jährig

Forms

jährig (strong nominative masculine singular jähriger, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German jærec, inherited from Old High German jārīg, an adjective formed from the noun that is now Jahr with the suffix -ig.^[2][3][1][4] That noun goes back to Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”), also continued in Gothic 𐌾𐌴𐍂 (jēr), Old Norse ár, Old English gēar and Old Frisian jēr.^[5][6][2]

Outside Germanic the noun is compared with Avestan yār- (“year”), Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “season, hour”) and Latin hōrnus (“of this year”), and Pfeifer reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *i̯ēro- (“year, summer”).^[5][2][3] Kluge starts from a sense “spring”, since years were counted by springs.^[5] A derivation from the root Proto-Indo-European *ei- (“to go”), with an original sense “course (of the sun)”, is considered by Pfeifer and the Duden, but Kluge calls it very uncertain.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German jārīg is recorded from the 9th century, meaning “one year old”.^[2] Middle High German jārec, jæric meant “one year old”, “yearly” and “of full age”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Grimms' dictionary gives three uses: “a year old” (ein jähriges Kind in Platen), “a year ago” or “lasting a year”, and “yearly”, as in Luther's ire jerige narung “their yearly food”.^[7] The sense “of age” is found in Middle High German, where it referred to mental maturity rather than legal age, and is continued in volljährig and minderjährig.^[7] Adelung, around 1800, also recorded the impersonal es ist jährig “it is a year since”.^[8]

Compounds were the main use from early on: einjährig is recorded in the 16th century, minderjährig and volljährig in the 18th.^[2] The simple adjective has become dated, and today the word lives mainly as the second part of such compounds.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 9th century – Old High German jārīg is recorded.^[2]
• 16th century – einjährig appears.^[2]
• 16th century – Luther uses jerig for “yearly”.^[7]
• 18th century – minderjährig and volljährig appear.^[2]
• 1793 – Adelung records es ist jährig “it is a year ago”.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated) One year old: ein jähriges Kalb.^[4][1]
2. (dated) Lasting one year.^[4][9]
3. (dated) In jährig werden: to be a year since something happened, to reach its first anniversary.^[4]

Word family

• einjährig
• minderjährig
• volljährig
• großjährig
• halbjährig
• vierteljährig

Related words

• Jahr
• jährlich
• jähren
• verjähren
• heuer
• English year

Usage notes

The word is now used chiefly in compounds with numerals and other words, such as zweijährig, hundertjährig, volljährig and minderjährig.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 454
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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, 2243
8. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org