hinter

Forms

hinter^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German hinder, inherited from Old High German hintar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hinder (“behind”).^[2][1][3] Kluge reconstructs the Germanic preposition as *henderan.^[2] The same word is Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍂 (hindar, “behind, beyond”) and Old English hinder, and Old Norse hindri (“later, farther”) is an adjective.^[2][4][5]

Kluge takes it for the accusative neuter of an old comparative in Proto-Indo-European *-tero- or of a contrastive formation, and 𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (hindumists, “hindmost”) and Old English hindema show the matching superlative.^[2][5] Its base is the stem of hinten, probably a compound pronoun of the kind seen in Old Norse hann (“he”).^[2][4][5] The Grimms' dictionary, by contrast, did not see a comparative in it.^[6] No certain cognates are known outside Germanic.^[4][7]

In Upper German, West Germanic /nd/ regularly appears as ⟨nt⟩ in Old High German, but Middle High German mostly wrote ⟨nd⟩, and ⟨nt⟩ returned in the 15th century, as in unter.^[1][8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The superlative hintarōsto is recorded in the 8th century, and the preposition hintar from the early 9th century, in glosses and then in Notker and Williram, meaning “behind”, also “at, in”, and with verbs “back”, as in hintar sih “backwards”.^{[2][9][10][3]}

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the preposition could also take the genitive.^[8] In modern German it takes the dative for a position and the accusative for a movement to a place behind something, and it was transferred to rank (to fall behind someone), to time (to have something behind one) and to support (to stand behind someone).^[11][12] As an adverb meaning “to the back” or “down (the throat)” it survives only in regional speech of eastern Central and southern Germany and of Austria.^[11][12]

An inflected adjective hintaro “rear, lower, later” developed in Old High German (10th century), and its noun der Hintere became Hintern “buttocks” (18th century).^[5][2] Many compounds were formed: hintergehen (Middle High German hindergān “to come at an enemy from behind, outwit, deceive”), Hinterhalt and Hinterlist (both Middle High German), hinterrücks (15th century), Hintergrund (second half of the 18th century, first of painting and the stage), Hintertreffen (18th century, the rear line of an army that took no part in the battle) and Hinterwäldler (19th century, after English backwoodsman).^[4][5][7] English borrowed hinterland, and also hinterhand, a term of the card game skat.^[13]

Timeline

• 8th century – The superlative hintarōsto is recorded.^[2][5]
• Early 9th century – The preposition hintar appears in glosses.^[9][2]
• 10th century – The adjective hintaro is recorded.^[5]
• 15th century – The spelling hinter becomes usual, and hinterrücks appears.^[8][4]
• 18th century – Hintern and the military Hintertreffen appear.^[5]
• Second half of the 18th century – Hintergrund is used in painting and on the stage.^[5]
• 19th century – Hinterwäldler and Hinterland are formed.^[4]
• c. 1920 – hintergründig “enigmatic” appears.^[5]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with dative) Behind, on the far side of: Das Fahrrad steht hinter der Garage.^[12][1]
2. (with accusative) To a place behind: Der Ball ist hinter den Schrank gerollt.^[12]
3. In rank or order: behind, after: Sie blieb hinter ihren eigenen Erwartungen zurück.^[12]
4. Of time already passed: etwas hinter sich haben, to have got through something.^[12]
5. Following on, beyond: Hinter Ulm wird die Autobahn schmaler.^[12][1]
6. After, in pursuit of: hinter jemandem her sein.^[12][1]

Adverb

1. (regional, eastern Central and southern Germany, Austria) To the back, over there.^[12][1]

Word family

• Hintern
• hintergehen
• Hintergrund
• hintergründig
• Hinterhalt
• hinterhältig
• Hinterlist
• hinterlistig
• hinterrücks
• Hintertreffen
• Hinterwäldler
• Hinterland
• Hinterhof
• Hintermann
• hinterher
• hintereinander
• Hinterbliebene
• hinterbringen
• hintertreiben

Related words

• hinten
• hindern

Usage notes

Ins Hintertreffen geraten “to fall behind, end up at a disadvantage” comes from the rear line of an army, which had no share in the victory.^[5][7] The contracted forms hinterm and hinters (for hinter dem, hinter das) are colloquial.^[12][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 417
3. ^ 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, 1041
4. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 385
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1496
7. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b c Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1293
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 153
11. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de