Etymologically
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Wissen

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Pronunciation

Forms

Wissen n (genitive Wissens, no plural)[1]

Etymology

It is the verb wissen used as a noun, inherited from Middle High German wizzen (“knowledge”).[2][3][4] The verb continues Old High German wizzan, Proto-Germanic *witaną (“to know”), an old preterite-present whose present singular Proto-Germanic *wait is a perfect without reduplication.[5][6][1] The same verb is Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (witan), Old Norse vita, Old English witan and Old Saxon witan.[6][5]

The present singular matches the perfect Proto-Indo-European *wóyde (“has seen, knows”), also in Sanskrit वेद (véda), Ancient Greek οἶδα (oîda) and Old Church Slavonic вѣдѣ (vědě).[5][6] The perfect describes the state reached through the act of Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find”): “I have seen” and so “I know”.[5][6] The present sense “see” survives in Latin videō (“to see”) and видѣти (viděti, “to see”).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German still had no regular noun wissen.[4] In Middle High German the neuter wizzen is recorded mainly in the mystics: Meister Eckhart and Tauler use it for knowledge of God and the self.[4] Beside it stood a feminine diu wizzen “knowledge”, from the 14th century in the chancery formulas mit rechter wissen and mit wissen und willen (“knowingly and willingly”).[7]

Semantic evolution

The noun came into general use only in Early New High German, as “news, information, knowledge”, above all in fixed phrases: ein Wissen haben “to have knowledge of something” was usual in the 16th century.[4] The legal pair mit Wissen und Willen is found in charters from 1349 and in Luther;[4] ohne mein Wissen “without my knowledge” goes back to the same formulas.[4] Today the word means above all the whole of what someone knows, and Wissen ist Macht renders a saying of Francis Bacon.[2]

Modern Hebrew uses the German word as Modern Hebrew ויסן (visen, “knowledge”).[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – Meister Eckhart uses the neuter noun wizzen.[4]
  • 1349 – The charter formula mit wizzen und willin is recorded.[4]
  • 16th century – ein Wissen haben “to know of something” is common.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. knowledge: the whole of what someone knows, in general or in a particular field: Sie hat ein enormes Wissen über alte Musik.[2][1]
  2. Knowledge or awareness of a particular thing.[2] meines Wissens, as far as I know;[2] wider besseres Wissen, against one's better knowledge;[2] nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen, to the best of one's knowledge and belief.[2]

Word family

  • wissentlich
  • Wissenschaft

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 743
  5. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 992
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 742
  8. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de