entsprechend

Forms

entsprechend (strong nominative masculine singular entsprechender, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from German entsprechen + -end, the present participle of the verb used as an adjective and a preposition.^[2][3][4] The verb was Middle High German entsprechen (“to answer, retort”), from ent- and sprechen.^[5][6][7]

How it came to mean “to correspond, be in keeping with” is explained in more than one way.^[8][5] Kluge and Paul see a loan meaning from French répondre (“to answer; to correspond”), first in south-western German.^[8][3] Pfeifer compares other verbs for “to answer” that developed the same sense, such as Latin respondeō, and places the change in 16th-century Alemannic.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms' revised dictionary first quotes the adjective in 1795, of the heads of the thigh bones fitting into sockets von entsprechender form “of corresponding shape”.^[2] The verb is recorded about 1130/50 meaning “to answer”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to correspond” appears in Geiler von Kaysersberg in 1510;^[6][3][5] Wieland used it repeatedly in writings printed in Zurich in 1758, and Lessing approved of it in 1759.^[6][3][5] The participle then became an adjective and a preposition meaning “according to”, which governs the dative;^[3][2] Paul notes that Goethe always put it after the noun, whereas it now also comes before.^[3][2] The revised dictionary quotes the preposition from Wilhelm von Humboldt (1827/29).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1130/50 – Middle High German entsprechen “to answer”.^[6]
• 1510 – Geiler von Kaysersberg uses entsprechen for “to correspond”.^[6]
• 1759 – Lessing approves of the new sense.^[3][5]
• 1795 – First record of the adjective entsprechend.^[2]
• 1827/29 – Wilhelm von Humboldt uses it as a preposition.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Appropriate, adequate, corresponding: eine entsprechende Belohnung “a suitable reward”;^[9][1] den Umständen entsprechend “as well as can be expected”.^[9][1]
2. Relevant, responsible: das entsprechende Amt “the relevant office”.^[9][1]

Adverb

1. Accordingly.^[1]

Preposition

1. (with the dative, before or after the noun) According to, in accordance with.^[9][1][2]

Word family

• dementsprechend

Related words

• entsprechen
• sprechen

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, 1505
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
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. ^ 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, 1504
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 249
9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag