gelten

Forms

gelten (class 3 strong, third-person singular present gilt, past tense galt, past participle gegolten, past subjunctive gälte or gölte, auxiliary haben)^[1] Until the 17th century the past subjunctive was often gülte;^[2] gölte and gälte replaced it.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gelten, inherited from Old High German geltan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *geldan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (“to pay, render”).^[3][4][1] The same verb is Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 (fragildan, “to repay”) and 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 (usgildan), Old Norse gjalda, Old English gieldan, Old Frisian jelda and Old Saxon geldan, and today Dutch gelden, Swedish gälla and English yield.^[3][4][5][6]

Outside Germanic the closest match is Old Church Slavonic жлѣсти (žlěsti, “to pay back, requite”), but Kluge and the Duden note that the Slavic verb may be an early borrowing from Germanic.^[3][7] If it is not, the sources reconstruct a root Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- found only in Germanic and Slavic, perhaps also in Old Irish gell (“pledge”);^[4][5][8] Pfeifer calls it a root that cannot be traced further, and the Duden calls its further origin unclear.^[4][7] Kroonen rejects a comparison with Ancient Greek τέλθος (télthos, “debt”).^[5]

The Germanic verb first referred to offerings and, in law, to the payment of fines and dues.^[4][7][9] The nouns Geld and Gilde belong to the same group.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German geltan appears from the 8th century in glosses and in the Weißenburg catechism, Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “to pay, give, repay, compensate”, “to atone for” and “to offer as a sacrifice”.^[6][10][8]

Semantic evolution

Paul describes the oldest use as “to pay, render”, then any return, good or bad, as in Middle High German ich muoz dise ere tiure gelten “I must pay dearly for this honour”; in this sense the verb was later replaced by vergelten.^[2] In Middle High German and Early New High German the thing paid for could be the subject: an estate “yielded” so many guilders a year, and goods “fetched” a price, which gave the sense “to cost, be worth”.^[2][11] Kluge traces the modern meaning from “to be worth” to “to be valid”.^[3]

From value the verb passed to esteem (viel gelten “to count for much”) and to being regarded as something, with als or für.^[2][9] The impersonal es gilt marked the decisive moment, and it was also used in bets and contracts.^[12][2] The southern and central German tag question gelt “isn't it?” is its old present subjunctive, perhaps first used to confirm a wager or a bargain.^[4][7] The verb was borrowed into the Polish of Teschen as gieltować “to be worth, be of use” (1856).^[13]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German geltan appears in glosses.^[3][6]
• c. 800 – firgeltan, the source of vergelten, is recorded.^[4]
• 9th century – intgeltan, the source of entgelten, is recorded.^[4]
• 15th century – The noun Entgelt appears.^[4][7]
• c. 1500 – unentgeltlich “free of charge” appears.^[4]
• 17th century – The past subjunctive gülte goes out of use.^[2]
• 1856 – Teschen Polish gieltować is recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be valid, be in force: der Ausweis gilt noch ein Jahr.^[9][1]
2. To be worth: diese Währung gilt wenig.^[9][1]
3. To be regarded as, pass for (with als or für): er gilt als zuverlässig.^[9][1]
4. To be meant for, be aimed at (with the dative): der Applaus galt der Sängerin.^[9][1]
5. (formal) To be concerned with: ihre Sorge galt den Kindern.^[9]
6. (impersonal) es gilt: it is necessary, it is a matter of: jetzt gilt es, ruhig zu bleiben.^[9][1]
7. gelten lassen: to accept, allow: einen Einwand gelten lassen.^[9][1]

Word family

• entgelten
• Entgelt
• unentgeltlich
• vergelten
• Vergeltung
• geltend
• Geltung
• gelt

Related words

• gültig
• Geld
• Gilde
• English yield

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 344
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 152
7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 312
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 125
11. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 827
12. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de