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Wahl

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Pronunciation

Forms

Wahl f (genitive Wahl, plural Wahlen)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wale, inherited from Old High German wala (“choice”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *walu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *walą (“choice”).[2][1] It corresponds to Old Norse val (“choice”), a neuter, while Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (gawaleins, “choice, election”) is formed with another suffix from the same verb.[2][3][4] That verb, Proto-Germanic *waljaną (“to choose”), is Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waljan), Old Norse velja, Old Saxon wellian and Old High German wellen, the ancestor of wählen.[2][5][3]

Kluge says that the verb split off from wollen in a way whose details are unclear, and that its root meant both “to want” and “to choose”: Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, want”).[2][5][1][3] The Grimms' dictionary and Paul think that the noun was formed from the verb rather than the reverse, since the verb is old while the noun was at first limited to High German and Norse and reached Low German only in the 16th century.[4][6] Today the verb looks like a derivative of the noun, and its form has followed it.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wala is recorded from the early 9th century, three times in glosses and then in Notker, meaning “choice, selection, free decision”, for Latin optio and electio.[7][4][8]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German wale or wal, much more frequent than the Old High German word, meant “choice, selection”, and also “situation, fate”.[4][7] Its synonym was kür (see Kur).[6] The vowel was lengthened by the beginning of New High German, and Luther usually wrote Wahl; the two-syllable Wahle lasted in chancery language into the 17th century.[4] The proverb wer die Wahl hat, hat die Qual goes back to the 14th century, and eine Wahl treffen to the 18th.[6]

The sense “appointment to an office by vote” is Middle High German, and it grew with parliamentary life; only in this sense does the word have a plural, Wahlen.[6][4] The agent noun Wähler first meant the prince-electors who chose the king.[3][6] Wahlspruch “motto” is Zesen's coinage for Latin symbolum (1648), and Wahlverwandtschaft (1779) translates attractio electiva, the chemist Bergman's term, a sense Goethe transferred to human relations in his novel Die Wahlverwandtschaften (1809).[6][3] The use for the quality grade of goods, as in zweite Wahl, is probably recent.[6]

Timeline

  • Early 9th century – Old High German wala appears in glosses.[7][2]
  • 14th century – The proverb wer die Wahl hat, hat die Qual is recorded.[6]
  • 16th century – The word reaches Low German, and Luther writes Wahl.[4]
  • 1648 – Zesen coins Wahlspruch.[6][3]
  • 1779 – Weigel coins Wahlverwandtschaft in chemistry.[6][3]
  • 1809 – Goethe publishes Die Wahlverwandtschaften.[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Choice, the possibility of deciding, and the act of choosing between two or more options: Sie hatte keine andere Wahl, als abzusagen.[9][1]
  2. An election, a vote to fill an office or to make up a body: Die nächste Wahl findet im Herbst statt.[9][1]
  3. The fact of being elected to an office: Er nahm die Wahl an.[9]
  4. (commerce) A quality grade, as in erste Wahl or zweite Wahl.[9][1]

Word family

  • Wähler
  • wählerisch
  • Wahlspruch
  • Wahlverwandtschaft
  • Wahlkreis
  • wahllos
  • Damenwahl

Usage notes

Wer die Wahl hat, hat die Qual, “whoever has the choice has the torment”, is said of a hard decision between good options.[9][6] Zweite Wahl also describes, colloquially, something or someone less valued.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 967
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 f g Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 27, 507
  5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 368
  9. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag