erzielen

Forms

erzielen (third-person singular present erzielt, past tense erzielte, past participle erzielt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German erziln, formed with the prefix er- from zielen.^[2][3][1] The base verb is Middle High German zilen, Old High German zilēn (“to strive, hasten”), beside the noun Ziel, zil.^[4][5] Related verbs are Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍉𐌽 (gatilōn, “to achieve”), Old English tilian (“to strive; to till”) and English till.^[4][5] Their further origin is unclear: Kluge compares Welsh eddyl (“aim”) and Latin ad (“to, at”).^[5][4]

The Grimms explain the old sense “to beget, produce” from the meaning “to till” of the Old English verb and of Dutch telen (“to breed, grow”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in Wolfram's Parzival (about 1200–1210), means “begotten”: a man is ûz israhêlscher sippe erzilt, “begotten of Israelite kin”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Into the 18th century erzielen meant “to beget” children, and it is still found so in Bürger, Musäus and Hebel; it was also used of crops and produce.^[7][2] Poets such as Voss and Schiller used it for “to aim at successfully”, and Wieland and Schiller for “to strive after”, uses now gone.^[7] Adelung considered the verb largely obsolete in standard German, except in Upper German.^[8] The modern sense “to achieve, obtain” (a profit, a result, an agreement) grew out of these, and in sport it means “to score”.^[7][9][1]

Timeline

• c. 1200–1210 – Wolfram's Parzival uses erzilt “begotten”.^[2]
• 1552 – A Württemberg rural law speaks of the children a couple have erzilt.^[2]
• 1668 – Francisci says Java erzielet all kinds of spices, that is, produces them.^[2]
• 1793 – Adelung calls the verb largely obsolete in High German.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To achieve or obtain something aimed at: Das Unternehmen erzielte einen Rekordumsatz.^[9][1]
2. (sports) To score: Sie erzielte zwei Tore.^[1][10]

Related words

• zielen
• Ziel
• English till

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 2369
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1009
6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1094
7. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
9. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org