Etymologically
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betragen

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Pronunciation

  • /bəˈtʁaːɡŋ̩/, /bəˈtʁaːɡən/[1]

Forms

betragen (class 6 strong, third-person singular present beträgt, past tense betrug, past participle betragen, past subjunctive betrüge, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German betragen, from German be- + tragen.[2][1] Kluge calls the development of its meanings unclear on the whole.[2] The sense used of sums and measures comes from the strong Middle High German verb meaning “to carry together, compare, reckon”, a prefixed form of the verb for “to carry”, while the sense “to behave” comes from a weak Middle High German verb meaning “to have one's living, make do with something”, then “to get on with someone”; the weak verb took over more and more forms of the strong one, which sounded the same.[2][3] Kluge adds that some of the senses may not belong to that verb at all but to Old Saxon tregan (“to grieve”), by way of a sense “care”, and that the details still need clarifying.[2]

The base verb continues Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to draw, carry”), also found in Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (dragan), Old Norse draga and English draw.[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German betragen is first recorded in the Kaiserchronik (about 1150), meaning “to live on, make do with, sustain oneself”.[7][2] Gottfried's Tristan has merchants who earn daʒ wir uns betragen “what we live on”.[8]

Semantic evolution

Early New High German used sich eines Dinges betragen for “to live on something” and sich mit jemandem betragen for “to get on with someone”, and the Early New High German dictionary also records “to settle (a quarrel)” and “to behave in a certain way”.[9][3] Goethe still wrote in a letter that he would get on with his publisher Göschen: mit Göschen will ich mich schon betragen.[9] The sense “to behave” became established only in the 18th century: Frisch's dictionary of 1741 does not have it yet, and the noun Betragen “conduct” is used from Lessing on.[9]

The sense “to amount to” is somewhat older, and the noun Betrag “amount” is recorded by Steinbach in 1734.[9] The old concrete senses lingered in trades: masons betragen a wall when they plaster it, goldsmiths coat silver with gold, and flies were said to betragen meat when they laid their eggs in it.[8][10] In Austria Betragen is also the school mark for conduct.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1150 – Middle High German betragen appears in the Kaiserchronik.[7]
  • 1734 – Steinbach records the noun Betrag “amount”.[9]
  • 1741 – Frisch's dictionary does not yet have the sense “to behave”.[9]
  • 18th century – sich betragen “to behave” becomes established, and Lessing uses the noun Betragen.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To amount to, come to (a sum or measure): Der Eintritt beträgt acht Euro.[11][1]
  2. (reflexive) To behave, conduct oneself: Die Gäste haben sich tadellos betragen.[11][1]

Word family

  • Betragen
  • Betrag

Usage notes

Early New High German also had a verb betragen “to grow slack; to annoy, vex”, from Middle High German betrâgen “to bore”, which belongs with träge and has died out.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 116
  3. ^ a b c Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 74
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1708
  9. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 942
  11. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag