Etymologically
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hingegen

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Pronunciation

  • [hɪnˈɡeːɡŋ̩], [hɪnˈɡeːɡən][1]

Forms

hingegen[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of hin and gegen.[2][3][4] The first part is Middle High German hin, Old High German hina (“away from here”), formed with an n-suffix from the pronoun stem Proto-Germanic *hi- (“this”), which also underlies her, heute and heuer, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe- (“this”).[5][6][7] The second is gegen, Old High German gegin, from Proto-Germanic *gagna-, with no clear comparisons outside Germanic.[8]

The Grimms' dictionary treats it beside the older hergegen, which pointed a movement or action towards the speaker and the younger word away from the speaker, but as both were used mostly in a transferred sense the difference wore away.[9] From the end of the 18th century the older word gave way to this one and to dagegen.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest uses listed by the Grimms' dictionary are local, “towards, opposite”, as in Opitz's hingegen ost und west, and with verbs of saying and doing, marking a response or a service in return, as in the German Amadis (16th century): hingegen sagt ihr auch Amadis “Amadis in turn told her”.[10] In Early New High German it could mean “in return” like dagegen, as in Logau's Gott wird reichen Lohn ihm hingegen geben.[3]

Semantic evolution

Later the word came to mark only a contrast, and so took on the character of a conjunction (du hast es leicht, ich hingegen …).[3] Stieler (1668) glosses hingegen zusagen as Latin repromittere “to promise in return”.[10] The fuller dahingegen, first recorded in 1592, is now dated, though Heine still used it like während for contrasts;[3][1] wohingegen is still current.[3][1]

Timeline

  • 16th century – hingegen is used for an answer or service in return.[10][3]
  • 1592 – First record of dahingegen.[3]
  • 1668 – Stieler records hingegen zusagen “to promise in return”.[10]
  • End of the 18th century – The older hergegen dies out in favour of hingegen and dagegen.[9]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. (also adverb) however, on the other hand, by contrast: Ihr Bruder spielt Geige, sie hingegen spielt Klavier.[2][1]

Word family

  • dahingegen
  • wohingegen

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  5. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 1023
  7. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 340
  9. ^ 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, 1098
  10. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1437