Wunsch

Forms

Wunsch m (genitive Wunsches or Wunschs, plural Wünsche, diminutive Wünschlein n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wunsch, inherited from Old High German wunsc, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wunskaz (“wish”).^[2][3][1] Kluge and Pfeifer set up a Germanic masculine *wunska- and a feminine *wunskō, also in Old Norse ósk, Old English wūsc, Middle Low German wunsch and Middle Dutch wonsc.^[2][3][4] In Old Norse and Old English the /n/ was lost with lengthening of the vowel.^[3] Dutch wens has another vowel grade, and English wish continues the Old English verb wȳscan.^[3][5]

The verb wünschen is derived from the noun, although the noun itself seems to rest on a verb formed with the suffix “-sk-”, as in a Sanskrit verb meaning “desires, wishes”.^[2][3] The Grimms' dictionary weighs both possibilities: the noun formed from the verb, or the noun formed from a lost present and the verb from the noun.^[5] It belongs to the root Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive for, wish, love”), also in Latin venus (“love, charm”) and in German gewinnen, Wahn, wohnen and Wonne.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wunsc is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses from 765 and in the Benediktinerregel, meaning “wish, will”.^[2][7] Schützeichel finds it also in Notker, and in the phrase wunsc chindo “adoption as children”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle High German wunsch meant above all the sum of everything perfect and extraordinary, almost an objective power, and Middle High German personified it as the creator and giver of all perfection and blessing: si hât wunsches gewalt “she has the power of the Wish”.^[9][10] The subjective sense of striving and longing grew beside it, as in nach Wunsch and Luther's meines hertzen wundsch (Romans 10:1).^[9] In folk belief wishing had magic power, as in the Grimms' Froschkönig: In den alten Zeiten, wo das Wünschen noch geholfen hat.^[9]

From the second half of the 18th century it came to mean the idea of something one longs for personally, with phrases such as auf jemandes Wunsch and formulas of greeting.^[9] The Wünschelrute “divining rod” is recorded from 1532.^[9]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German wunsc in glosses.^[7]
• c. 1150 – Middle High German wunsch in the Speculum ecclesiae.^[11]
• 1532 – First record of Wünschelrute.^[9]
• 1559 – A soldier to whom Saint Peter grants three wishes: drey wünsch.^[9]
• Second half of the 18th century – The modern sense of a personal wish becomes established.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wish or desire, something one hopes for rather than works for: Ihr größter Wunsch ist eine Reise nach Island.^[12][1]
2. That which one wishes, the object of a wish; in the plural, good wishes: mit den besten Wünschen.^[1][13][14]

Word family

• wünschen
• Glückwunsch
• Wünschelrute
• Wunschdenken
• Wunschtraum
• Wunschzettel
• Kinderwunsch

Related words

• gewinnen
• Wahn
• wohnen
• Wonne
• English wish

Usage notes

Ein frommer Wunsch “a pious wish”, a hope that will hardly come true, renders Latin pia desideria, the title of a book by Hermann Hugo (1588–1639), and is mostly ironic.^[9] Nach Wunsch means “as one wished”.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 996
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 2014
6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 940
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 400
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 997
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
14. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf