ganz

Forms

ganz (strong nominative masculine singular ganzer, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ganz, inherited from Old High German ganz (“sound, unhurt, complete”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gant.^[2][1][3] The word was at first confined to High German and spread northwards: Middle Low German gans, Middle Dutch gans and Old Frisian gans are taken from it, and Danish ganske and Swedish ganska (“quite”) in turn from Low German or Dutch.^[3][4][5] Low German had its own word for “whole”, Low German hêl, the counterpart of heil.^[6][3]

Its origin is not certain.^[4][7][8] Kluge sees the closest match outside Germanic in the comparative Old Lithuanian gandžiaus (“on the contrary, rather”) and Lithuanian gandė́ti (“to be satisfied”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰond-, and with a simpler root Proto-Indo-European *gʰon- in Sanskrit घन (ghaná, “compact, firm, dense”) and ganà (“enough”); the starting sense would then be “enough, ready”, although no clear verbal base exists.^[2] Pfeifer connects the same words with Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to swell, abound”).^[4] Kroonen rejects the Lithuanian comparison, because those words are late derivatives of the word for “enough”, and leaves the etymology open.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German ganz is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, and then in the Weißenburg Catechism, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “healthy, sound, unhurt, whole, complete, perfect”, for Latin integer, incolumis and sanus.^[3][9][10]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense, “unhurt, sound, healthy”, was still used by Schiller (der Graf lebt und ist ganz).^[11] From it came “whole, complete”, in which ganz partly displaced all.^[11] The adverb grew out of the adjective used as a predicative complement, as in das Brot ist ganz verzehrt; it came to mean “completely” and then, weakened, “quite, fairly”.^[11] Before place names without an article the word stays uninflected, as in Luther's vber gantz Egyptenland.^[11] Its use with a plural to mean “all” (die ganzen Leute) is colloquial, especially in the north, but already found in Luther.^[11][8]

In Early New High German ganz was also used of male animals in the sense “not castrated”, as Middle High German ganzer ohse “bull” shows earlier.^[12][13] The verb ergänzen “to complete” appeared in the 16th century,^[4] and the phrase ganz Ohr sein “to be all ears” around 1750.^[11] English took the psychological term Ganzfeld in 1973.^[14]

Timeline

• 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German ganz appears in glosses.^[9]
• 1060–1080 – Middle High German ganz is used in the Genesis.^[15]
• 1236 – Dutch gans “whole” is recorded.^[14]
• 16th century – ergänzen “to complete” appears.^[4]
• c. 1750 – ganz Ohr sein “to be all ears” is recorded.^[11]
• 1973 – English borrows Ganzfeld.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. whole, entire, all of: das ganze Dorf.^[8][1]
2. (colloquial, with a plural noun) All: die ganzen Nachbarn.^[8][1]
3. (colloquial) Undamaged, intact: die Vase ist noch ganz.^[1][11]
4. Complete, undivided: eine ganze Stunde;^[8][1] (mathematics) eine ganze Zahl, an integer.^[8][1]
5. (in some combinations) Real, true: ein ganzer Kerl.^[8][1]

Adverb

1. Completely, wholly: ganz allein.^[8][1]
2. Quite, fairly: ganz gut.^[8][1]
3. Very: ganz leise.^[8][1]

Word family

• ergänzen
• Gänze
• Ganzheit
• gänzlich
• Ganzfeld

Related words

• heil

Usage notes

Ganz und gar means “completely”, and ganz und gar nicht “not at all”.^[8] Im Großen und Ganzen means “on the whole”.^[1][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. 332
3. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 71
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 4, 1286
7. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 299
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 122
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
12. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
13. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 737
14. ^ a b c Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling