Sohn

Forms

Sohn m (genitive Sohnes or Sohns, plural Söhne, diminutive Söhnchen n or Söhnlein n)^[1] Middle High German had the plural süne, in older and Central German sune, sun.^[2] Low and Central German also had weak forms, such as the accusative sonen.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German sun, inherited from Old High German sunu, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sunu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”).^[4][1][5] The same word is Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃 (sunus), Old Norse sonr, Old English sunu, Old Frisian sunu and Old Saxon sunu, and it lives on in Dutch zoon, English son and Swedish son.^[4][6]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *suHnús (“son”), literally “one who has been born”, formed with an n-suffix from the root Proto-Indo-European *sewH- (“to give birth”).^[4][7][1] The same word is Sanskrit सूनु (sūnú), Lithuanian sūnùs, Old Church Slavonic сꙑнъ (synŭ) and Russian сын (syn), and with other suffixes Ancient Greek υἱός (huiós), Tocharian A se and Tocharian B soy; the root itself is seen in Sanskrit सूते (sū́te, “gives birth”) and Old Irish suth (“fruit, birth”).^[4][7] The short vowel of the Germanic word is irregular beside the long one of these languages;^[4][3] Orel and Wiktionary explain it by a shortening before the accent.^[6][1] Pfeifer notes that the formation sets the word apart from the other kinship terms, Vater, Mutter, Tochter and Bruder, and suggests that it may have replaced an older word that was lost.^[7]

In the oldest texts the word is still a u-stem; after the final vowel was lost it passed into the i-stems.^[8] The modern /o/ for older /u/ arose before the nasal in Central and Low German, as in Sonne and Wonne, and replaced the form with /u/ in the written language in the 16th century.^[7][8][9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German sunu is recorded from the 8th century; the oldest texts, the Hildebrandslied, Isidor and the Weissenburg Catechism, keep the old inflection.^[4][10][8] Besides “son” it rendered Latin filius, natus and proles, and formed phrases such as mannes sunu “Son of Man” and des meres sun for Latin fluctigena “born of the sea”.^[8][11] Middle High German sun could also mean a crown prince and the male young of an animal.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Luther's Bible gave der verlorene Sohn (Luke 15), Gottes Sohn and des Menschen Sohn, and the familiar address mein Sohn (Matthew 9:2), which can show superiority.^[9] The word also expresses close belonging to a place, a people or a time, as in Hölderlin's der Sohn des Nordens and Schiller's der flüchtige Sohn der Stunde;^[9] Schiller's keines Menschen Sohn means “nobody”.^[9] It appears in firm names (Schneider und Sohn), and horse breeders speak of a stallion's sons.^[9] In south-western Germany Söhnin has meant “daughter-in-law”.^[9]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German sunu in the Hildebrandslied and Isidor.^[4][10]
• 1418 – den sonen mit dem vader in a Dance of Death.^[9][3]
• 16th century – sohn with /o/ replaces sun in the written language.^[3][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A son, a male child in relation to his parents: ihr jüngster Sohn studiert in Leipzig.^[12][1]
2. A man shaped by a place or a community: ein berühmter Sohn der Stadt Bonn.^[12][9]
3. (Christianity) Sohn Gottes, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.^[12]
4. (familiar) A form of address for a younger man: hör gut zu, mein Sohn.^[12][9]

Word family

• Stiefsohn
• Schwiegersohn
• Pflegesohn
• Menschensohn

Related words

• English son

Usage notes

Der verlorene Sohn, after the parable in Luke 15, is someone who disappoints his parents' expectations, or someone not seen or heard from for a long time.^[12][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1302
3. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 1419
4. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 856
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. 8, 1383
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 322
12. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag