Vorwurf

Forms

Vorwurf m (genitive Vorwurfes or Vorwurfs, plural Vorwürfe)^[1]

Etymology

In its main sense “reproach” it is a noun formed from the verb vorwerfen, recorded since the 16th century.^[2][3][4] The verb, Middle High German vürwerfen, Old High German furiwerfan, first meant “to throw before someone” and took on the sense “to bring up against someone, reproach” in the 15th century.^[5] It is formed from werfen, werfan, from Proto-Germanic *werpaną.^[6] In the older sense “object, subject” the word is vürwurf, a 14th-century loan translation of Latin obiectum (“that which lies opposite”), itself a rendering of Ancient Greek πρόβλημα (próblēma).^[2][3][4] Middle Low German vorwerp and Middle Dutch vorewerp are formed in the same way, and the word survives in Dutch voorwerp (“object”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the language of the mystics around 1300, partly in Meister Eckhart, for what is set before the senses or the mind, an object.^[8][2][3] A mystical text says got ein vorworf aller vornunfte glîchlîchen alse daz licht der sunnen ist ein vorwurf der ougen, “God is an object of all understanding, just as the light of the sun is an object of the eyes”.^[7] In the Kolmar song manuscript it also names a song sung first as a challenge to answer.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “objection, remonstrance, reproach” arose in early New High German, in the 16th century, as the noun of vorwerfen “to put forward, to reproach”.^[3][4] The older sense “object” gave way to Gegenwurf in early New High German, came back in pietist religious language of the 17th and 18th centuries, and under the influence of French objet and sujet entered general use, above all as the subject of a work of art.^[7] Haller, Hagedorn, Lessing and Schiller used it in this sense, and Gottfried Keller formed the Swiss adjective vorwürfig.^[9] Gottsched in 1758 and Adelung recommended Gegenstand instead, which replaced it outside aesthetics.^[7] Adelung also records a hunting sense, the bait or carrion laid out for beasts of prey.^[10] Today Vorwurf “subject” is rare.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – vürwurf “object” appears in the writings of the mystics, partly in Meister Eckhart.^[8]
• 15th century – vorwerfen takes on the sense “to reproach”.^[5]
• 16th century – Vorwurf “reproach” is first recorded.^[3][4]
• 18th century – The word comes to mean the subject of literature, music or art.^[4]
• 1758 – Gottsched recommends Gegenstand in its place.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reproach or accusation, words that blame someone for what they have done: Die Opposition erhob schwere Vorwürfe gegen die Ministerin. jemandem Vorwürfe machen, to reproach someone.^[11][1]
2. (rare) The subject or theme of a work of art: Die alte Sage diente dem Komponisten als Vorwurf für eine Oper.^[11]
3. (rugby) A forward pass.^[12]

Word family

• vorwurfsvoll

Related words

• vorwerfen
• werfen
• Wurf
• Objekt
• Gegenstand

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 964
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 914
5. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 26, 1967
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
11. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
12. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org