Etymologically
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bilden

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbɪldən/, [ˈbɪldn̩][1]

Forms

bilden (third-person singular present bildet, past tense bildete, past participle gebildet, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bilden, inherited from Old High German bilidōn (“to copy a given shape”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *biliþōn, with which the older Old High German biliden (“to give a thing shape”) merged.[2][3][4][1] Both verbs were formed from bilidi (“image, shape”), the ancestor of Bild.[2][5] The Old High German dictionary explains the difference between them by meaning, not by dialect, and notes that the first verb was soon pushed out by the second, first in Franconian.[6] The same formation is Middle Low German bilden, Middle Dutch beelden, Old Frisian bilethia and Swedish bilda.[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the verb to the 8th century;[2][8] Köbler records a gloss of the late 8th century.[2][8] Old High German bilidōn meant “to shape, represent; to copy, imitate; to set an example”, and occurs in Otfrid, Tatian, Notker, the Physiologus and Williram.[9] Otfrid (863/71) uses it of following a holy man's example: bilido io filu fram thesan heilegon man “always follow this holy man closely”.[7]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German bilden combined both senses and was used of craftsmanship and art, of decorating with pictures, and of God as creator; later of the shaping work of nature, and reflexively of natural forms coming into being.[4][10] The mystics applied it to the mind and soul (compare einbilden), and this prepared the way for the 18th-century use of bilden and Bildung as central terms of education, at first for the shaping of the young.[2][3][4] From the middle of the 18th century, and especially in the classical period, the participle gebildet “educated” and the noun der Gebildete became common, and the arts were called die bildenden Künste.[3]

Adelung (1793) records the senses “to give a body its shape” and, figuratively, “to give the mind and will their proper direction”.[11]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – First record, in Old High German glosses.[8][2]
  • 863/71 – Otfrid uses bilidōn for following an example.[7]
  • 11th century – Notker writes that the Israelites bildoton daz chalp “made the calf” at Horeb.[7]
  • c. 1285 – Konrad von Würzburg describes ornaments gebildet und gehouwen “shaped and carved”.[7]
  • 18th century – bilden, Bildung and gebildet become terms of education;[3][2] bildende Kunst appears.[3][2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To form, shape or produce something in a particular way: Sätze bilden “to form sentences”.[12][1]
  2. To shape artistically; to model or sculpt: Figuren aus Lehm bilden “to model figures in clay”.[12]
  3. To form by grouping or organizing; to set up: eine Regierung bilden “to form a government”, einen Kreis bilden “to form a circle”.[12]
  4. (with a dative reflexive) To form for oneself: sich eine Meinung bilden “to form an opinion”.[12]
  5. To produce out of itself; reflexively, to develop, come into being: an der Wunde bildet sich Schorf “a scab forms on the wound”.[12][13]
  6. To be, constitute: der Fluss bildet die Grenze “the river forms the border”.[13]
  7. To educate; reflexively, to educate oneself.[1][13]

Word family

  • Bildung
  • Gebilde
  • gebildet
  • Bildner
  • bildsam
  • abbilden
  • ausbilden
  • einbilden
  • eingebildet
  • verbilden

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 123
  3. ^ a b c d e 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. 149
  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, 50
  6. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 1, 1033
  7. ^ a b c d e 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, 223
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 49
  10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 274
  11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 1015
  12. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  13. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org