined Grenzsituation in 1919.^[6]

From French situé came situiert (17th century), used of persons from about 1800 in wohlsituiert “well-off”, and situieren is recorded in 1838.^[5][6] The adjective situativ is recent.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1589 – First record, of the lie of the land.^[3]
• 1616 – die Situation der Oerther.^[3]
• Mid-18th century – The sense “circumstances, state of affairs” appears.^[5][3]
• 1767 – Lessing uses it of dramatic situations.^[6]
• 1813 – Campe records situiert of persons.^[6]
• 1919 – Jaspers coins Grenzsituation.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The circumstances someone is in at a given moment, their position: Sie hat die heikle Situation gut gemeistert.^[7][1]
2. The general state of affairs: die politische Situation im Land.^[7][1]
3. (geography) A site plan.^[7][8]

Word family

• Situationskomik
• situativ
• Grenzsituation

Related words

• situieren
• situiert
• English situation

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. 852
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 786
5. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag