Etymologically
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bald

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Pronunciation

Forms

bald (comparative eher, superlative am ehesten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German balde, inherited from Old High German baldo, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, inherited from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“bold, strong”): an adverb of the adjective Old High German bald (“bold”).[2][1][3] The adjective is Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌰𐌱𐌰 (balþaba, “boldly”) (an adverb), Old Norse ballr, Old English beald (modern English bold), Old Saxon bald and Dutch boud.[2][4][5]

Its further origin is unclear.[2] Pfeifer, Duden and Wahrig derive it from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to swell”), as “puffed up, haughty”, the root of Ball.[5][6][7] DWB2 finds this possible but unsupported outside Germanic.[8] Kluge compares Old Irish balc (“strong”), but finds the root this implies odd.[2] Orel mentions an old comparison with Lithuanian báltas (“white”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the adverb to the 9th century, with baldlihho and beldi already in the 8th.[2] In Otfrid and Notker baldo meant “boldly, fearlessly, confidently, openly”, and the adjective bald “bold, brave, strong”.[10][11]

Semantic evolution

The shift to time began in Middle High German, where balde meant “quick, at once”: EWA explains it by the word's frequent use with verbs of motion, as with schnell.[3][6] In New High German it came to mean “soon, in a short time”.[12][6] The adjective “bold” was rare by the 15th century and survives only in personal names such as Balduin, Leopold and Willibald, which became the model for mocking nouns in -bold such as Raufbold and Witzbold.[8][5][6]

The old comparative bälder is now replaced by eher, though Goethe wrote Ich sterbe! das ist bald gesagt / Und bälder noch gethan (“I die! That is soon said, and sooner done”).[12] Some dialects still use bald as an adjective meaning “early”, as Upper Hessian bāl obst “early fruit”.[3]

Timeline

  • 8th century – baldlihho and beldi are recorded.[2]
  • 9th century – the adverb baldo appears, meaning “boldly”.[2][10]
  • Middle High German – balde comes to mean “quickly, at once”.[5][6]
  • 15th century – the last scattered records of the adjective “bold”.[8]
  • 17th century – in Bälde is formed.[6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Soon, within a short time: Wir sehen uns bald wieder.[13][1] Bis bald! “See you soon!”[13][1]
  2. Easily, quickly: Das hatte sie bald verstanden.[13]
  3. (colloquial) Almost, nearly: Wir warten schon bald zwei Stunden.[13][1]
  4. bald … bald: now … now: Bald regnete es, bald schien die Sonne.[13][1]

Word family

  • baldig
  • Bälde
  • alsbald
  • sobald
  • baldmöglichst

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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 84
  3. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 1, 434
  4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 123
  7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  8. ^ 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. 4, 82
  9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 43
  11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  12. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  13. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag