genug

Forms

genug^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German genuoc, inherited from Old High German ginuog, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *ganōg, inherited from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz (“enough, sufficient”).^[1][2][3] The same word is Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌽𐍉𐌷𐍃 (ganōhs), Old Norse gnógr, Old English genōg, Old Frisian enōch and Old Saxon ginōg, continued in English enough, Dutch genoeg and Swedish nog.^[2][3]

It was a verbal adjective, built with an unusual ablaut grade, to the preterite-present verb seen in Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌷 (ganah, “it suffices”), Old English geneah and Old High German ginah, properly “has reached”, with the prefix *ga-.^[2][3] Kluge traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *(e)neḱ- (“to reach”), also “to carry”, found in Latin nancīscor (“to obtain”), Old Irish ro-icc (“reaches”), Lithuanian nèšti (“to carry”), Old Church Slavonic нести (nesti, “to carry”), Ancient Greek ἐνεγκεῖν (enenkeîn, “to bring”), Sanskrit अश्नोति (aśnóti, “reaches”) and Tocharian B eṅk- (“to seize”).^[2] Wiktionary writes the root *h₂neḱ-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German ginuog is found in the glosses from 765, in the Abrogans, and then in the Tatian, Otfrid, the Monsee fragments, Williram and Notker.^[4][5] It meant “enough, sufficient”, but also “plentiful, abundant, very”: ginuog habēn was to have in abundance, and ginuog tuon to atone, render satisfaction.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle High German it was still a full adjective, inflected and used attributively (genuogiu lēra “sufficient teaching”), but modern German keeps only the uninflected neuter, which works like an adverb or an indefinite pronoun.^[7][3] The older language put the noun in the genitive, as Luther's Brots genug “bread enough”, and er ist Manns genug is still current.^[7] A nasalised form genung has been found in Central German since the 14th century and was used by Lessing and Goethe, mostly in rhyme; northern speech shortens the vowel.^[7][5]

Genugtun and Genugtuung (15th century) are loan translations of Latin satisfacere and satisfactio.^[8][9] genügsam “frugal” (15th century) was attached to genügen, while Middle High German genuocsam still meant “sufficient”.^[8][9] Colloquially genug haben has also meant “to be drunk”, as in Lichtenberg.^[7]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German ginuog appears in glosses.^[4]
• c. 800 – The verb ginah “it suffices” is recorded.^[3]
• 1060–1065 – Middle High German genuoc is used by Williram of Ebersberg.^[10]
• 14th century – The Central German form genung appears.^[7]
• 15th century – Genugtuung and genügsam are formed.^[8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. enough, sufficient, in a satisfactory amount, before or after a noun: Wir haben genug Brot für alle.^[11][1]
2. After an adjective: sufficiently: Ist das Wasser warm genug?^[11][1]
3. (genug haben) To be fed up with something: Jetzt habe ich aber genug von dem Lärm!^[11]

Interjection

1. Enough!, stop!^[1]

Word family

• Genüge
• genügen
• genügend
• genugsam
• genügsam
• Genugtuung
• ungenügend
• begnügen
• vergnügen

Related words

• English enough

Usage notes

Sich selbst genug sein means to need no company but one's own.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 348
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ 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, 353
6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 242
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 315
9. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag