bestimmen

Forms

bestimmen (third-person singular present bestimmt, past tense bestimmte, past participle bestimmt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bestimmen (“to name; to fix”), formed from German be- + stimmen in the old sense of that verb, “to name, to fix”.^[2][3][1][4] It first meant “to choose or fix by one's voice”, and soon also “to order”.^[2][5] Kluge dates it to the 15th century and Pfeifer to Early New High German, while Köbler finds it in the Anegenge (about 1173) and the Grimms' dictionary says it is still lacking in Old and Middle High German.^[2][3][4][6]

The base stimmen (“to call out; to name, fix, appraise”) comes from Stimme, Old High German stimma, Proto-Germanic *stebnō (“voice”), the same word as Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌱𐌽𐌰 (stibna) and Old English stefn.^[7][8] Kluge thinks it most likely an extension of a word for “mouth”, as in Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma, “mouth”) and Avestan staman- (“mouth”), though the sound changes are not clear in detail.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German bestimmen is recorded from the Anegenge (about 1173), meaning “to name, to determine”.^[4] The simple stimmen meant “to name” and “to fix (a price, a time)”: ein zît gestimmet was (“a time had been fixed”), says the Elisabeth.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Luther's Bible the verb is frequent for fixing a time or a place, as in Exodus 9:5, und der Herr bestimmt eine Zeit.^[9][6] It also came to mean “to intend for”, especially in the past participle of fate: ihr vater hat uns für einander bestimmt (Leisewitz).^[9] In the scientific language of the 18th century, from Christian Wolff on, it took the sense “to define precisely”, and also “to classify by features”, as of a plant.^[9][3][2] Kant used it for determining a concept.^[6]

Adelung (1793) complains that in philosophical writing the verb and the noun Bestimmung were often used as mere padding.^[10] The participle bestimmt became an adverb “certainly” around 1800, a fashionable word of the time.^[3][9] Bestimmung (17th century) rendered Latin determinatio in philosophy from the late 18th century and has meant “legal regulation” since the early 19th.^[9][5]

Timeline

• About 1173 – Middle High German bestimmen appears in the Anegenge.^[4]
• 15th century – Kluge's date for the verb “to fix by one's voice”.^[2][3]
• 16th century – Luther often uses it for fixing a time or place.^[6]
• 17th century – First record of Bestimmung.^[5][9]
• 18th century – The sense “to define” develops in philosophy.^[2][5]
• Around 1800 – bestimmt comes into fashion as an adverb “certainly”.^[3][9]
• Early 19th century – Bestimmung is used for a legal regulation.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fix, to set (a time, a price, a place): Wir müssen noch den Termin bestimmen.^[11][1]
2. To decide, to have the say: In dieser Familie bestimmt die Großmutter.^[11][12]
3. To intend for, to destine: Das Paket ist für deinen Bruder bestimmt.^[11][12]
4. To determine or establish scientifically; to define; to identify the species of: das Alter eines Knochens bestimmen.^[11][1]
5. To dispose of: über sein Geld selbst bestimmen.^[11]
6. To shape, to influence decisively: Die Landschaft bestimmt das Leben der Bauern.^[11][12]
7. (reflexive) To be determined by: Der Preis bestimmt sich nach der Nachfrage.^[11]
8. To induce, to move someone to do something: jemanden zur Umkehr bestimmen.^[11][12]

Word family

• Bestimmung
• bestimmt
• Bestimmtheit

Related words

• stimmen
• Stimme

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 115
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 144
6. ^ 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, 1678
7. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1199
8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 886
9. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, p. 1, 931
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
12. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org