daran

Forms

daran^[1] The contracted form dran is found from early Middle High German and grew quickly in the 16th century to about a third of all records.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German dāran, inherited from Old High German dārana (also daraana), formed from German da + an.^[3][2][1] Both adverbs dār (“there”) and dara (“thither”) were combined with the preposition an, and they were early confused in such compounds.^[2][4] They belong to the pronoun stem Proto-Indo-European *to- of the article der, with an /r/ suffix.^[4][5] Compounds of the same kind are Old Saxon thar an, Old Frisian theron, Old English þǣr on, English thereon, Old Norse þar á and Dutch daaraan.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German daraana is first found in Otfrid (863–871), then in Notker and Williram, meaning “on it, in it, by it, through it”; it could also be relative, “whereon”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The first use was spatial, nearness to or contact with something, which gave rise to the many abstract uses in place of a phrase with an (daran denken, daran sterben).^[7][8] In Old and Middle High German the parts were often separated by other words (da … an), and this survives into the 20th century in writers of Low German origin.^[2] Paul records gut or schlecht daran sein “to be well or badly off” in Hamann in 1756, and daransetzen “to stake, risk” from 1456.^[8]

Timeline

• 863–871 – Otfrid uses daraana.^[5]
• Early Middle High German – The contracted dran appears.^[2]
• 14th century – It begins to be written together with verbs.^[2]
• 1456 – daransetzen “to stake” is recorded.^[8]
• 16th century – dran becomes frequent.^[2]
• 1756 – Hamann writes schlecht daran sein “to be badly off”.^[8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At or on that place or thing: ein Zettel klebt daran; to that place or thing: häng den Mantel daran.^[3][1]
2. On, at or about that matter, standing for a phrase with an: sie schreibt seit Monaten daran, hast du daran gedacht?.^[3][1][9]
3. In that respect: daran mangelt es uns nicht.^[3]
4. Because of that: der Baum ist daran eingegangen.^[3]

Related words

• da
• an
• dran
• darauf
• darüber

Usage notes

In speech the short form dran is usual.^[1][2] Gut or schlecht daran sein means “to be well or badly off”.^[8]

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 i 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, 261
3. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 68
7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 753
8. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org