enden

Forms

enden (third-person singular present endet, past tense endete, past participle geendet, auxiliary haben)^[1] Middle High German often formed the past tense without umlaut, ante beside endete.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German enden, inherited from Old High German entōn, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *andijōn, a verb formed from the noun Ende.^[3][4][1] The same verb is Old Saxon endion, Old English endian and Old Norse enda.^[5]

The noun is ende, enti, from Proto-Germanic *andijaz (“end”), also found in Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃 (andeis), Old Norse endir, Old English ende and Old Frisian enda.^[3][4] Kluge describes it as a formation like Sanskrit अन्त्य (ántya, “at the end, last”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-, whose meanings are “front, forehead, end”: Hittite ḫanza (“in front”), Sanskrit अन्त (ánta, “end, border, edge”), Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “opposite”).^[3] He thinks “forehead” is the starting point, as in Latin antiae (“forelock”) and Old Irish étan (“forehead”).^[3] Pfeifer gives the base as “lying opposite, in front”, as in Ancient Greek ἀντίος (antíos, “opposite”), from the adverb seen in Latin ante (“before”), originally a locative of a noun for the front of the head.^[4] The prefixes ent- and ant- of Antwort belong to the same family.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms' revised dictionary finds the verb in an 8th-century gloss, kienteod for Latin terminatum “bounded”, and in the Old High German Isidor, where chiendot renders consummetur “be brought to an end”.^[5] In the Old High German texts, from Isidor and Tatian to Otfrid and Notker, entōn means both “to come to an end, die, pass away” and “to finish, complete, put an end to”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German enden was still used both ways: transitively “to finish, accomplish”, and intransitively and reflexively “to end, to die”, as in the Nibelungenlied's sô endete sich diu hôchzît “so the feast came to an end”.^[2] Early New High German used it of things bounded in space (a road or a country that stops at a border), of periods and contracts that run out, and of texts that close.^[7] Sebastian Brant wrote in 1494 of the two Pillars of Hercules, one of which “ends Africa”.^[5]

Today the verb is mainly intransitive, and the transitive use “to bring to an end” has become formal; for it German normally uses beenden.^[8] Of people it means “to end one's life”, often in a bad way, while of animals the derivative verenden is used.^[8][9] In grammar a word endet auf a sound or ending.^[8]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German entōn appears in glosses.^[4][5]
• Late 8th century – The Old High German Isidor uses the verb for “to bring to an end”.^[5]
• c. 1200 – The Nibelungenlied uses enden reflexively for a feast coming to an end.^[2]
• 1494 – Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff uses the verb for a boundary in space.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stop at a certain point in space; to end: Der Pfad endet an einem Bach.^[8][1]
2. To stop in time; to come to an end, finish, turn out: Die Feier endete erst nach Mitternacht. Nicht enden wollender Beifall is applause that goes on and on.^[8]
3. To close a speech or the like: Sie endete mit einem Dank an die Helfer.^[8]
4. To end one's life, to die, usually in a particular way: im Elend enden.^[8][10]
5. (linguistics) To have a certain final sound or ending: Das Wort endet auf -heit.^[8][10]
6. (formal) To bring something to an end.^[8]

Word family

• beenden
• verenden
• vollenden
• Endung

Related words

• Ende
• endlich
• Antwort
• Antlitz
• English end

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 552
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 245
4. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f 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. 8, 1298
6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 89
7. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org