feststellen

Forms

feststellen (third-person singular present stellt fest, past tense stellte fest, past participle festgestellt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from German fest (“firm”) + stellen (“to put, place”), recorded since the 17th century;^[2][3] the revised Grimm dictionary has it from 1584 and notes that it was often written separately until the 19th century.^[4] According to Kluge, the sense “to establish, ascertain” comes from making uncertain or disputed facts secure, literally “firm”, and was then generalised.^[2]

The adjective is Middle High German veste, Old High German festi, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz (“firm”), the source also of Old Norse fastr, Old English fæst and English fast; its origin outside Germanic is unclear.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records, from 1584, mean “to make firm, fix in place”, as in Lobwasser's psalter: die seulen der welt … die nicht fest gestelt (“the pillars of the world … that are not set firm”).^[4] In 1625 an instrument is “set fast” by a tube.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the verb also meant “to found permanently” and “to fix, settle by agreement”: in 1661 a document states that it is fest gestellet that everyone will meet on 16 September.^[4] The sense “to find out, ascertain” is recorded from 1678, when the time of the Chatti's arrival “cannot be established”, and the sense “to state firmly” from 1696; in the 20th century stating became its main use.^[4] Pfeifer sums up the senses as “to make immovable, investigate, agree, confirm”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1584 – First record, “to make firm”, in Lobwasser's psalter.^[4]
• 1661 – Sense “to fix by agreement”.^[4]
• 1678 – Sense “to ascertain”.^[4]
• 1696 – Sense “to state with certainty”.^[4]
• 19th century – Usually written as one word from now on.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To find out, ascertain, establish: Die Polizei konnte die Identität des Fahrers feststellen.^[6][1]
2. To notice, realise: Am Abend stellte sie fest, dass ihr Schlüssel fehlte.^[6][1]
3. To state firmly, declare.^[6][1]
4. To lock in position: den Sitz feststellen.^[6][7]

Word family

• Feststellung
• Feststellbremse
• Feststelltaste

Related words

• fest
• stellen

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 290
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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, 406
5. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 289
6. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org