Etymologically
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Untersuchung

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Pronunciation

  • /ʊntɐˈzuːxʊŋ/, [ʔʊntɐˈzuːxʊŋ][1]

Forms

Untersuchung f (genitive Untersuchung, plural Untersuchungen)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German undersuochunge, formed from German untersuchen + -ung at the end of the Middle High German period.[2][3][1] The verb, like the noun, is first recorded in the 15th century.[4][1] Wiktionary assumes an older unattested form and compares Old Saxon undarsōkian, Old Dutch undersuoken and Old English undersēcan, all from Proto-West Germanic *undersōkijan (“to search under or between”).[1]

suchen is Old High German suohhen, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), the same word as Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan), Old Norse sœkja, Old English sēcan and English seek.[5][6][1] Pfeifer and Kroonen relate it by ablaut to the strong verb Old High German sahhan (“to quarrel, go to law”), the source of Sache.[5][6] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek, track”), with Latin and Greek cognates.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Late Middle High German undersuochunge glosses the Latin words scrutinium and indagatio, a searching or tracking down.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The oldest use of the verb was concrete: to search a basket or the soil, though the sense of unter was no longer felt.[4] From the 17th century it meant to study and examine something scientifically, and soon also medically and in law; the noun followed the same course.[4] The Grimms' dictionary has examples from the sounding of the sea with a lead to Kant and Bismarck.[2]

The same formation is Dutch onderzoeking, Danish undersøgelse and Swedish undersökning.[2]

Timeline

  • 15th century – untersuchen and Untersuchung are first recorded, with concrete senses.[4]
  • 17th century – The scientific, medical and legal senses appear.[4]
  • 1724 – Neukirch writes of a gründliche Untersuchung in a manual of poetry.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A careful examination of something to find out its nature or condition, and a scientific study of it, also the written work: eine Untersuchung des Grundwassers.[3][1]
  2. A medical examination: Die Untersuchung beim Hausarzt dauerte nicht lange.[3]
  3. An official investigation of a case by the police or a court.[3][1]

Word family

  • Untersuchungshaft
  • Voruntersuchung

Usage notes

Swiss German prefers the shorter Untersuch, and in Swabian Untersuchung was not a popular word.[2]

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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 1855
  3. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  4. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ a b 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling