Etymologically
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dürfen

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdʏrfən/, [ˈdʏʁf(ə)n], [ˈdʏɐ̯f(ə)n][1]

Forms

dürfen (preterite-present, third-person singular present darf, past tense durfte, past participle gedurft, past subjunctive dürfte, auxiliary haben)[1] Middle High German had the past tense dorfte, which was still usual in Early New High German and occasionally in the 18th century.[2][3] durfte, modelled on the present, appears now and then from the 12th century and became established in the 18th.[3] Conversely, present forms dörfen, wir dörfen after the past were used until the 18th century and survive in dialects.[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German durfen, inherited from Old High German durfan (“to need, have cause to”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þurban, inherited from Proto-Germanic *þurbaną (“to need”).[5][1][6] The same verb is Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌱𐌰𐌽 (þaurban), Old Saxon thurƀan, Old Frisian thurva, Old English þurfan and Old Norse þurfa.[5][3] In Middle Dutch and Frisian it was partly mixed up with the verb meaning “to dare”.[6]

It is a preterite-present verb: its present tense is an old preterite (perfect) form that took on present meaning, and a new weak past was formed to it.[2][5] Its original sense, “to need”, survives in bedürfen, in dürftig and Notdurft, and in the related darben.[5][7] The umlaut of the modern infinitive is not historical: the plural present had /u/, and the /ü/ spread by analogy from the 13th century and became regular in the 17th.[3][1]

Kluge derives it from the root Proto-Indo-European *terp- (“to satisfy oneself, enjoy”), found in Sanskrit तृप्यति (tṛpyati, “is satisfied”), Ancient Greek τέρπω (térpō, “I satisfy, delight”) and Lithuanian tarpà (“prosperity”), with a semantic bridge from “enjoy” to “need” like that between gebrauchen and brauchen.[5][8] He adds that this is hard to reconcile with the form of a perfect, so that much remains unclear.[5] The Grimms' revised dictionary doubts the connection on semantic grounds, and the Duden finds no secure relatives outside Germanic.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German durfan is first recorded in glosses of the first quarter of the 9th century, and then in the Muspilli, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.[9][10] It meant “to need, have need of”, “to lack, go without” and “to have reason to”, and with a genitive “to need someone”.[6][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to need” lasted into Early New High German and occasionally into the 18th century, with a genitive object: Luther writes die Gesunden dürfen des Arztes nicht “the healthy do not need the physician”, and Wieland still uses the construction.[2][6] In negative sentences dürfen with an infinitive meant “need to” until the 19th century, as in Luther's wer's wissen will, darf nicht weit laufen; today brauchen has taken its place.[2]

The modern sense “to be allowed” grew out of this negative use in the 16th century.[7] Wahrig notes that the change has not been fully explained.[8] A sense “to dare” was also common in Early New High German, and Adelung, around 1800, describes it as largely obsolete, quoting the Bible: Wie darfst du denn sagen? (Jeremiah 2:23).[11][12] Remnants of the old sense “to need” survive in some phrases, especially with nur or bloß.[7][13] The past subjunctive dürfte expresses a probable assumption.[13][1] Ido borrowed the word as darfar.[1]

Timeline

  • 1st quarter of the 9th century – Old High German durfan appears in glosses.[9]
  • 12th century – First past forms with /u/ (durfte) beside dorfte.[3]
  • 13th century – The umlauted plural dürfen appears.[3]
  • 14th century – The second person darfst begins to replace darft.[3][6]
  • 16th century – The sense “to be allowed” develops from negative use.[7]
  • 17th century – The umlauted present plural becomes regular.[3]
  • 18th century – durfte prevails over dorfte.[3] The construction with a genitive, “to need”, goes out of use.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (modal verb, with an infinitive) To be allowed or permitted to do something, may: Darf ich das Fenster öffnen?[13][1]
  2. (usually negated) Expresses a wish, request or demand: Du darfst jetzt nicht den Mut verlieren![13]
  3. (negated) Not to have the moral right to do something: Man darf Kinder nicht schlagen.[13]
  4. To have reason or cause to: Wir dürfen mit einem guten Ergebnis rechnen.[13]
  5. (past subjunctive dürfte) Expresses a probable assumption: Das dürfte der Briefträger sein.[13][1]
  6. (regional) To need to, only have to, with nur or bloß.[13]
  7. (full verb) To be allowed to do something already mentioned: Sie wollte mitfahren, aber sie hat nicht gedurft.[13][1]
  8. (obsolete, with a genitive) To need, require.[1][2]

Word family

  • bedürfen
  • Bedürfnis
  • Bedarf
  • dürftig
  • Notdurft
  • darben
  • bieder
  • English tharf

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. 6, 1797
  4. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1721
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 224
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 2, 866
  7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 79
  11. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  12. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag