Etymologically
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bevor

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Pronunciation

  • /bəˈfoːr/, [bəˈfoːɐ̯], [-ˈfɔɐ̯][1]

Forms

bevor[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bevor, inherited from Old High German bifora (“before, earlier”),[2][3][1] an adverb run together from bī (“by, at”) and fora (“before, earlier”), that is bei and vor.[3][4] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-West Germanic *bifuranē.[1] The same adverb is Old Saxon biforan, Old English beforan (now English before), Middle Low German bevoren and Old Frisian bifara.[2][5][6] The Grimms considered forms with ⟨n⟩ such as bevorn, found in poets close to Low German, more original than the High German form.[6][7][6]

The conjunction arose in Early New High German.[2] In sentences where the adverb was picked up by the conjunction ehe, it passed into the dependent clause, at first often in the formula “ehe und bevor”, and finally displaced the older conjunction there.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German bifora is first recorded in the Isidor (late 8th century), then in the Tatian (about 800–810), Otfrid and Notker, meaning “before, earlier”;[8][9][10] bifora meinen meant “to foreshadow”.[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb of place, “in front, ahead”, it survives in bevorstehen, originally “to stand before someone” and so “to be imminent”.[11][3] As an adverb of time it meant “before, formerly” in Middle High German and until the 18th century, partly as an archaism (Klinger, Voß, Wieland).[11][10] Medieval letters and later chancery style opened with formulas such as unsern dienst bevor “our service first”.[6] The use for rank, es einem bevor tun “to outdo someone” (Leibniz), is obsolete.[11]

As a conjunction it is found from the 16th century, at first often as ehe und bevor, and in the 17th century one still wrote ehe und bevor ihr fahren werdet.[10][4] Adelung in 1793 still called it an Upper German word, used in High German only in elevated or poetic style.[12]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German bifora in the Isidor.[8]
  • c. 800–810 – senu bifora sagata her iz íu “lo, he told it to you before” in the Tatian.[10]
  • 1286 – einin mant bevor “a month before” in a charter.[10]
  • 16th century – First use as a conjunction, often in ehe und bevor.[10][3]
  • 18th century – Last regular use as an adverb of time.[3]
  • 1793 – Adelung calls it Upper German and poetic.[12]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. before: introduces something that happens later than the main clause: Bevor du gehst, mach bitte das Licht aus.[13][1]
  2. With a negative, after a negative main clause: until, as long as … not: Bevor du nicht aufgeräumt hast, darfst du nicht spielen.[13]

Word family

  • bevorstehen

Usage notes

In the negative construction bevor … nicht the clause has a conditional sense and depends on a main clause that is negative too.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 118
  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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 145
  5. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 2, 28
  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, 1757
  7. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 251
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 109
  10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 5, 56
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 961
  13. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag