Etymologically
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Zeichen

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈt͡saɪ̯çən/, [-çn̩], /ˈt͡saɪ̯çɛn/[1]
  • Germany: [-xn̩][1]
  • Austria, Southern-Germany, Switzerland: [-xŋ̩][1]

Forms

Zeichen n (genitive Zeichens, plural Zeichen, diminutive Zeichlein n or Zeichelchen n)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German zeichen, inherited from Old High German zeihhan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, inherited from Proto-Germanic *taikną (“sign, token”).[2][1][3] The same word is Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌽 (taikn) (beside the feminine 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌽𐍃 (taikns, “sign, miracle”)), Old Norse teikn, Old English tācn, Old Frisian tēken and Old Saxon tēkan, and English token continues the Old English word.[2][4][3] Finnish took it over early as taika (“omen, soothsaying”).[5]

Its further origin is disputed.[2][4] Pfeifer, Duden, Wahrig and the Grimms connect it with the root of zeihen and zeigen, Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”), through the ablaut variant Proto-Indo-European *doiǵ-.[4][6][7][8] Kluge instead starts from Proto-Indo-European *dey- (“to shine, appear”), as in Sanskrit दीदेति (dī́deti, “shines”) and Ancient Greek δῆλος (dêlos, “visible”), and takes the Germanic noun, like Latin dīvīnus (“soothsayer”) and Old Church Slavonic дивьнъ (divĭnŭ, “wonderful”), from a derivative meaning “omen”.[2] Kroonen derives it from a root with a doubled consonant, the source of the Germanic verbs for “to point out”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German zeihhan is recorded from 765 in glosses, and then in Isidor, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “sign, sign of victory, image, miracle, constellation, sign of the zodiac”.[9][10] Otfrid already speaks of thie zwelf zeichan, the twelve signs of the zodiac.[11]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German zeichen covered marks and symptoms, proofs, symbols, banners, coats of arms, seals, the stigmata and the signs of the zodiac.[12][4] Paul distinguishes the “natural” sign, a symptom read by interpretation (including omens such as the flight of birds), from the conventional sign: the sign of the cross, mathematical and musical signs, signals at sea and on the railway, and above all the linguistic sign, the subject of Herder's essay on the origin of language (1772) and of Saussure's linguistics.[5]

The phrase seines Zeichens “by trade” refers to the old house marks and guild signs.[13][5] Vorzeichen, Old High German forazeihhan “omen”, has also meant a sign placed in front, in mathematics and music, since the 19th century.[4][6] Polish cecha (1441) and cech (1449) “mark, stamp” and Czech cejch were borrowed from the German word.[14]

Timeline

  • 765 – Old High German zeihhan appears in glosses.[9]
  • 9th century – Otfrid writes of the twelve signs of the zodiac.[11]
  • 1441 – Polish cecha “mark” is first recorded, borrowed from German.[14]
  • 1772 – Herder takes the motto of his essay on the origin of language, “words are signs of things”, from Cicero.[5]
  • 19th century – Vorzeichen is used in mathematics and music.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sign or signal: a gesture, sound or the like that points something out or prompts an action: Auf ein Zeichen des Dirigenten begann das Orchester.[13][1]
  2. A mark made to identify or point to something: Sie machte ein Zeichen an den Rand der Seite.[13]
  3. A symbol with a fixed meaning, a character: mathematical signs, the characters of a script, punctuation marks, traffic signs.[13][1]
  4. An indication, symptom or omen: Das ist kein gutes Zeichen.[13][1]
  5. A sign of the zodiac.[13][15]
  6. (religion) A miracle, a wonder.[1][15]

Word family

  • zeichnen
  • Abzeichen
  • Anzeichen
  • Vorzeichen
  • Kennzeichen
  • Wahrzeichen
  • Zeichensetzung
  • Zeichensprache
  • Zeichentrickfilm
  • zeigen
  • Zeiger
  • zeihen
  • verzeihen
  • English token

Usage notes

Ein Zeichen setzen is to do something that sets a direction.[13] Es geschehen noch Zeichen und Wunder! (wonders will never cease) echoes Daniel 6:28 and John 4:48, and die Zeichen der Zeit, the signs of the times, comes from Matthew 16:3.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1004
  3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 946
  7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  8. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 31, 476
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 404
  11. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  14. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  15. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org