Etymologically
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dafür

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Pronunciation

  • /daˈfyːʁ/, [daˈfyːɐ̯][1]

Forms

dafür[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German dāvür, inherited from Old High German dārfuri, a compound of dār (“there”) and furi (“for, before”), that is, da and für.[2][3][1] Otfrid and Notker also have the form with dara (“thither”).[2] Comparable compounds are Old Frisian therfore, Dutch daarvoor, English therefore, Danish derfor and Swedish därför.[2]

Forms without /r/ prevailed from the 12th century, but in the 15th and still more the 16th century the form with /r/ became frequent again, then receded in the 17th and had vanished by the end of the 18th.[2][4] The word was mostly written separately until the 14th century and together from the 15th.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German dārfuri is first recorded in glosses of the early 9th century and in Notker, meaning “for it”, “before it” and “instead”.[3] Otfrid (863–871) uses the compound in a spatial sense, “in front of it”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Until about 1800 dafür competed with davor in spatial senses and was then entirely replaced by it there.[2] Paul still quotes Gott bewahre mich dafür from the 19th century.[5] With verbs it formed dafürkönnen “to be responsible for”, as in Luther's was kan sie dafur?, and dafürhalten “to think”, frequent from the 16th to the 18th century and surviving in the noun phrase nach jemandes Dafürhalten (1751).[5] A noun das Dafür “approval” appears in 1805 in Schleiermacher.[6] In northern Germany the parts can be separated, as in da bin ich nicht für.[7]

Timeline

  • Early 9th century – Old High German dārfuri appears in glosses.[3]
  • 863–871 – Otfrid uses the compound.[2]
  • 12th century – Forms with dâ- prevail.[2]
  • 15th century – The word is usually written as one.[2]
  • 1751 – Dafürhalten “opinion” is recorded.[5]
  • End of the 18th century – darfür disappears; the spatial senses pass to davor.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. For this purpose: Dafür brauche ich mehr Zeit.[7][1]
  2. With regard to this; considering that: Dafür, dass sie erst drei Monate hier ist, kennt sie schon viele Leute.[7]
  3. In favour of it: Die meisten stimmten dafür.[7][8]
  4. In return for it; instead, as compensation: Er kocht nicht, dafür spült er.[7][1]
  5. As this, for this (with halten, ansehen): Man könnte es dafür halten.[7]
  6. (colloquial) Against it, as a remedy.[7]

Word family

  • dafürhalten
  • Dafürhalten
  • dafürkönnen

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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, 57
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ 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, 62
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org