gleichzeitig

Forms

gleichzeitig (strong nominative masculine singular gleichzeitiger, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from German gleich + Zeit + -ig.^[1][2] Schottel listed it in 1663 among the adjectives compounded with its first element, but it did not become current in speech and writing before the middle of the 18th century.^[3] A single Middle Dutch gelijctidelijc (“contemporary”) appears in a 15th-century Middle Dutch glossary, and Dutch gelijktijdig is formed like the German word.^[3][1] Western dialect forms such as Kölsch glicherzick and Luxembourgish gleichzeidech were made after the standard word.^[3]

The first part continues Old High German gilīh, Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“having the same form”), from Proto-Germanic *ga- and Proto-Germanic *līką (“body, form”), the word in Leiche;^[4][5] the second continues Old High German zīt, Proto-Germanic *tīdiz (“time”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apart from Schottel's list of 1663, the Grimm dictionary's quotations begin in the middle of the 18th century, in the historical sense “belonging to the same period, contemporary”: Gottsched regretted in 1751 that no songs by gleichzeitiger dichter, poets of the same age, survived from the time of Odin and Thor.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the sense “contemporary” gleichzeitig stood in for zeitgenössisch, which arose only around 1830, until well into the 19th century;^[3][7] Adelung's example is ein gleichzeitiger Geschichtschreiber, a historian who lived at the time he describes.^[3][7] Adelung also gives “happening at the same time”, now the main sense, and a use in prosody for syllables that can be either long or short.^[7] The word entered the dictionaries with Schwan in 1783 and with Adelung's second edition (1796), but not yet in his first.^[3] A rarer modern use is “also, at the same time”, of a thing that serves two purposes.^[8]

Timeline

• 15th century – An isolated Middle Dutch gelijctidelijc “contemporary”.^[3]
• 1663 – Schottel lists gleichzeitig.^[3]
• 1751 – Gottsched uses gleichzeitige Dichter “contemporary poets”.^[3]
• 1783 – Schwan's dictionary records it.^[3]
• 1796 – Adelung's dictionary includes it.^[3]
• Around 1830 – Zeitgenössisch appears and gradually takes over the sense “contemporary”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. simultaneous, taking place at the same time: die gleichzeitige Eröffnung zweier Ausstellungen.^[8][1]
2. (dated) contemporary, belonging to the same period.^[7][3]

Adverb

1. At the same time: Die beiden Züge kamen gleichzeitig an.^[8][1]
2. (rare) Also, at the same time: Das Sofa ist gleichzeitig ein Bett.^[8][2]

Word family

• Gleichzeitigkeit

Related words

• gleich
• Zeit
• zeitgenössisch
• Dutch gelijktijdig

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 7, 8277
4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 362
5. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1005
7. ^ a b c d Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
8. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag