fühlen

Forms

fühlen (third-person singular present fühlt, past tense fühlte, past participle gefühlt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vüelen, inherited from Old High German fuolen (“to touch, feel”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan (“to feel”).^[2][3][1] The same verb is Old Saxon gifōlian, Middle Low German vȫlen, Middle Dutch voelen, Old Frisian fēla and Old English fēlan, continued in Dutch voelen and English feel.^[2][3][4] It has no counterpart in Gothic or Norse, and Danish føle is a loan from Middle Low German.^[5][4] Kluge connects it, with ablaut, to Old Norse falma (“to grope, feel one's way”).^[2]

Its further origin is uncertain.^[3][6] Kluge and Duden compare Latin palpor (“to stroke, flatter”) and, with irregular sound correspondences, Ancient Greek ψηλαφάω (psēlapháō, “I touch, stroke”), but Kluge says that all these connections still need clarifying.^[2][7] Pfeifer considers instead Latin pollex (“thumb”) and Russian палец (pálec, “finger”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *pō̌l- (“swollen, thick”), so that the verb would first have meant “to touch with the thumb or finger”;^[3] he mentions the alternative link with palma (“palm of the hand”), Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “flat of the hand”) and Old High German folma (“flat of the hand”), but finds it open to serious objections of sound and sense.^[3] The Grimms favoured that link, taking the verb as the causative of a lost strong verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German fuolen is first recorded about 790–800, in glosses and then in Otfrid, meaning to touch, feel with the hand, stroke and perceive; a gloss renders Latin palpari, of the darkness in Egypt “that may be felt” (Exodus 10:21).^[4][8][9] The Grimms took “to touch, feel with the fingers” to be the oldest sense.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the verb is not common and is mostly limited to Central German, in the form vûlen.^[5] It took in inner experience, “to perceive, sense”.^[3][10] It was rare before the 16th century and spread with Luther.^[6] The Upper German dialects did not continue it: they used empfinden, spüren or merken instead, and the Augsburg lexicographer Henisch brought the written verb back into Upper German in 1616.^[4] Bavarian and Austrian speech still prefers empfinden and Swabian and Alemannic spüren, while the medical phrase den Puls fühlen was adopted in the south as a whole.^[3][4]

From the 18th century the verb was applied to the emotions as well.^[7][11][12] The reflexive use sich glücklich fühlen increased markedly in the second half of the 18th century, when fühlend was also common for “sensitive”.^[6][12] Wer nicht hören will, muss fühlen, recorded by Adelung, means that whoever will not listen to warnings must learn by pain.^[12]

Timeline

• About 790 – Old High German fuolen appears in glosses.^[8][4]
• 16th century – Fühlung “touch” is recorded, and the verb spreads with Luther.^[3][6]
• 1616 – Henisch reintroduces the verb into written Upper German.^[4]
• 17th century – Gefühl is formed.^[3][7]
• 18th century – The verb is extended to emotions;^[7][11] Fühler is used for an insect's antenna.^[7][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To perceive through touch or the nerves; to feel in the body: Sie fühlte die Kälte des Wassers an den Füßen.^[13][1]
2. To examine or find out by touching: Der Sanitäter fühlte dem Verletzten den Puls.^[13][1]
3. To feel in the mind, to sense an emotion: Er fühlte Mitleid mit dem Kind.^[13][1]
4. To grope for something: Sie fühlte in der Tasche nach dem Schlüssel.^[13][1]
5. (reflexive) To feel oneself to be in a certain state: Ich fühle mich heute müde.^[13][1]
6. (reflexive) To consider oneself: Er fühlte sich für den Fehler verantwortlich.^[13]
7. (reflexive, colloquial) To be full of oneself: Seit der Beförderung fühlt sie sich aber!^[13][12]

Word family

• Gefühl
• Fühler
• Fühlung
• fühlbar
• gefühllos
• anfühlen
• befühlen
• einfühlen
• mitfühlen
• nachfühlen
• wohlfühlen

Related words

• English feel

Usage notes

Jemandem auf den Zahn fühlen (“to feel someone's tooth”), to sound someone out or put someone to the test, is recorded by Adelung.^[12][14]

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. 322
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 634
5. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 4, 405
6. ^ a b c d 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. 9, 1198
7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 292
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ 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. 3, 1341
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
12. ^ a b c d e 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 Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf