Zeitung

Forms

Zeitung f (genitive Zeitung, plural Zeitungen)^[1] Early New High German wrote tzijdong and czitunge in the 15th century, and Zeitung from the 16th.^[2] The plural was often strong, without ending, as in Luther's newe zeytung, though the weak plural in -en is recorded as early as 1403.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German zīdunge (“news, message”), borrowed from Middle Low German tīdinge (“event, news”).^[4][2][5] The High German form, with /ts/ for the Low German /t/, first appears shortly before 1300 in the Cologne area, at the edge of the Cologne and Flemish trading world, which is why the word is taken as a loan.^[4][5][3] Wiktionary names Middle Dutch tīdinge as the source, and the Middle Dutch form is listed beside the Low German one by Kluge and Pfeifer.^[1][4][2]

The Low German noun is a formation in /-ing/ meaning “occurrence”, probably from tīden (“to go towards, strive for”), which in the sense “to proceed, take place” matches Old English tīdan (“to happen”); the Old English noun tīdung (“event, news”) is the same formation and survives as English tidings.^[2][5][4] Kluge and the Duden derive that verb from the noun that became Zeit, and Wiktionary reconstructs the chain as Proto-West Germanic *tīdungu (“message”), from *tīdōn (“to happen”), from *tīdi (“time”);^[4][5][1] Pfeifer says only that the group can be connected with the noun for time,^[2] and the Grimms keep the Low German verb meaning “to strive” apart.^[3]

A parallel Norse word, Old Norse tíðendi (“events, report”) (a plural), comes from tíðr (“happening, usual”) and gave Danish tidende and Norwegian Nynorsk tidend (“newspaper”), while Swedish tidning was borrowed from Middle Low German.^[4][2][3] Related forms elsewhere are Dutch tijding and Yiddish צײַטונג (tsaytung).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Around 1300 in the Cologne area zīdunge meant “news, message”, a report of something that had happened;^[5][4] Pfeifer dates the late Middle High German (West Central German) forms zīdung, zīding to the end of the 14th century.^[2] The Grimms quote it from the Marian songs of Brother Hans, in Ripuarian of the last quarter of the 14th century, for the angel's greeting as true tidings.^[3] Some 16th-century examples still show the older sense “event”: in 1542 a writer says he has seen jemmerliche zeittung, “pitiful events”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant news brought by word of mouth, then written news, and finally printed reports, which appear from the 15th century;^[4] from 1502 printed sheets in Augsburg carried the title Newe zeytung.^[4][6] In the 16th century such titles were common on pamphlets, and they were also used for enclosures to letters that were copied or printed because their contents were of general interest.^[2] From the 17th century it named the first newspapers in the modern sense, the first weeklies being the Aviso of Wolfenbüttel and the Relation of Strasbourg, both of 1609.^[4][6][2]

At first the periodical was named with the plural (die Zeitungen), and Adelung still notes that the plural was most usual; the singular for one paper took over from the end of the 18th century.^[6][7] Adelung calls the sense “news of an event” obsolete in the elevated style, but Goethe, Schiller and Platen still used it, and it lasted into the 19th century.^[7][6][5] Schopenhauer coined Zeitungsdeutsch in 1851 to attack the jargon of the German press;^[6] Zeitungsschreiber meant a reporter in 1620 and a journalist in 1643.^[6] Slovene borrowed the word as cajtinge “news”, and the Polish of Cieszyn as cajtóng “newspaper”.^[8]

Timeline

• Shortly before 1300 – zīdunge “news” appears in the Cologne area.^[4][5]
• 1403 – A weak plural in -en is recorded.^[3]
• 15th century – Printed reports called Zeitung appear.^[4]
• 1502 – Printed news sheets in Augsburg bear the title Newe zeytung.^[4][6]
• 1609 – The first weekly newspapers, the Aviso and the Relation.^[6][2]
• 1620 – Zeitungsschreiber “reporter”; 1643 in the sense “journalist”.^[6]
• End of the 18th century – The singular becomes usual for a single newspaper.^[6]
• 1851 – Schopenhauer coins Zeitungsdeutsch.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A newspaper, a printed publication that appears daily or at short intervals, with news and reports: Sie liest jeden Morgen die Zeitung beim Frühstück.^[9][1]
2. The editorial staff or the company that produces a newspaper: Er arbeitet seit Jahren bei einer Zeitung in Hamburg.^[9]
3. (dated) News of an event, tidings.^[9][1]

Word family

• Tageszeitung
• Wochenzeitung
• Zeitungsdeutsch
• Zeitungsschreiber
• Zeitungssprache
• Zeitungsleser
• Zeitungspapier

Related words

• Zeit
• English tidings

Usage notes

The Grimms list two rare 16th-century words of the same spelling formed from Zeit: one meaning “ripening”, a substitute for Zeitigung, and a collective “times, season, weather”, used by Luther in Acts 14:17 for “fruitful seasons” until 1720 editions changed it.^[10] Adelung still mentions the sense “weather” as long obsolete.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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. 31, 591
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1005
5. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 948
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 4, 1680
8. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
9. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 31, 590