beispielsweise

Forms

beispielsweise^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German Beispiel + -weise, with the linking -s-.^[1][2] It grew out of 15th- and 16th-century phrases in which the preposition in governed the genitive of the noun followed by Weise, “in the manner of an example”.^[3][4][5]

The noun goes back to Middle High German bīspel and Old Dutch bīspil (“parable, saying”), like Old English bīspell a compound of bei and Proto-Germanic *spellą (“tale, story”), “that which is told beside”.^[6][4] That Germanic word survives in Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌻𐌻 (spill, “tale, fable”), Old Norse spjall, Old High German spel (“speech, story”) and English spell; in late Middle High German its vowel was assimilated to Spiel, as in Kirchspiel.^[6][4][7] The sense “model, instance” comes from Latin exemplum,^[6][4] and zum Beispiel was modelled on French par exemple.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The phrase in peispil weis is used in the 15th century by Hans Folz, and in beispils weiss in 1515.^[3] It became an adverb meaning “as, for example” at the end of the 17th century: Goldmann's book on architecture of 1696 still writes beyspiels weise separately.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adverb remained rare until the 19th century.^[3] A review of 1772 cites a passage nur beyspielsweise, “only by way of example”, and a Prussian legal text of 1808 notes that certain classes of peasants are listed bloß beispielsweise, merely as examples.^[3] In the 20th century it became common in newspapers and prose.^[3] Paul counts it among the adverbs in -weise that go back to a genitive governed by in, a preposition later dropped.^[5]

Timeline

• 15th century – Hans Folz uses the phrase in peispil weis.^[3][4]
• 1696 – First record of the adverb, still written as beyspiels weise.^[3]
• 1772 – beyspielsweise is written as one word in a review.^[3]
• 1808 – A Prussian legal text uses bloß beispielsweise.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. For example, for instance; abbreviated bspw.: Manche Vögel, beispielsweise Störche, ziehen im Herbst nach Süden.^[8][1]

Related words

• Beispiel
• Weise
• beispielhaft
• beispiellos

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
3. ^ 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. 4, 816
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 106
7. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 724
8. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag