eng

Forms

eng (strong nominative masculine singular enger, comparative enger, superlative am engsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German enge, inherited from Old High German engi, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *angī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *anguz (“narrow”).^[2][1][3] The same adjective is Old Saxon engi, Old English enge, Old Norse ǫngr (also øngr) and Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌿𐍃 (aggwus); it lives on in Dutch eng and Icelandic öngur.^[2][4] In English and the Scandinavian languages the adjective died out, and English uses narrow instead.^[5] It was originally a stem in /u/; the Gothic and Norse forms suggest a by-form with /w/, which Kroonen takes as the Germanic starting point.^[3][4]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *h₂énǵʰus (“narrow”), as do Sanskrit अंहु (aṃhú) and, with a further suffix, Old Church Slavonic ѫзъкъ (ǫzŭkŭ) and Russian узкий (úzkij).^[2][6][1] The root Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- (“to constrict, tie up”) is seen in Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “I strangle”), Latin angō (“to choke, constrict”) and Hittite ḫamank- (“to tie”);^[2][4] angustus (“narrow”) and angiportus (“narrow alley”) belong here too.^[6][7] The family referred early to the mind as well as to space, as in angor (“anguish”) and Angst, formed from the same Germanic adjective.^[6][8] Its old adverb without umlaut, Old High German ango, survives in bange.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German engi is first recorded in glosses of about 765.^[9] The Old High German Benedictine Rule (790/802) renders “narrow is the way that leads to life” with enger vvec, and the Tatian (about 830) has get in thuruh enga phorta, “enter through the narrow gate”.^[7][10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German enge meant narrow and confined, but also sparing and close, and confidential: enger rât was a privy council.^[11] Paul sets it against weit and notes that, unlike dünn and schmal, it can refer to one, two or three dimensions; it also describes things close together, as in Luther's Job, where the scales of the beast lie fest vnd enge in einander.^[12]

From closeness in space came closeness between people: Schiller speaks of an enges Bündnis, and German says enge Freunde and im engsten Kreis.^[12] The comparative is frequent in figurative use, as in die engere Wahl (the shortlist).^[12] Colloquial German says das wird eng for “that'll be close” and etwas nicht so eng sehen for “not to be strict about something”.^[12][13]

The noun Enge gave jemanden in die Enge treiben “to drive someone into a corner” in Early New High German, and Meerenge (17th century) and Landenge (18th century).^[12][6] The old verb engen was replaced in the 17th century by beengen, verengen and einengen.^[6][8] Engpass (around 1800) first meant a narrow mountain pass and soon a difficulty or shortage.^[12][6]

Timeline

• c. 765 – Old High German engi appears in glosses.^[9]
• 790/802 – The Old High German Benedictine Rule speaks of the enger vvec, the narrow way.^[7]
• c. 830 – The Tatian has enga phorta, the narrow gate.^[7]
• Before 1022 – Notker contrasts the broad way with the narrow.^[7]
• 17th century – Beengen, verengen and einengen replace engen;^[6] Meerenge appears.^[6]
• Around 1800 – Engpass “narrow pass” appears.^[12]
• Second half of the 19th century – Engpass is used figuratively for a difficulty.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. narrow, cramped, having little room: eine enge Treppe; figuratively in engen Verhältnissen, in modest circumstances.^[13][1]
2. Close together, dense: Die Bäume stehen hier sehr eng.^[13][14]
3. tight, fitting closely to the body: Die Jeans ist mir zu eng.^[13][1]
4. Allowing no room for manoeuvre, strict;^[13][14] (colloquial) das wird eng, it will be close;^[13][14] etwas nicht so eng sehen, not to be too strict about something.^[13][14]
5. Limited by selection: in die engere Wahl kommen, to be shortlisted;^[13] im engeren Sinne, in the narrower sense.^[13]
6. Close, intimate: eng befreundet sein;^[13][1] im engsten Familienkreis.^[13][1]

Word family

• Enge
• einengen
• beengen
• verengen
• Engpass
• engherzig
• Meerenge
• Landenge

Related words

• Angst
• bange
• Angina

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 246
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, 1072
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 468
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 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. 8, 1315
8. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 252
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 89
11. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 554
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org