aus

Forms

aus^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ūz, inherited from Old High German ūz, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *ūt, inherited from Proto-Germanic *ūt (“out”).^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Gothic 𐌿𐍄 (ut), Old Norse út, Old English ūt, Old Frisian ūt and Old Saxon ūt, and today Dutch uit, English out and Swedish ut.^[2][4] It continues Proto-Indo-European *úd (“up, out”), whose vowel was lengthened in Germanic because the word was a monosyllable.^[4][1] Outside Germanic the same adverb is found in Sanskrit उद् (úd, “up, out”), in the Lithuanian prefix už- (“up, onto”) and in the comparatives उत्तर (úttara, “upper, higher”) and Ancient Greek ὕστερος (hústeros, “later, latter”).^[3][5][6]

In Gothic, Old Norse and Old English the word was only an adverb; it became a preposition only in German and Dutch, from Old High German on.^[2][3][7] The older Germanic preposition for “out of” was Proto-Germanic *uz, seen in 𐌿𐍃 (us) and in the German prefixes er- and ur-; the adverb was first added to it for clarity, as in 𐌿𐍄 𐌿𐍃 (ut us, “out of”), and then took over its role.^[3][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German ūz is recorded from the end of the 8th century, in the Isidor translation and in glosses, and then in Otfrid, Tatian and Notker; it meant “out, outside, out of” and could also be used as a conjunction meaning “but”.^[8] As a preposition it was still rare in Old High German.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In New High German the free adverb has largely given way to heraus and hinaus, so that where Middle High German said simply ūz modern German says hinaus!;^[9][3][5] aus lives on mainly as the first part of separable verbs such as ausgehen and aussteigen.^[9][3][5] A few of these, such as ausbleiben, continue the Middle High German adverb of rest ūze “outside”.^[9] The adverbial sense “over, finished” (die Schule ist aus) and “switched off” belongs to colloquial speech.^[10][1]

The neuter noun Aus, the area outside the field of play, was introduced in sports language at the beginning of the 20th century as a loan translation of out.^[3][5] From the boxing count it also came to mean a player's or team's elimination, and figuratively the end of something.^[11]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – Old High German ūz appears in the Isidor translation and in glosses.^[8][2]
• 1060–1065 – Middle High German ūz is used as a preposition in Williram's commentary on the Song of Songs.^[12]
• 1919 – First record in DWB2 of the noun Aus, in Franz Werfel's Gerichtstag.^[11]
• 1936 – A radio boxing report calls out aus – aus – aus at the end of a fight.^[11]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with dative) out of, from the inside of something: aus dem Zimmer laufen.^[10][1]
2. (with dative) From a place or time of origin: Sie stammt aus Leipzig.^[10][1]
3. (with dative) Out of a state, so that it changes: aus dem Schlaf hochschrecken.^[10]
4. (with dative) Giving a reason or motive: aus Neugier fragen.^[10][1]
5. (with dative) Giving the material something is made of, or an earlier stage: ein Tisch aus Eiche.^[10][1]
6. (Austria) In a school subject: eine gute Note aus Physik.^[10]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) Over, finished: Das Spiel ist aus.^[10][1]
2. (of a device) Switched off.^[1][13]
3. (Austria, informal) Sold out, gone.^[1]

Word family

• Aus
• außen
• außer
• heraus
• hinaus
• draußen

Related words

• er-
• ur-
• English out

Usage notes

Aus und ein gehen “to go in and out, to be a frequent visitor” is one of the few uses of the independent adverb that remain current.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. 74
3. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 117
6. ^ a b 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, 915
7. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 817
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ a b c 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, 931
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org