interessieren

Forms

interessieren (third-person singular present interessiert, past tense interessierte, past participle interessiert, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intéresser (“to interest”) according to the Duden dictionary and the German-language Wiktionary,^[2][3] while Pfeifer, Duden's etymological dictionary and the Early New High German dictionary also derive it from the noun, as from German Interesse + -ieren.^[4][5][6]

The noun Interesse was borrowed in the 15th century from Medieval Latin interesse, a legal term for the damage owed by someone liable to make good a loss; it is the infinitive of Latin intersum (“to be between; to take part; to matter”), from inter (“between”) and sum (“to be”), used as a noun.^[7][4][8] Its later sense “attention, concern” followed French intérêt, which kept the Latin legal meaning.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paul dates the verb to 1590, after the Early New High German dictionary; it first meant to arouse someone's concern for their own advantage.^[8][6] The participle interessiert is older: Pfeifer finds it in the 16th century and Duden at the end of that century, meaning “intent on one's own advantage, self-seeking”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the verb came to mean to arouse attention or sympathy.^[4][5] The self-seeking sense of the participle lasted into the 18th century: in Lessing a character asks whether she is taken for so ein interessiert Mädchen, “such a mercenary girl”.^[9] The reflexive sich interessieren für was formed in the 18th century after French s'intéresser.^[8][5] From the 18th century interessiert also meant attentive and full of sympathy, the sense it has today;^[4][8] Kant's uninteressiert “disinterested” describes the pleasure taken in beauty.^[4][8]

Timeline

• 15th century – Interesse is borrowed from Medieval Latin as a legal term.^[8][4]
• 16th century – The participle interessiert “self-seeking” appears.^[4]
• 1590 – First record of the verb.^[8]
• 17th century – The sense “to arouse attention, sympathy”.^[4]
• 18th century – The reflexive sich interessieren is formed after French.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. sich interessieren für: to be interested in someone or something, to show interest: Meine Schwester interessiert sich für alte Uhren.^[2][1]
2. sich interessieren für: to want to know about something: Er interessierte sich für die Öffnungszeiten.^[2]
3. sich interessieren für: to want to have or buy something.^[2]
4. To interest someone, to hold their attention: Der Film interessierte ihn kaum.^[2][1][3]
5. To try to win someone over to something: jemanden für ein Vorhaben interessieren.^[2]

Word family

• interessiert
• uninteressiert

Related words

• Interesse
• interessant
• Interessent

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
7. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 448
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2148