drei

Forms

drei (cardinal number; genitive dreier, dative dreien when inflected)^[1][2] Old High German distinguished the genders: masculine drī, feminine drīo, neuter driu.^[2][3] The number was inflected into Middle High German times; uninflected genitive and dative forms appear from the 15th century, and, from the 17th the rule for the numbers four to twelve gradually prevailed, though Tieck still wrote nach dreien Tagen “after three days”.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German drī, inherited from Old High German drī, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, inherited from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”), the masculine nominative plural of the Indo-European numeral.^[5][6][1] The same numeral is Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (þreis), Old Norse þrír, Old English þrī, Old Saxon thria and Old Frisian thrē, with Dutch drie and English three; the English form comes from the Old English feminine and neuter ⟨þrēo⟩.^[5][6][2] Outside Germanic it matches Latin trēs, Ancient Greek τρεῖς (treîs), Lithuanian trỹs, Old Irish trí, Russian три (tri) and Hittite teri.^[5][6][7] Kroonen reconstructs the whole Germanic paradigm, with the stem ⟨*tri-⟩ in the oblique cases, the same ablaut grade as in dritte and in Latin ⟨tri-⟩.^[7][6]

Carruba traces the numeral further to Proto-Indo-European *ter- (“going beyond”).^[5] The Grimms' dictionary takes the numerals, with the pronouns, as the surest evidence that the Indo-European languages are related.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German drī is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses of about 765, then in the Benedictine Rule, Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[5][9] Schützeichel lists the phrase ze drīn mālen “three times”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Three, the smallest plurality, has a special place in myth, fairy tale, law and folk custom, and Christianity strengthened this through the doctrine of the Trinity; hence the proverb aller guten Dinge sind drei “all good things come in threes”.^[3] Dreieinigkeit and Dreifaltigkeit, both Middle High German, prevailed among many attempts to render Latin trinitas.^[4]

Dreieck “triangle” has stood for Latin triangulum since the 16th century, and dreieckiges Verhältnis (1902), later Dreiecksverhältnis, was modelled on the Norwegian of Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler.^[4] The phrase nicht bis drei zählen können “to be stupid” dates from the 17th century, while Luther said sieben “seven” instead.^[6] Dreier was a small coin, late Middle High German drīer.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German drī appears in glosses;^[5][9][6] thrīʒug “thirty” is also recorded.^[5][9][6]
• c. 1000 – thrīzehan “thirteen” is recorded.^[6]
• 15th century – Uninflected genitive and dative forms of drei appear.^[2]
• 16th century – Dreieck renders Latin triangulum.^[4]
• 17th century – nicht bis drei zählen können “to be stupid” is recorded; the numeral gradually stops being inflected.^[6][4]
• 1902 – dreieckiges Verhältnis “love triangle” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. three, the number 3.^[11][1]
2. (colloquial) Three o'clock; three years old.^[12]

Word family

• dreißig
• dreizehn
• dritte
• Drei
• Dreieck
• Dreier
• dreifach
• Dreifaltigkeit
• Dreieinigkeit

Related words

• Drilling
• Drillich
• English three

Usage notes

Nicht bis drei zählen können (“not be able to count to three”) means to be not very bright, and für drei essen is to eat a great deal.^[11] The noun Drei names the figure 3, a three in dice or cards, and the school mark “satisfactory”.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1348
3. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 213
4. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
5. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 215
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1369
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 76
11. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
12. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org