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Zusammenhang

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Forms

Zusammenhang m (genitive Zusammenhanges or Zusammenhangs, plural Zusammenhänge)[1]

Etymology

Paul explains it as a back-formation from the verb zusammenhängen, older “zusammenhangen”, recorded by Kaspar Stieler in 1691.[2] Wiktionary analyses it as from German zusammen- + Hang.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stieler records it in 1691.[3][2] The Grimms' dictionary names Christian Wolff as the writer who brought it into wide use, in the sense of the connection between ground and consequence or cause and effect: jemehr man den Zusammenhang der wahrheiten einsiehet, jemehr hat man vernunfft (1720, “the more one sees the connection of truths, the more reason one has”).[3]

Semantic evolution

Wolff introduced it into the language of philosophy.[2][3] Besides the logical sense it was used for physical cohesion (Kant), for the continuity of land and buildings, for the unity of a people, and for the context of a passage, as when Lessing asks the reader to look at a passage im Zusammenhange.[3] Adelung around 1800 defines it as the state in which the separable parts of a thing are joined, as in the coherence of a sermon.[4] The adjective unzusammenhängend (17th century) follows Latin incohaerens and French incohérent.[2]

Timeline

  • 1691 – Kaspar Stieler records Zusammenhang and zusammenhangen.[2]
  • 1720 – Christian Wolff uses it of the connection of truths.[3]
  • Around 1800 – Adelung defines it as the joining of the parts of a thing.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A connection or relation between events or facts: Es gibt einen Zusammenhang zwischen Schlaf und Gedächtnis.[5][1]
  2. context: Das Zitat wurde aus dem Zusammenhang gerissen.[5][1]
  3. coherence, the hanging together of parts.[1][4]

Word family

  • zusammenhanglos

Usage notes

In diesem Zusammenhang “in this connection” introduces a related point, and im Zusammenhang mit means “in connection with”.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 32, 748
  4. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 4, 1770
  5. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag