Etymologically
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Spitze

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈʃpɪt͡sə/[1]

Forms

Spitze f (genitive Spitze, plural Spitzen)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German spitze, inherited from Old High German spizza (“point, spike, summit”), a noun belonging to the adjective spitz (spizzi, spiz).[2][3][4] Köbler sets up a noun Proto-Germanic *spitjōn (“point”), and Wiktionary traces the word to Proto-Germanic *spitjaz.[5][1] The adjective was at first only High German; Dutch spits, Danish spids and Norwegian spiss were borrowed from Middle Low German or German.[6][7]

The adjective is closely related to Spieß “spit, skewer”; the consonants are not clear, and forms with ⟨tz⟩ and ⟨ss⟩ seem to have alternated early.[2] Both belong to a group of words on a base Proto-Indo-European *spei- with senses connected with “pointed”, hard to delimit, which includes Latin spīna (“thorn, spine”).[2][3] The Duden dictionary also compares Sanskrit स्फ्य (sphyá, “wooden chip, staff”) and spīca (“ear of grain”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German spizza is recorded from glosses of the 8th century on, meaning a point, sting, thorn, a palisade, and a summit or hill;[5][3][8] Notker and Williram use it for a palisade and a peak.[5][3][8] Middle High German spitze was the pointed end of anything, as of a sword, and also the beak of a shoe, a spit of land, and a wedge-shaped battle order.[9]

Semantic evolution

From the wedge-shaped battle order came an der Spitze des Heeres, “at the head of the army”, which in turn gave the sense “front, lead, leadership”.[10] Jemandem die Spitze bieten, to stand up to someone, first meant to hold out the point of one's sword in challenge.[11][10] In the written language Spitze drove out the masculine Spitz;[12] Luther used it, but the Zurich Bible of 1530 and Maaler's dictionary have only Spitz, and the feminine is still less common in the south.[12]

From the 17th century Spitze also means lace, properly a trimming of yarn ending in points.[3][7] In the 20th century it was used as an indeclinable adjective spitze “first-rate”.[7][1] Hungarian borrowed the word as Hungarian spicc (“point, pointed end”) by 1574.[13]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German spizza appears in glosses.[3][5]
  • 11th century – The compound spizzimūs “shrew” is recorded.[3]
  • 16th century – Luther uses Spitze where Upper German texts keep Spitz.[12]
  • 1574 – Hungarian spicc is first recorded.[13]
  • 17th century – First record of the sense “lace”.[3][7]
  • 20th century – spitze comes into use as an adjective “great”.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sharp, pointed end of something; point, tip: Die Spitze der Schere ist verbogen.[11][1]
  2. The top of something tall; peak, summit: Von der Spitze des Turms sieht man bis zum See.[11][1]
  3. The front, leading part of a moving group: Die Blaskapelle ging an der Spitze des Umzugs. In ball games, a striker.[11][1]
  4. The leading position in performance or success: an der Spitze liegen;[11] an der Spitze einer Sache stehen, to head it.[11]
  5. The leading group of an organisation; in the plural, leading figures: Die Spitze des Vereins traf sich zu einer Krisensitzung.[11][1]
  6. A highest value, maximum;[11] (colloquial) top speed: Der Wagen fährt 200 Spitze.[11]
  7. (colloquial) The highest quality: Das Konzert war einfach Spitze.[11][1]
  8. A barbed remark aimed at someone; a jab: eine Spitze gegen den Minister.[11][1]
  9. Lace, fabric with an openwork pattern made of threads: ein Kragen aus Spitze.[11][1]

Word family

  • spitze
  • Spitzenreiter
  • Messerspitze
  • Turmspitze
  • Zungenspitze
  • spitz
  • spitzen
  • Spieß
  • Spitzel
  • Spitzname

Usage notes

Etwas auf die Spitze treiben is to push something to the extreme, and die Spitze des Eisbergs is the visible, smaller part of a far bigger problem.[11] Einer Sache die Spitze nehmen or abbrechen is to take the sharpness or danger out of it.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. 869
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 803
  7. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 306
  9. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1101
  10. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  12. ^ 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, 2582
  13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de