aufnehmen

Forms

aufnehmen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present nimmt auf, past tense nahm auf, past participle aufgenommen, past subjunctive nähme auf, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ūfnëmen, formed from German auf- + nehmen.^[1][2][3] Wiktionary reconstructs Old High German *ūfnëman and Proto-West Germanic *uppneman before it; the same formation is Middle Low German upnemen, Dutch opnemen and Old English upniman.^[1][2]

The verb nehmen is Middle High German nemen, Old High German neman, Proto-Germanic *nemaną, also in Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old Norse nema and Old English niman.^[4] Its further origin is debated: Kluge compares both a family meaning “to take, buy”, Latin emō and Lithuanian im̃ti (“to take”), which would be at most a rhyming variant, and the root Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to allot”) of Ancient Greek νέμω (némō, “I distribute, possess”), and calls the connection unclear,^[4] while the Duden dictionary derives it from *nem- “to allot”, in the middle voice “to allot to oneself, take”.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The revised Grimm dictionary's first quotation is a late 12th-century translation of a Latin hymn in which Christ's persecutor takes up the martyrs as the wind takes up roses.^[2] Middle High German ūfnemen meant to take up, receive, accept, understand, increase or begin.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense “to pick up, lift” is the oldest;^[2][6] Luther used it of Christ taken up to heaven.^[2][6] From the idea of taking something to oneself came “to receive” guests, members or patients, “to take in” knowledge, “to borrow” money and “to include” a word in a dictionary.^[6] With the sense “to take up again” it came to mean “to begin” work, talks or a fight, and the telephone sense “to pick up the receiver” is found in Sternheim.^[6] The newer senses “to record” in writing, on film or on tape followed, and the noun Aufnahme is used for a photograph or recording.^[7][1]

Es mit jemandem aufnehmen “to be a match for someone” properly meant to take up arms against them.^[7]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – First quotation, in a German version of a Latin hymn.^[2]
• c. 1300 – Heinrich von Neustadt's Apollonius has a hero picking up his sword.^[2]
• 1563 – Kirchhof tells of a miller who picks up a nest of eggs.^[2]
• 1854 – The Grimms' dictionary cites ein Wort in ein Lexikon aufnehmen “to include a word in a dictionary”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pick up, lift from the ground: Er nahm den Schlüssel vom Boden auf.^[7][1]
2. To begin, take up an activity: Die beiden Länder nahmen Verhandlungen auf.^[7][1]
3. To receive, take in or accommodate someone: Die Familie nahm zwei Flüchtlinge auf.^[7][1]
4. To admit as a member; to include something: Sie wurde in den Chor aufgenommen.^[7][1]
5. (Austria) To employ, take on.^[7]
6. To hold, have room for: Der Saal nimmt 300 Gäste auf.^[7]
7. To take in mentally, to grasp; to absorb a substance.^[7]
8. To borrow money: einen Kredit aufnehmen.^[7]
9. To react to something in a certain way: Der Vorschlag wurde gut aufgenommen.^[7]
10. To record: to write down, photograph, film or record on tape: ein Lied aufnehmen.^[7][1]
11. (Northern Germany) To mop up from the floor.^[7]
12. (knitting) To cast on additional stitches.^[7]

Word family

• Aufnahme

Related words

• nehmen
• annehmen
• vernehmen

Usage notes

Es mit jemandem aufnehmen (können) means “to be able to compete with someone, to be a match for them”.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. 3, 625
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 651
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 579
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag