direkt

Forms

direkt (strong nominative masculine singular direkter, comparative direkter, superlative am direktesten)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīrēctus (“straightened, directed”), borrowed in the late 15th century,^[2][3][4] the past participle of dīrigō (“to set straight, direct”), from dis- and regō (“to guide, rule”).^[2][5] Wahrig takes it through French direct,^[6] and the French form was in use early on as well.^[4] At first it was used only as an adverb, in the Latin form dīrēctē.^[3][4][7] The same Latin word is behind Dutch direct and English direct.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a vocabulary of 1481, which glosses directe as strackß “straight away”.^[4] In 1497 a legal text uses it of a direct heir: keyner directe, das ist schlechts erbe gesetzt werden mag.^[4][7] The early sense was spatial, “without detour, in a straight line”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the late 16th century it took on the sense that dominates today, “immediate, without anything in between”, also “in person”.^[4] It was used attributively from the end of the 17th century (Paul gives 1696),^[3][8] the adverb took the German form direct or direkt in the mid-18th century, and predicative use appeared only in the 20th century.^[7] In transport it came to mean “without a stop”, as in Direktflug.^[4] In the 19th century the adverb also developed the sense “downright, really” (direkt unheimlich).^[8]

The opposite indirekt was used in its Medieval Latin form from the 16th century (Paul gives 1536), was Germanized in the 18th, and gave grammar terms such as indirekte Rede “reported speech”.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1481 – directe is glossed in a vocabulary.^[4]
• 1497 – A legal text uses directe of an heir.^[7]
• 1536 – indirekt appears as an adverb.^[8]
• Late 16th century – The sense “without intermediary” appears.^[4]
• 1696 – First attributive use.^[8]
• Mid-18th century – The adverb takes the German form direct.^[7]
• 19th century – The adverb “downright, really” appears.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Straight, without a detour, going straight to a destination: a direct train connection to Vienna.^[9][1]
2. Immediate, without delay: Er kam direkt nach der Arbeit.; a match broadcast live.^[9]
3. (with prepositions) Right by, immediately next to: direkt neben der Kirche.^[9]
4. Without an intermediary, immediate: one's direct superior, buying straight from the farmer.^[9][10]
5. Frank, candid, forthright (of a person or a remark).^[1][10]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) Downright, really: Das war direkt peinlich.^[8][1]

Word family

• indirekt
• Direktheit
• Direktflug
• Direktverbindung
• Direktübertragung

Related words

• Direktor
• dirigieren
• regieren
• English direct

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 203
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 205
6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ a b c d e 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, 1116
8. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag