Etymologically
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dritte

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Pronunciation

Forms

dritte (ordinal number, no predicative form; strong masculine dritter)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German dritte, inherited from Old High German dritto, inherited from Proto-Germanic *þridjô (“third”), the ordinal number of drei.[2][1][3] The same word is Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰 (þridja), Old Norse þriði, Old English þridda, Old Frisian thredda and Old Saxon thriddio, and English third, Dutch derde and Swedish tredje.[2][4][3]

The Germanic word continues Proto-Indo-European *tritjo-, also in Latin tertius and Welsh trydydd.[2] Kluge suggests it was remade from an older form without /t/ after other ordinals that seemed to contain a /t/ suffix; other languages have other ablaut grades, as Sanskrit तृतीय (tṛtī́ya-), or a simple /-o-/ suffix, as Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos).[2] Kroonen notes that the oldest Indo-European form probably had no /i/ in the root.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German dritto is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses of about 765, then in the Isidor, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides counting, the word came to mean any other person apart from two, an outsider: Adelung records ohne Nachtheil eines dritten “without harm to a third party” and der dritte Mann for an arbiter chosen by two parties, in dialects Drittmann.[6] Der dritte Stand, the third estate of burghers and peasants, renders French tiers état.[7] Luther's Bible has am dritten tage and Paul's dritten himel (2 Corinthians 12:2).[7]

The adverb drittens appears in the 17th century, and Drittel is Middle High German dritteil “third part”.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German dritto appears in glosses.[5]
  • 17th century – drittens and dritteln appear.[8]
  • 1793 – Adelung records der dritte Mann “arbiter”.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. third, the ordinal number of three: Er wohnt im dritten Stock.[1][9]
  2. Coming from an uninvolved person, a third party: die Meinung einer dritten Person[9][6]

Word family

  • drittens
  • Drittel
  • dritteln

Usage notes

As a noun, der Dritte or ein Dritter is a third person or an outsider;[6] Adelung notes the use for anyone apart from two people, even when more are present.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 217
  3. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 2, 791
  4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ a b c d e Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  7. ^ 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, 1421
  8. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 233
  9. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org