ablehnen

Forms

ablehnen (third-person singular present lehnt ab, past tense lehnte ab, past participle abgelehnt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German ab- + lehnen in the early 16th century.^[2][3][1] It first meant “to take away something that leans against something”, though it is never recorded in a purely concrete sense; the Duden dictionary explains it as “to take the support away”, from Lehne “support, back of a seat”.^[2][4] The sense “to ward off, refuse” probably arose under the influence of Latin dēclīnō, which however means rather “to turn aside”.^[2][3][5] Until the 18th century it had a synonym ableinen, from the old causative verb.^[3][6]

The verb lehnen is Middle High German lenen, Old High German hlinēn, from West Germanic “to lean”, mixed with the causative hleinen; it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to bend, lean”), as do Latin clīnō, Ancient Greek κλίνω (klínō) and Lithuanian šliẽti (“to lean, prop”).^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The revised Grimms' dictionary has it from 1523, in a demand of the Peasants' War that the innovations introduced by chapters and parishes be done away with (abzelenen);^[5] Paul too dates the sense “to reject” to 1523, first in legal language.^[3] Luther's Bible of 1530 has a variant reading hat sich ab gelenet, “has turned away”, close to the spatial sense of lehnen.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries the verb often meant “to remove, avert, ward off” a danger or harm: Hans Sachs writes in 1546 that Paris accepted the beautiful gift to settle the quarrel, diese zwitracht zu lenen ab.^[5] The sense “to avert” was still common in Goethe, who also used it for “to decline to do something”.^[3] Until the middle of the 19th century it was often construed etwas von sich ablehnen.^[5] The modern senses are “to decline an offer”, “to refuse a request” and “to disapprove of”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1523 – First record, in the sense “to do away with, reject”.^[5][3]
• 1530 – A variant in Luther's Bible uses it of turning away.^[5]
• 1546 – Hans Sachs uses it of settling a quarrel.^[5]
• 18th century – The synonym ableinen goes out of use.^[3]
• Mid-19th century – The construction von sich ablehnen becomes rare.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To decline, not accept something offered: Sie lehnte das Angebot höflich ab.^[4][1]
2. To refuse, turn down a request or demand: Der Rat lehnte den Vorschlag ab.^[4][1]
3. To disapprove of, not accept as right: Er lehnt Gewalt grundsätzlich ab.^[4]
4. To reject as not applicable: Die Firma lehnt jede Haftung ab;^[4] (law) to object to a witness or judge.^[4]

Word family

• Ablehnung
• ablehnend

Related words

• lehnen
• Lehne
• English lean

Usage notes

A separate ablehnen “to borrow”, from lehnen “to lend”, is recorded from 1416 to the 17th century,^[5] and it is the only sense Adelung gives.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 7
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 1, 524
6. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 568
8. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf