Etymologically
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fordern

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈfɔʁdəʁn/, [ˈfɔɐ̯dɐn][1]

Forms

fordern (third-person singular present fordert, past tense forderte, past participle gefordert, auxiliary haben)[1] Through dissimilation the first r was lost in some regions, and the form fodern was common in East Central German and, helped by the rhyme with lodern, in poetry until the 19th century.[2][3][4] Luther wrote foddern.[3][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vordern, inherited from Old High German fordarōn, beside Middle Low German vorderen.[2][6] The verb is limited to German: Swedish fordra and Dutch vorderen were taken from it.[6][5][7] It was formed from the Old High German adverb fordar (“further, forward”), the base of vorder, just as ändern was formed from ander.[6][3] The same adverb is Old English furþor.[3] The verb first meant “to demand that someone or something come forward”, as when a man is called out to fight, and Kluge compares the formation of äußern and erinnern.[2][7][8] The adverb goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forward, through”).[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German fordarōn is first recorded in glosses of about 765, and then in Otfrid, Notker and Williram, meaning “to demand, desire, strive for”, but also “to investigate” and “to promote”.[9][6] An 8th-century gloss has the participle kifortharod.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century the verb was a common word of the law, used for claiming dues and services and for summoning someone before a court.[7][8][6] From the summons came the challenge to a duel, jemanden vor die Klinge fordern, which Adelung records around 1800.[10][3] Herausfordern (17th century) first meant calling an opponent out of his house to fight.[6][7]

Because of its similar form, the verb was long confused with fördern “to promote”: this sense is rare in Old and Middle High German, frequent in Early New High German, and last recorded in dictionaries.[4] The figurative sense “to demand an effort from” is old, as in Kaspar Stieler's Wem viel befohlen ist / von dem wird viel gefodert.[3] Until Adelung the person asked could be construed with an as well as von.[3] The abstract noun Forderung, Old High German fordarunga (9th century), first meant “privilege, promotion” and in Middle High German “demand, legal claim”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German fordarōn appears in glosses.[9]
  • 9th century – fordarunga is recorded.[6]
  • 1060–1065 – Middle High German vordern is used by Williram.[11]
  • 13th century – The verb becomes a legal term for claiming dues.[7][8]
  • 1545 – Luther's Bible has the form foddern.[5]
  • 17th century – herausfordern and Herausforderung appear.[6]
  • 18th century – überfordern “to overtax” appears.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To demand, to claim something insistently: eine Entschuldigung fordern.[12][1]
  2. (of a disaster) To claim victims: der Sturm forderte zwei Todesopfer.[12]
  3. To challenge someone to a duel or contest, or to summon before a court: jemanden zum Duell fordern.[12][1]
  4. To make demands on someone's abilities, to tax: die neue Aufgabe fordert sie sehr.[12][1]

Word family

  • Forderung
  • Forderer
  • anfordern
  • auffordern
  • Aufforderung
  • erfordern
  • herausfordern
  • Herausforderung
  • überfordern

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 310
  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. ^ a b c 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, 748
  5. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1890
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  12. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag