Etymologically
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gewinnen

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈvɪnən/, [ɡəˈvɪ-], [ɡəˈʋɪ-][1]

Forms

gewinnen (class 3 strong, third-person singular present gewinnt, past tense gewann, past participle gewonnen, past subjunctive gewänne or gewönne, auxiliary haben)[1] Beside the past subjunctive gewönne the newer gewänne is also frequent.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gewinnen, inherited from Old High German giwinnan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *gawinnaną, a prefixed form of the verb Old High German winnan (“to toil, fight, rage”), which has not survived in modern German.[3][4][5][1] Kluge calls the prefixed verb common Germanic, but notes that only in West Germanic did it come to mean “to acquire”: Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gawinnan) meant “to suffer”.[3][4] The simple verb, Proto-Germanic *winnaną (“to toil, strive”), is Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (winnan, “to suffer”), Old Norse vinna (“to work, achieve”), Old English winnan, Old Frisian winna and Old Saxon winnan, and English win continues it.[3][4][1] The prefix ge- expresses success, so that the verb first meant “to achieve by effort”.[2][3]

Outside Germanic it belongs to the root Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, desire”), found in Sanskrit वनोति (vanóti, “wishes, desires, wins”), Old Church Slavonic оунити (uniti, “to want”) and Latin venus (“love”).[3][4][1] Kluge explains the Germanic double /nn/ most likely from a form with /w/, like the /u/ of the Sanskrit verb.[3] He also reports, with some sympathy, Jost Trier's view that the first meaning was “to pluck (leafy branches)”.[3] The Duden thinks that the root referred to the search for food and to hunting and war, and that the senses “to wish, love” developed from this.[5] To the same family belong Wonne, Wunsch, wohnen, gewöhnen and Wahn, and the old word for “friend”, Old High German wini, kept in names such as Erwin.[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German giwinnan is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses and in the Hildebrandslied, and then in the Muspilli, Otfrid, Notker and Williram.[7][8] It meant “to gain for oneself, procure, bring, choose, acquire, reach, seize”, also “to convict in court” and “to get into one's power”, while the simple winnan meant “to toil, work, fight, rage”.[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German gewinnen meant “to obtain by work, effort or fighting, acquire, procure”.[4] It has long been used also of things that come to someone without effort or even intention, and is the opposite of verlieren.[2] Paul distinguishes the use with an opponent, where the object is either the contest (eine Schlacht, einen Prozess gewinnen) or the prize (den Sieg, die Oberhand), from the use without one; the older sense “to capture”, as in Luther's Josua gewann alle diese Könige, is obsolete.[2] From the sense “to obtain” comes the use in mining and production: one gewinnt coal or sugar.[9]

The noun Gewinn, Old High German giwin, is recorded in the 8th century; Gewinnler “profiteer” in the 16th, surviving in Kriegsgewinnler (20th century).[4] Slovene took gvinjati “to win” and gvinj “gain” from German.[10]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German giwinnan appears in glosses and the Hildebrandslied.[7][3]
  • 8th century – The noun giwin “gain” is recorded.[4]
  • 1060–1065 – Middle High German gewinnen is used by Williram.[11]
  • 16th century – Gewinnler appears.[4]
  • 20th century – Kriegsgewinnler “war profiteer” appears.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To win a fight, contest or dispute: ein Tennismatch gewinnen.[9][1]
  2. To be the winner, to be victorious.[9][1]
  3. To win money or a prize in a game or lottery; of a ticket, to be a winner.[9][12]
  4. To gain, to obtain something desirable: Zeit gewinnen, jemandes Vertrauen gewinnen.[9][1]
  5. (formal) To reach a place with effort: die Küste gewinnen.[9][12]
  6. To win someone over, to persuade: jemanden für ein Projekt gewinnen.[9][1]
  7. To improve; to gain in something: an Höhe gewinnen.[9]
  8. To extract minerals, or to produce from a natural product: Öl aus Oliven gewinnen.[9][1]

Word family

  • Gewinn
  • Gewinner
  • Gewinnung
  • Gewinnler
  • Kriegsgewinnler
  • gewinnend
  • wiedergewinnen
  • zurückgewinnen

Usage notes

Es über sich gewinnen, etwas zu tun (formal, dated) is to bring oneself to do something.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 357
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 339
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 391
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  12. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org