Etymologically
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entscheiden

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Pronunciation

  • /ʔɛntˈʃaɪ̯dn̩/, /ʔɛntˈʃaɪ̯dən/[1]

Forms

entscheiden (class 1 strong, third-person singular present entscheidet, past tense entschied, past participle entschieden, auxiliary haben)[1] The old past participle entscheiden prevailed until the late 16th century and was replaced by entschieden from the 17th; it is last recorded in the mid-18th century.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German entscheiden, formed from German ent- + scheiden.[3][1][2] The same formation is Middle Low German entschēiden and Middle Dutch ontsceiden.[2]

The base scheiden continues Old High German skeidan (“to separate, divide, distinguish”), Proto-Germanic *skaidaną (“to separate”), also found in Old Saxon skēdan, Old Frisian skētha, Old English scēadan (now English shed) and the reduplicating Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (skaidan).[4][5][6] Pfeifer derives it, with Scheit and Scheitel, from Proto-Indo-European *skē̌it- (“to cut, separate”), a dental extension of *skē̌i-, and compares Latin scūtum (“shield”) and Old Church Slavonic щитъ (štitŭ, “shield”).[5][7] Kluge describes the sound history of the family as uneven and starts from a root *skēi-, to which Germanic formed a zero-grade present with a /t/ extension and grammatical change.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the verb to the 14th century, but the revised Grimm dictionary quotes it from Wolfram's Titurel (about 1220) in the sense “to separate, set apart”.[3][2][8] Kluge holds that it first referred to a judge's decision, that is, separating statements or opinions from one another to reach the right view.[3] Middle High German also used it for “to distinguish” and “to settle by judgment”.[8][5]

Semantic evolution

The revised Grimm dictionary explains the development from “to separate” to “to settle for good”: in a doubtful or disputed case the matter is cleared up by separating the possible positions completely.[2] Already in Middle High German it was a legal term for giving an arbitrator's ruling, which led to the general sense “to determine, decide” that has been usual ever since.[9] Kluge notes that in New High German the sense was weakened and generalised.[3]

The concrete senses “to separate” and “to distinguish” lasted into the 18th century;[9][10] Paul quotes Hafner (1774), who will surely know a dog from a cat (einen Hund von der Katze zu entscheiden).[9][10] Adelung, around 1800, marked them as Upper German.[11] The reflexive sich entscheiden “to make up one's mind” was in use by Lessing's time.[11] The participle entschieden became an adjective “resolute, decided” in the 18th century, with Entschiedenheit around 1800 in Goethe.[5][9] A separate verb entscheiden “to draw from the sheath”, formed from Scheide, was rare;[12][9] Goethe used it of a flower bud.[12][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1220 – Wolfram's Titurel uses the verb for “to separate”.[2]
  • 14th century – Kluge's date; the participle entschieden first appears.[3][2]
  • 14th century – Entscheidung is recorded.[9]
  • 15th century – Entscheid “decision, ruling” appears.[5]
  • 17th century – entschieden replaces the old participle entscheiden.[2]
  • 1774 – Hafner still uses the verb for “to tell apart”.[9]
  • 18th century – entschieden “resolute” is used as an adjective.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To settle a doubtful or disputed case and pass judgment on it: Das Schiedsgericht entscheidet den Fall.[13][1]
  2. To decide how something is to be done, by ordering it: über etwas entscheiden.[13][14]
  3. To be decisive for something, to settle its outcome; in sport, ein Spiel für sich entscheiden is to win it.[13][1]
  4. (reflexive) To make up one's mind, to opt for someone or something: sich für ein Angebot entscheiden.[13][1]
  5. (reflexive) To turn out, to become clear: Erst am Sonntag entscheidet sich, wer gewinnt.[13][14]

Word family

  • abscheiden
  • ausscheiden
  • verscheiden
  • scheiden
  • unterscheiden
  • Schiedsrichter
  • gescheit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, 1472
  3. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 249
  4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 798
  5. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 916
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 596
  11. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 1832
  12. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 597
  13. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  14. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org