Etymologically
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daran

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Pronunciation

  • /daˈʁan/, /daˈʁaːn/[1]

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]

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