Technik

Forms

Technik f (genitive Technik, plural Techniken)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin technica (“art; instructions for practising an art”), a learned formation on technicus (“belonging to an art, expert”), from Ancient Greek τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “artful, skilled, expert”), from τέχνη (tékhnē, “craft, art, skill, science”).^[2][3][4] Kluge calls the source Medieval Latin.^[5] The Grimms' dictionary took it from French technique.^[6] The word was first used only in the compound Hydrotechnik “hydraulic engineering” and became a word on its own in the later 18th century.^[5][4][7] The same word is Dutch techniek, Swedish teknik and Icelandic tækni.^[5]

The Greek noun goes back to a form with /ks/ and belongs with τέκτων (téktōn, “carpenter, builder”), Sanskrit तक्षन् (tákṣan, “carpenter”) and Latin texō (“to weave, build”), and among Germanic words with Old High German dehsa (“axe”), the source of dialect Dechsel “adze”.^[3][5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Hydrotechnica oder Wasser-Bau-Kunst (1724), the title of a volume on hydraulic machines;^[2][4][7] Technica alone appears in 1744 and Technik in Kant in 1781.^[2][4][7] At first it meant the rules of an art or science and instructions for practising it: Kant called general logic a Technik der Gelehrsamkeit “technique of learning” (1800).^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the early industrial age the word came to mean a method of working, a way of handling, and the whole set of skills and rules of an art;^[7][6] Goethe used it of the craft of engraving and of poetry.^[7][6] From the 19th century it meant the methods of production as a whole and the application of the natural sciences: a writer of 1909 speaks of ein Jahrhundert der Technik, der Elektrizität, des Dampfes, der Maschine.^[7] Later senses are a firm's technical equipment, the technical make-up of a machine, and the technical staff of a company.^[9][10] In Austria Technik is also short for a technical university.^[9] The Latin form technicus preceded the adjective technisch (first half of the 18th century), and Techniker replaced Technicus in the second half of that century.^[2][3] Hungarian took technika from German in 1812.^[11]

Timeline

• Mid-17th century – The Latin adjective technicus is used in German texts.^[2]
• 1724 – Hydrotechnica “hydraulic engineering”.^[4][7]
• 1744 – Technica used on its own.^[2]
• 1781 – Kant writes Technik.^[2]
• 1812 – Hungarian technika is recorded, from German.^[11]
• 19th century – “Engineering, the methods of industrial production”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. technology; all the means and methods that put the findings of the natural sciences to practical use: die moderne Technik.^[9][1]
2. A technique, a particular method of doing something: Der Geiger beherrscht eine saubere Technik.^[9][1]
3. Technical equipment for production: eine Fabrik mit modernster Technik.^[9][10]
4. The technical design of a device or machine.^[9][10]
5. The technical staff of a company.^[9][10]
6. (Austria) A technical university.^[9]

Word family

• Techniker
• technisch
• technisieren
• Hydrotechnik
• Medizintechnik

Related words

• Technologie
• Architekt
• Text

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 852
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 910
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. 21, 230
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de