Wort

Forms

Wort n (genitive Wortes or Worts, plural Wörter or Worte, diminutive Wörtchen n or Wörtlein n)^[1] As an old neuter it had a plural without ending, Old High German thiu wort.^[2] Middle German had the plural worte early on, after the masculine nouns, and worter appears in the 12th century, wörter about 1300.^[2] From the 16th century the plurals were used for different senses, a distinction Schottel required in the 17th century: Wörter for single words, Worte for connected speech.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wort, inherited from Old High German wort, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wurdą (“word”).^[3][2][4] The same word is Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd), Old Norse orð, Old English word, Old Frisian word and Old Saxon word, and English word, Dutch woord and Swedish ord.^[3][4][2]

The Germanic word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *werdʰo- (“word”), also seen in Old Prussian wirds (“word”), and with another ablaut grade in Latin verbum and Lithuanian var̃das (“name”).^[3][2][5] This is an extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to say, speak solemnly”), found with other extensions in Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “I say”) and Hittite weriya- (“to call, name”).^[3][2][6] Kroonen notes that if the Hittite verb belongs here, the root began with a laryngeal, and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *(h₂)urdʰ-o-.^[4] The Latin /b/ continues the Indo-European aspirate /dʰ/.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wort is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses of about 765 and in the Hildebrandslied, and is common in the Isidor, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[7][8] Besides “word” it meant “speech, utterance, report”, “command” and “call”.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The word is used both for the smallest unit of language and for an utterance, a saying or a text.^[9][10] The sense “promise” is found in phrases such as sein Wort geben, sein Wort halten and jemanden beim Wort nehmen.^[9][11] In Christian use Gottes Wort is Scripture, and the word renders Greek lógos for the second person of the Trinity, as in Luther's vnd das Wort ward Fleisch (John 1:14).^[9] In meetings it came to mean the right to speak: das Wort haben, jemandem das Wort erteilen, ums Wort bitten.^[9][11] Schiller uses it for a password.^[9]

Many derivatives and compounds are dated: Wortführer “spokesman” in the 16th century, Wörterbuch in the first half of the 17th century, Wortwechsel in the 17th, Wortschatz at the end of the 18th, and wortwörtlich in the 19th century.^[2][6] Wörtlich meant “expressed in words” in Early New High German and “literal” from the 17th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 765 – Old High German wort appears in glosses.^[7]
• 12th century – The plural worter appears.^[2]
• c. 1300 – The plural wörter appears.^[2]
• 16th century – Wortführer appears.^[2]
• 17th century – Schottel requires Wörter for single words and Worte for connected speech;^[2] Wörterbuch appears.^[2]
• End of the 18th century – Wortschatz appears in the sense “vocabulary”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural Wörter) A word, the smallest independent unit of language with a sound and a meaning: Dieses Wort kenne ich nicht.^[11][1]
2. (plural Worte) A word considered for its content, a term or expression: Freundschaft ist ein großes Wort.^[11]
3. (plural Worte) An utterance, something said, a remark: ein Wort der Entschuldigung.^[11][1]
4. (no plural) The right or opportunity to speak, the floor: Jetzt hat Frau Becker das Wort.^[11][1]
5. (no plural) A promise, one's word of honour: Ich gebe dir mein Wort.^[11][1]
6. (Christianity) The Word of God, Scripture, and the Word as a name of Christ.^[1][9]

Word family

• Antwort
• wörtlich
• wortlos
• Wörterbuch
• Wortschatz
• Wortführer
• Wortwechsel
• wortwörtlich
• Sprichwort
• Fremdwort
• Lehnwort

Related words

• Verb
• Rhetorik
• English word

Usage notes

The two plurals are distinguished: Wörter for words as separate units (ein Wörterbuch mit 50 000 Wörtern), Worte for words in context, an utterance (Worte der Ermutigung).^[11][2] Fixed phrases include ein Mann, ein Wort (a man keeps his word), mit anderen Worten “in other words” and ein gutes Wort für jemanden einlegen “to put in a good word for someone”.^[9][1]

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 g h i j k l m n o p q Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 995
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 939
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 399
9. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 1467
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag