heutig

Forms

heutig (strong nominative masculine singular heutiger, comparative heutiger, superlative am heutigsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German hiutec, inherited from Old High German hiutīg, an adjective formed with the suffix -īg (modern -ig) from the adverb hiutu (“today”), modern heute.^[2][3][1]

The adverb is contracted from the instrumental phrase *hiu tagu (“on this day”), made of a pronoun stem Proto-Germanic *hi- (“this”) and the word for “day”, Tag.^[2][4][3] Other West Germanic languages fused the same phrase: Old Saxon hiudu, Old English hēodæg and Old Frisian hiūdega.^[2][4] The pronoun still stands on its own in Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰 (himma daga, “today”).^[2][5] Outside Germanic, the same stem Proto-Indo-European *ḱi- is found in Latin cis (“on this side”) and Lithuanian šìs (“this”), and a parallel formation is Ancient Greek σήμερον (sḗmeron, “today”).^[2] Duden suggests that the adverb may be a loan translation of Latin hodiē.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German hiutīg is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, and then in Notker,^[7][8] where hiutiga chindeli are children only a day old.^[9][8] The Tatian has a different form, hiutlīh.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German hiutec is found from the Kaiserchronik on, as in hiuteger tac “this day”.^[11][12] The Grimms distinguish a strict use, referring to the present day (bis auf den heutigen Tag, “to this day”, in Luther's Bible), from a freer one, “of the present time”, already in the 16th century with Mathesius.^[10] Heutiges Tages “nowadays” was usual in Adelung's time,^[9][13] and die Heutigen are the people living today.^[14]

Timeline

• Third quarter of the 8th century – Old High German hiutīg appears in glosses.^[7]
• c. 1150 – Middle High German hiutec in the Kaiserchronik.^[12][11]
• 16th century – The freer sense “present-day, of our time” is in use.^[10]
• 1793 – Adelung records heutiges Tages “nowadays”.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of today, taking place today: das heutige Training;^[14][1] bis auf den heutigen Tag, to this day.^[14][1]
2. Of the present time, contemporary, present-day: die heutige Jugend;^[14][1] im heutigen Polen.^[14][1]

Related words

• heute
• heuer
• hier
• Tag
• Old High German hiutu

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 414
3. ^ a b 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 Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 1076
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b 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. 154
9. ^ a b c d Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
10. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1297
11. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1311
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
14. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag