Soldat

Forms

Soldat m (genitive Soldaten, plural Soldaten, feminine Soldatin)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian soldato (“soldier”), literally “one taken into pay”, the past participle used as a noun of soldare (“to take into pay”), which belongs to soldo (“coin, pay”) and goes back to Latin solidus (“a gold coin”).^[2][3][4] Wahrig takes the Italian verb as an older form of assoldare (“to recruit”).^[5] The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch derives the German word instead from Medieval Latin soldatus, reached through Italian and French.^[6] The same word is Dutch soldaat, French soldat and Swedish soldat.^[2]

Middle High German already had soldât, but it meant the pay itself, from Medieval Latin solidata, not the man who received it.^[7][6] The native word for a paid fighter was Söldner, derived from Sold.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch records the plural Soldaten from 1521.^[6] In the earliest uses the word meant a follower or liegeman, especially one of the devil's host: a text of 1522 warns against “the devil and his soldiers”.^[6] Pfeifer gives the early sense as a warrior or retainer in someone's pay.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the paid, recruited fighter, as opposed to the man bound to serve by feudal or territorial law; in the 16th century the common soldiers were still called Knechte and Reisige, and the new word replaced the older Söldner and Landsknecht.^[8][6] A verse in Kirchhof's Wendunmuth complains that Soldat and other foreign-sounding names were driving out Landsknecht.^[8] The lexicographer Kramer (1702) thought it had come in at the end of the 16th century with Spanish and Italian mercenaries by way of Flanders, which the Grimms' dictionary finds a sound observation for the use of the word for the common soldier.^[8]

With general conscription the link with pay faded from the speakers' minds.^[8] Campe still called it a low, though not objectionable, word.^[8] It also served for the lowest rank.^[6] Since the 19th century it has also been used figuratively for a champion of an idea.^[6] The profession was long despised, as the pejorative collective Soldateska shows, but at times, as in the Wilhelmine era and under National Socialism, it was glorified.^[6][3] The feminine Soldatin is recorded from the first half of the 20th century.^[4] In the German Democratic Republic Soldat was also the lowest rank of the land and air forces, after Russian солдат (soldat).^[9]

Timeline

• 1521 – First record, in the plural Soldaten.^[6]
• 1522 – Used of the devil's followers.^[6]
• 1616 – Hulsius's dictionary has soldat zu fusz, zu land, zu wasser.^[8]
• Early 17th century – The collective Soldateska is borrowed from Italian, and soon becomes pejorative.^[3]
• 17th century – The adjective soldatisch appears.^[3]
• 19th century – Figurative use for a champion of a cause.^[6]
• First half of the 20th century – The feminine Soldatin is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soldier, a member of a country's armed forces.^[9][1]
2. (German Democratic Republic) The lowest rank of the army and air force, a private.^[9]
3. (zoology) Among ants and termites, a usually sterile individual with a large head and strong mandibles that defends the colony.^[9][10]
4. The firebug, a red and black bug (Pyrrhocoris apterus); also called Feuerwanze.^[9]

Word family

• Soldatin
• soldatisch
• Soldateska
• Zeitsoldat

Related words

• Sold
• Söldner
• English soldier

Usage notes

Bei den Soldaten sein is colloquial for serving in the army.^[9] In skat players say der wird Soldat when they discard a card face down.^[9] The weak declension (genitive des Soldaten) is the rule;^[8] Heine's strong genitive des Soldats and the jocular plural Soldatens are exceptions.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 856
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 790
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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, 1439
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 1436
9. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag