Etymologically
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danach

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Pronunciation

  • /daˈnaːχ/[1]

Forms

danach[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German danāch or darnāch, inherited from Old High German daranāh, a compound of the adverb dara (“there, thither”) and the preposition nāh (“after”).[2][3][1] The same formation is Middle Low German dārnā, Middle Dutch daerna, Dutch daarna and Old Frisian thernēi.[2][4] Compare Yiddish דערנאָך (dernokh).[1]

The first part was probably associated with the adverb da as early as Middle High German.[2] Forms with ⟨da-⟩ occur now and then from the 11th century, but ⟨dar-⟩ prevailed until the 19th century and is still met in the 20th.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German daranāh is recorded in glosses and in Notker (around 1000).[3][5] Its senses were “afterwards, then, later”, “behind”, “further” and “accordingly”.[3][5] Notker uses it of time when he tells how Nero set Rome on fire and after that raged against his own mother.[2]

Semantic evolution

The commonest use has always been temporal, marking something that comes after a point already named.[2] Beside it the adverb refers to a goal or aim (sich danach sehnen “to long for it”), to a rule or model to be followed (tut danach in Luther's Bible, “do accordingly”), and to a matching state or quality.[4] From the last comes the colloquial sie ist auch danach, said of goods that are cheap but of correspondingly poor quality, which the Grimms already record.[4][6]

When they wrote, the spelling darnach was still the usual one.[4] The split construction with da and nach apart was common until the 16th century and has been colloquial in northern Germany since the 18th: da richte ich mich nicht nach.[2][6]

Timeline

  • Around 1000 – Notker uses daranāh in a temporal sense.[3][2]
  • 1060/1065 – The Wiener Genesis has the form danach.[2]
  • 16th century – The split construction is still common in writing.[2]
  • 18th century – The split construction becomes colloquial in northern Germany.[2]
  • 19th century – danach overtakes the older spelling darnach.[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Of time: afterwards, after that, then: Er aß noch schnell, danach fuhr er los.[6][1]
  2. Of place or order: behind that, following: Vorne lief der Hund, danach kamen die Kinder.[6][1]
  3. Towards it, for it (marking an aim): Sie sah den Ball und griff danach.[6]
  4. accordingly, in accordance with that: Das ist die Regel, und wir halten uns danach.[6][1]
  5. (northern Germany) With da and nach separated: Da musst du nicht lange nach suchen.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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, 195
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 721
  5. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 68
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag