Universität

Forms

Universität f (genitive Universität, plural Universitäten)^[1] Middle High German and Early New High German wrote universitet; the spelling with ⟨ä⟩ appears in the 16th century and displaced the older one in the 17th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German universitēt, borrowed from Medieval Latin ūniversitās (“corporation (of masters and students)”), borrowed in the 14th century.^[3][4][5] The Latin noun meant “the whole, totality”, in Late Latin law also “community, corporation, guild”, and in the Middle Ages the self-governing community of teachers and students.^[4][6] It is formed from Latin ūniversus (“whole, all together”), from ūnus (“one”) and versus (“turned”), the past participle of vertō (“to turn”).^[3][7]

The same word is Dutch universiteit, English university, French université and Swedish universitet.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Vienna document of 1365: the schoolmaster is to attend an anniversary mit ganzer universitet der maister, studenten und schueller (“with the whole body of masters, students and pupils”).^[5][8] Here it still meant the corporation rather than the institution.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

Soon after, in the second half of the 14th century, it was transferred to the institution of learning: a Vienna text of 1370 speaks of der universitet und gefreyten schuln ze Wienn.^[4][5] From the 16th century it also meant the building and the course of study.^[4] Early New High German also said hohe Schule or Akademie, and Simon Rot glosses it in 1571 as a high school to which the students of a whole country go.^[8][5] Paracelsus uses it for “the universe”.^[2]

Students made fun of it with distortions such as Unverstandsmühle “mill of ignorance” (1782).^[8] The short form Uni appears in writing in the 20th century, for instance in Fallada (1934).^[4][8] German passed the word on to Polish uniwersytet and Russian университет (universitét).^[1]

Timeline

• 1365 – First record, in a Vienna document.^[5]
• 1370 – Used of the institution in Vienna.^[5]
• 16th century – Used of the building and of study; the spelling with ⟨ä⟩ appears.^[4][2]
• 1571 – Simon Rot glosses it as Hohe schul.^[8]
• 17th century – Universität displaces universitet.^[2]
• 1934 – Uni in Fallada.^[8]
• 1965 – The Technische Hochschule München becomes a Technische Universität.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A university, an institution of higher teaching and research divided into faculties: an der Universität Leipzig Chemie studieren.^[9][1]
2. The whole body of teachers and students of a university.^[9][10]
3. The building or buildings of a university.^[9][10]

Word family

• Uni
• universitär

Related words

• universal
• Universum
• English university

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 1076
3. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 943
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f 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
6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 888
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org