Stimme

Forms

Stimme f (genitive Stimme, plural Stimmen, diminutive Stimmchen n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German stimme, inherited from Old High German stimma or stimna, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *stebnu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *stebnō (“voice”).^[1][2][3] Kluge sets up the Germanic form as *stemnō, and Kroonen as *stimnō-.^[2][4] The same word is Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌱𐌽𐌰 (stibna), Old Saxon stemna, Old English stefn or stemn, Old Frisian stifne and Dutch stem;^[2][5][6] Swedish and Danish took it from Middle Low German.^[2][5][6]

Kroonen explains the variation between forms with /e/ (Gothic, Old High German) and with /a/ or umlaut (Old English, Old Saxon) as a remnant of Indo-European ablaut in an old neuter noun.^[4] Its further origin is uncertain.^[7][8][9] Kluge considers it most likely that it is an extension of an Indo-European word for “mouth” found in Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma, “mouth”), Avestan staman- (“muzzle”) and Welsh safn (“mouth, jaw”), although the sound changes are not clear in detail.^[2] The shift from “mouth” to “voice” would be like the one in Kehle, and Greek has εὔστομος (eústomos), literally “with a fine mouth”, used of fine speech.^[2] Pfeifer and Duden regard the connection as possible, with Proto-Indo-European *stomen- (“mouth”).^[5][7] Orel calls the word of unknown origin, and the Grimms' dictionary found no certain cognates outside Germanic.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German stimna, stimma is recorded from the end of the 8th century in glosses, and then in Isidor, the Monsee fragments, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[3][11][12] It meant “voice, sound, tone, speech, call”, and Latin vox and sonus were its usual equivalents; the phrase stimna geban meant “to raise one's voice”.^[3][11] The Tatian uses it of the loud sound of trumpets.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Musical uses are old: Stimme meant a singing voice already in Old High German; since the 16th century it has also meant a part in a piece for several voices.^[5][13] Expressions for high and low voices became common especially from the 18th century.^[5] From the 14th century the word also meant a vote, the opinion one gives in a council or an election; the Grimms' dictionary has it from 1325.^[5][7][13] Phrases followed such as jemandem seine Stimme geben (16th century, in Middle Low German about 1500) and Sitz und Stimme haben “to have a seat and a vote” (18th century), with compounds like Stimmrecht and Stimmenmehrheit.^[5][7] In the 18th century the sense weakened to any expression of opinion, and Herder's collection of folk songs was called Stimmen der Völker in Liedern.^[13]

In the figurative sense it names an inner prompting, the voice of conscience or of God.^[13][9] From the late 19th century phonetics used it for the vibration of the vocal cords in voiced sounds.^[13] Stimmvieh (1857), a scornful word for voters herded to the polls, translates American English voting cattle.^[13][5] From the noun came the verb stimmen, in Middle High German “to let one's voice be heard, to name”, and later “to tune” and “to be correct”.^[5][7]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – Old High German stimna appears in glosses.^[3][12]
• 9th century – The Tatian has the variant stemna.^[5]
• 1325 – First record of the sense “vote”.^[13]
• 16th century – Stimme means a part in a piece of music for several voices.^[5]
• 18th century – Sitz und Stimme haben, Stimmrecht and Stimmenmehrheit are recorded.^[5][7]
• 1857 – Stimmvieh is coined after American English voting cattle.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ability to produce sounds or speak; voice as a faculty.^[9][14]
2. The sound produced in speaking or singing, or by an animal; a voice as heard: Aus dem Garten drangen leise Stimmen herein.^[9][1]
3. The characteristic sound or tone of a person's voice: Er erkannte sie sofort an der Stimme.^[9]
4. A singing voice: Sie hat eine kräftige Stimme.^[9][14]
5. (music) A part in a piece for several voices or instruments.^[14][5]
6. An inner prompting; the voice of conscience, of reason: eine innere Stimme.^[9]
7. A vote cast in an election or decision: seine Stimme abgeben.^[1][14]
8. An expressed opinion: Es wurden kritische Stimmen laut.^[14][13]

Word family

• stimmen
• Stimmung
• einstimmig
• mehrstimmig
• stimmhaft
• stimmlos
• Stimmband
• Stimmbruch
• Stimmlage
• Stimmrecht
• Stimmenmehrheit
• Stimmvieh

Related words

• English steven

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 886
3. ^ 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, 1102
4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 18, 3059
7. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
8. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
9. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 314
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org