Etymologically
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bekannt

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Pronunciation

Forms

bekannt (strong nominative masculine singular bekannter, comparative bekannter, superlative am bekanntesten)[1] A form bekennt is occasionally recorded, in Kirchhof (1563), Anzengruber and East Prussian dialect.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bekant, originally a past participle: the verb is bekennen (“to know, recognize”), now bekennen.[3][4][5] The participle became an adjective because the verb lost its old meaning “to know” and now means “to confess”: verb and participle have drifted apart.[3][6] The same participle is Middle Low German bekant.[2]

The verb is Old High German bikennen, formed with the prefix bi- on kennen.[3] That verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”), also in Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kannjan, “to make known”), Old Norse kenna and Old English cennan (“to declare”), a causative of the preterite-present verb behind können.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest quotation is from the Middle High German Reimphysiologus (about 1120–1130), where bechant means “knowing, aware”: we are reminded that we are mortal.[2][8] Kluge dates the word to the 13th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “knowing, skilled, familiar with a place” lasted into modern times and survives in dialects: Seuse (about 1362) speaks of a wolgeuͤpter bekanter mensch, and Rollenhagen (1603) of travellers der örther nicht bekant.[2] In Luther it could still mean “confessing”, as in der that bekand sind “who confess the deed”.[6]

The sense “known, not strange” took over, in phrases such as es ist allgemein bekannt and in the Bible's denn sein name war nu bekand (Mark 6:14).[6] With werden and sein the participle could replace the verb, and bekannt machen became its causative.[3] Before the 18th century the word was rarely used attributively.[2] Applied to people in public life it came to mean “famous”.[9] Adelung recorded the colloquial er thut sehr bekannt mit mir “he behaves very familiarly with me”, and rejected the feminine Bekanntinn, which Hagedorn and Lessing still used.[10][9]

The noun Bekannte “acquaintance” dates from the 15th century, Bekanntschaft from 1678 and Bekanntmachung “public notice” from the 17th century.[9][4] The adverb bekanntlich “as is well known” spread from the language of the chanceries.[3][11]

Timeline

  • c. 1120–1130 – bechant “knowing” is used in the Reimphysiologus.[2]
  • 1262 – The word appears in a charter.[8]
  • 13th century – Kluge's date for the word.[3]
  • 15th century – The noun Bekannte “acquaintance” appears.[9]
  • 16th century – In arithmetic, a rule of three bekanten zalen finds the fourth, unknown one.[9]
  • Mid-17th century – Bekanntmachung “public notice” appears.[4]
  • 1678 – Bekanntschaft is recorded.[9]
  • 18th century – Bekanntheit appears.[11]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. known to many, familiar: ein bekanntes Lied.[5] With für: known for: Die Gegend ist bekannt für ihren Wein.[5][1]
  2. famous, well known: eine bekannte Schauspielerin.[5]
  3. In jemandem bekannt sein: to be known to someone, not new to them;[5] davon ist mir nichts bekannt “I know nothing about it”.[5][9]
  4. In bekannt werden: to become public.[5]
  5. In jemandem bekannt vorkommen: to seem familiar to someone.[5]
  6. In mit jemandem bekannt sein: to be acquainted with someone;[5][9] jemanden mit jemandem bekannt machen “to introduce someone to someone”.[5][9]

Word family

  • Bekannte
  • bekanntlich
  • Bekanntschaft
  • Bekanntheit
  • bekanntgeben
  • bekanntmachen
  • Bekanntmachung
  • unbekannt

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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, 858
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 107
  4. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h i j Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ 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, 1413
  7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 486
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  11. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag