Etymologically
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ergeben

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Pronunciation

  • /ɛʁˈɡeːbən/[1]

Forms

ergeben (class 5 strong, third-person singular present ergibt, past tense ergab, past participle ergeben, past subjunctive ergäbe, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ergëben, inherited from Old High German irgeban (“to give up, hand over”), formed with the prefix er- from geben.[2][3][1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-West Germanic *uʀgeban and Proto-Germanic *uzgebaną (“to give up, repay”), also continued in the obsolete English agive.[1]

That verb is Middle High German geben, Old High German geban, Proto-Germanic *gebaną, also in Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban), Old Norse gefa and Old English giefan.[4][5] Kluge finds no direct match outside Germanic; the nearest is a root Proto-Indo-European *gʰabʰ- (“to take, hold”) in Latin habeō (“to have”), Old Irish gaibid (“takes”) and Lithuanian gabénti (“to bring, transport”), which fits neither in vowel nor in meaning.[4][5] Pfeifer also calls the origin uncertain.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded in German from the 8th century, though the earliest glosses are uncertain.[3] In the Murbach Hymns of the early 9th century harcheban renders Latin redditur “is given back”, of the sacrifice of the Lamb, and Notker writes ergib mir dîa freuui “restore to me the joy”, translating redde mihi laetitiam.[3] Old High German irgeban meant to give up, hand over, abandon, give back and report.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German it could mean to surrender a castle or town, and Luther still wrote of a people giving its neck under the king's yoke.[3][8] The reflexive sich ergeben became the main use: “to surrender”, the most important sense according to Kluge, and “to give oneself up” to God's will, to fate or to a passion, as in Goethe's Drum hab' ich mich der Magie ergeben.[2][8] From the 14th century sich ergeben also meant “to result, follow”, which led to the transitive “to show, yield as a result”.[8] Ergebnis was formed around 1800 for Resultat.[9]

The past participle, used as an adjective, and the noun Ergebung were narrowed to “submissive, devoted” and “submission”.[2] Hartmann's Erec (about 1185) already has gote ergeben “devoted to God”, and the superlative ergebenst is found in courteous phrases from the 17th century, such as auf das ergebenste in Goethe.[3]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German irgeban is recorded in glosses.[2][3]
  • Before 1022 – Notker writes ergib mir dîa freuui.[3]
  • c. 1185 – Hartmann's Erec uses the participle in the sense “devoted”.[3]
  • 14th century – Reflexive sich ergeben “to result” appears.[8]
  • c. 1800 – Ergebnis is formed for Resultat.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To yield, produce as a result: Die Umfrage ergab ein klares Bild.[10][1]
  2. (reflexive) To result, follow from something; to arise: Daraus ergibt sich eine neue Frage.[10][1]
  3. (reflexive) To devote oneself to something, to give oneself up to it: sich dem Glücksspiel ergeben.[10]
  4. (reflexive) To resign oneself: sich in sein Schicksal ergeben.[10]
  5. (reflexive) To surrender, stop resisting: Die Soldaten ergaben sich.[10][1]

Adjective

  1. Devoted, loyal; submissive, humble: ein ergebener Anhänger.[1][11][3]

Word family

Usage notes

The adjective is the past participle of the verb in the sense “to give oneself up”;[2][3] Kluge and the Grimm revision treat it under the verb.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 254
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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, 1753
  4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 337
  5. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 124
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 304
  10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org