damalig

Forms

damalig (strong nominative masculine singular damaliger, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German damal + -ig, from the adverb meaning “at that time”, which goes back to late Middle High German.^[2][3][4] That adverb, recorded from the end of the 15th century beside damalen (mid-15th century), is built from da and the noun Mal “point in time”, as is damals, which has the adverbial genitive ending of Middle High German des māles (“at that time”).^[2][5][6] The noun is Old High German māl (“mark, point in time”).^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective appears about 1600, at first occasionally as an adverb: a text of 1602 from Emden has “vnd hat man domahlig es gäntzlich dafür gehalten” (“and at that time it was wholly believed”).^[8] In 1610 Wehner writes of “den damalichen newen stern”, the new star of that time that announced Christ's birth to the Magi.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word became frequent only after 1650 and reached the dictionaries with Steinbach in 1734.^[8] It is used only before a noun, never as a predicate; the occasional adverbial use of the 17th and early 18th centuries died out.^[8][2] The spelling damalich, not rare in the 17th century and found as late as 1839, is a variant of spelling, not a different formation.^[8] In 1774 Goethe's Werther speaks of “kein pulsschlag meines damaligen gefühls” (“no pulse of my feeling then”).^[8]

Timeline

• 1602 – First record, used as an adverb.^[8]
• 1610 – First record as an attributive adjective.^[8]
• After 1650 – The word becomes frequent.^[8]
• 1734 – Steinbach's dictionary is the first to list it.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of that time; existing or prevailing then, at a given time in the past: der damalige Bürgermeister der Stadt.^[3][1][9]

Related words

• damals
• dazumal
• Mal

Usage notes

The adjective is used only attributively: one says die damalige Lage, but not *die Lage war damalig.^[8][2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 178
6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ 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, 118
9. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de