Etymologically
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hoch

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Pronunciation

Forms

hoch (strong nominative masculine singular hoher, comparative höher, superlative am höchsten)[1] Before an ending the stem is hoh- (hoher, höher), while the uninflected form and the superlative keep ch (hoch, am höchsten).[2][1] Many central and upper German dialects keep the ch in all forms, so that the Grimms' dictionary records ein hocher Berg.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German hōch, inherited from Old High German hōh, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hauh, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz (“high”).[4][5][1] The same word is Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃 (hauhs), Old Norse hár, Old English hēah, Old Frisian hāch and Old Saxon hōh, and today Dutch hoog, English high and Swedish hög.[4][6][5] Kluge thinks that it may also be contained in the tribal name of the Chauci.[4] Kroonen notes that Swedish and Norwegian forms with /g/ point to a variant Proto-Germanic *hauga-, with the stress on the ending, and compares haugr (“hill”) and Lithuanian kaũkas (“bump”).[6]

Its further origin is unclear, and the sources go different ways.[4][7] Kluge mentions Tocharian A koc and Tocharian B kauc (“high, upward”), which have a different final consonant, and prefers a connection with Ancient Greek κύριος (kúrios, “lord, owner”) and Welsh cawr (“giant”), from a form Proto-Indo-European *ḱou-ko- meaning “big, strong”; he does not connect it with Hügel.[4] Pfeifer and the Duden, on the contrary, put it with that word and derive it from Proto-Indo-European *keuk-, an extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *keu- (“to bend”), so that the word first meant “arched, vaulted”; to the same root they assign hocken, hüpfen, Haufen and Haube.[5][8][9] Wiktionary also gives Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“to elevate”).[1]

The alternation between ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨h⟩ goes back to Middle High German, where /h/ was pronounced as the fricative at the end of a syllable but as a breath at its start, where it was later lost.[2][1] Most such pairs were levelled, as nah beside nach, but the standard language kept the alternation in this one word.[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German hōh is first recorded in glosses of about 765, and then in Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and Williram, meaning “high, lofty”, also “venerable, great” and “loud”.[10][11] Middle High German hōch appears from Williram (1060–1065) on.[12]

Semantic evolution

The word refers both to the extent of a thing from the ground up (a high tower) and to its distance above the ground (the high sky).[2] It was transferred to sounds, which are imagined as rising and falling, and to value, price and rank, as in hochachten and hoher Adel.[2] It is also used of time, as in hohes Alter “old age”.[8] Sometimes it refers to horizontal distance, because distant things seem to rise: das hohe mere is recorded in 1470 and die hohe See “the high seas” in 1720, matching Latin mare altum.[2]

The compound hochdeutsch was formed in the second half of the 15th century for the language of central and southern Germany, as against niederdeutsch, probably after the mountainous character of those regions; later it came to mean the standard language as opposed to dialect.[5][7] Hochmut, Old High German hōhmuot (11th century), could still mean “high spirits, noble mind” in Middle High German before it narrowed to “arrogance”, which Wahrig attributes to the model of Latin superbia.[5][7] The neuter noun Hoch meant “height” in the 17th century, then a cheer, and in the 20th century, in meteorology, an area of high pressure.[5][13] English took the phrase High German in 1706.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German hōh appears in glosses.[10]
  • 1060–1065 – Middle High German hōch is used by Williram.[12]
  • 1470 – das hohe mere “the high sea” is recorded.[2]
  • Second half of the 15th century – The compound hochdeutsch is formed.[5]
  • 16th century – höchstens “at most” appears.[5][8]
  • 17th century – The noun Hoch is used for “height”.[5]
  • 1706 – English High German is recorded.[14]
  • 1720 – die hohe See is recorded.[2]
  • 20th century – Hoch is used for an area of high pressure.[5][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of great vertical extent, tall: ein hoher Mast.[9][1]
  2. Situated far above the ground, high up: die Lerche fliegt hoch.[9]
  3. (after a measurement) Having a given height: eine drei Meter hohe Mauer.[9]
  4. Large in amount or degree: hohe Kosten, hohes Fieber.[9][1]
  5. Of high rank or importance, eminent: ein hoher Beamter.[9][1]
  6. (of sounds) High in pitch.[9][15]
  7. Advanced in time: im hohen Alter.[8][15]
  8. (colloquial) In jemandem zu hoch sein: to be beyond someone's understanding.[9][1]

Adverb

  1. Up, upwards: Hände hoch![1][9]
  2. (colloquial) Northwards, as on a map: nach Kiel hoch.[9][1]
  3. (mathematics) To the power of: zwei hoch drei.[1][15]
  4. Very, highly: hoch erfreut.[15][9]

Word family

  • Höhe
  • Hoheit
  • erhöhen
  • Anhöhe
  • höchst
  • höchstens
  • Hoch
  • Hochachtung
  • hochachtungsvoll
  • hochdeutsch
  • Hochmeister
  • Hochmut
  • hochmütig
  • hochnäsig
  • Hochofen
  • Hochschule
  • Hochstapler
  • hochtrabend
  • Hochzeit
  • Dreikäsehoch
  • Hügel
  • hocken
  • English high

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1590
  4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 419
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  8. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 373
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 155
  12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  13. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1605
  14. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  15. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org