behaupten

Forms

behaupten (third-person singular present behauptet, past tense behauptete, past participle behauptet, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German behoubeten (“to prove, confirm”), a prefixed form of houbeten (“to acknowledge as head; to regard oneself as head”), formed from houbet (“head, chief, lord”) (Haupt).^[2][3][4] That noun continues Old High German houbit (“head, chief, leader”).^[5] Kluge takes it to belong, probably, to that noun in the sense “lord”, so that the verb first meant “to prove oneself master (of something)”.^[6][7] Middle Low German had the same verb, Middle Low German behôveden.^[4]

The derivation from the noun was not always accepted: Adelung thought the image obscure and preferred to see the verb as an intensive of behaben (“to hold fast”),^[8] while the Grimms rejected that explanation as impossible on the evidence of the sounds and pictured the mastering of a horse or a man by the head.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A single 13th-century record of Middle High German behoubeten means “to behead”, of John the Baptist, and has no successors.^[2][4] The word that survived belongs to the language of the courts from the 14th century: “to prove, confirm, make good (a claim)”.^[6][2] A Middle Low German record of 1355 says that a claimant shall behoveden his better right with six knights and six squires.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the legal sense “to make good a cause, win a case” came, early in the 16th century, the military sense “to defend successfully, hold”, still alive in das Feld behaupten and the reflexive sich behaupten “to hold one's own”.^[2][6][10] The Grimms noted that Geiler von Kaysersberg and Luther avoid the word and that it became general only in the 17th century, perhaps spreading from Switzerland, where Maaler recorded it in 1561 in senses such as “to carry one's point, win one's case”.^[9]

Through phrases like eine Meinung behaupten “to defend an opinion” it reached the modern sense “to declare (something) to be true”, in use from the 17th century.^[2][3] In the 18th century it came to mean “to present something unproven as fact”, as in Kant, and in reported speech it often implies doubt about what is said.^[10] The noun Behauptung is recorded from the end of the 16th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 13th century – An isolated Middle High German behoubeten means “to behead”.^[2][4]
• 14th century – The verb appears in legal language, “to prove, make good”.^[6][7]
• 1355 – Middle Low German behoveden “to prove (a right)” in a legal record.^[4]
• Early 16th century – Military sense “to defend successfully”.^[2]
• 1561 – Maaler's Swiss dictionary records behaupten “to carry one's point, win”.^[9]
• Late 16th century – The noun Behauptung appears.^[2]
• 17th century – The word becomes general, and the sense “to state an opinion” appears.^[9][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To claim, assert: to state firmly, or to present something unproven as certain: Sie behauptet, er habe angerufen.^[11][1]
2. To maintain, keep or defend successfully: seine Stellung behaupten.^[11]
3. (reflexive) sich behaupten: to hold one's own, to stand one's ground against resistance.^[11][1]
4. (reflexive, sport) To win: Die Gäste behaupteten sich mit 2 : 1.^[11]

Word family

• Behauptung

Related words

• enthaupten
• überhaupt
• Haupt

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d e f 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, 669
5. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 1168
6. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 103
7. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 812
9. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1330
10. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag