darum

Forms

darum^[1] The full forms darumb and darumbe prevailed until about 1700 and still occur in the 18th century.^[2] The contracted drum is found from early Middle High German and spread from the 16th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German dārumbe, inherited from Old High German dārumbi, a compound from Old High German dār (“there”) + umbi (“around”): the adverb da and the preposition um.^[2][3][1] The same combination is found in Old Saxon thar umbi, Old Frisian therumbe, Dutch daarom, Old Norse þar um and Swedish därom.^[2] Luther still wrote the full form ending in -b, sometimes with umlaut, and the final consonant was only given up in the 18th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German dārumbi is recorded from about 790 in glosses, and in Notker; it meant “therefore, for that reason”, “around it” and “about it”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The local sense “around it” is rare and since the 18th century is mostly reinforced by herum.^[2] From it came the use “about it, concerning that”, as in Walther's ich weiz niht wol wiez dar umbe sî “I do not know how it stands with it”.^[4] The causal sense “for that reason” is the most frequent: Luther writes Darumb an jren früchten solt jr sie erkennen (Matthew 7:20).^[6] With doch it says that something is no obstacle (darum gehe ich doch hin).^[6] It was also used as a noun, das Darum “the reason”, from 1457.^[7] The short form drum belongs to colloquial speech.^[1][6]

Timeline

• c. 790 – Old High German dārumbi appears in glosses.^[5]
• c. 1210 – Gottfried von Strassburg uses dar umbe of things placed around a tent.^[2]
• 1457 – First record of the noun das Darum “the reason”.^[7]
• About 1700 – The full forms darumb(e) give way to darum.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Around it, around this place or thing: ein Teich mit Weiden darum.^[3][1]
2. About it, concerning that matter: Es geht ihr darum, pünktlich fertig zu werden.^[3][8]
3. For that reason, therefore (stressed on the first syllable): Der Zug fiel aus, darum kam er zu spät.^[3][1]
4. (colloquial) Darum! “because!”, a defiant non-answer to a question one does not want to answer.^[3][1]

Word family

• drum

Related words

• da
• um
• warum

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 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, 344
3. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 799
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b 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, 350
8. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org