Thema

Forms

Thema n (genitive Themas, plural Themen or (elevated) Themata or (music, rare) Themas, diminutive Themchen n or Themachen n)^[1] The Latin plural Themata is the older one;^[2][1] Latin inflection was used until the 19th century, and in the 16th century a short form Them is also found.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German thema, borrowed from Latin thema (“proposition, subject”), from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma, “something laid down, proposition”), a noun to τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, set, place”).^[3][4][2][1] The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch gives Medieval Latin thema (“preface; matter, subject”) as the immediate source, and notes that the Latin word also meant a horoscope; in Greek the word was used for a thesis set for declamation and for the stem of a word.^[2] The Greek verb is related to tun.^[5]

The sources date the borrowing differently: Kluge and the Duden to the 15th century, Pfeifer to the 14th, and Köbler records it in Tauler before 1350.^[3][5][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Late Middle High German thema is used by Tauler before 1350.^[6] In 1414 a chronicle reports a bishop's sermon: und was das sin thema: Erit magnus coram domino “and this was his text: He shall be great in the sight of the Lord”.^[2] The first sense was a text or saying set for development, especially the Bible verse on which a sermon is based.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 18th century the word was used more widely for the subject or leading idea of a text, a conversation or a work of art;^[7][2] Heine writes of undankbare Themata (1837).^[7][2] In music it names the melody on which a work or its variations are built.^[7][4] In linguistics it names the part of a sentence that conveys what is already known, as opposed to the Rhema.^[8][9]

The derivatives thematisch and Thematik are recorded in the 19th century, Thematisierung in 1935 and thematisieren in 1965.^[4][7] Hungarian borrowed téma in 1790 and tematika in 1915.^[10]

Timeline

• Before 1350 – Middle High German thema is used by Tauler.^[6]
• 1414 – thema names the text of a sermon.^[2]
• 16th century – The short form Them appears.^[2]
• 18th century – The general sense “subject, leading idea” spreads.^[7]
• 1790 – Hungarian téma is recorded.^[10]
• 19th century – thematisch and Thematik appear.^[4]
• 1965 – thematisieren is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A topic or subject of a study, work or conversation: das Thema wechseln.^[9][1]
2. (colloquial) In kein Thema: no problem, that goes without saying.^[9]
3. (music) A theme, the melody that forms the main idea of a composition.^[9][1]
4. (linguistics) The part of a sentence that conveys known information, as opposed to the Rhema.^[9][8]
5. (grammar, archaic) The stem of an inflected word.^[1]

Word family

• thematisch
• Thematik
• thematisieren

Related words

• These
• Theke
• tun
• English theme

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
3. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 915
4. ^ a b c d e Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 858
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de