kämpfen

Forms

kämpfen (third-person singular present kämpft, past tense kämpfte, past participle gekämpft, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German kempfen, inherited from Old High German kempfan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kampijan (“to battle”), formed from the noun Kampf, Old High German kampf, Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“field, battle”).^[1][2][3][4] The same noun is Old English camp, Old Saxon kamp and Old Frisian kamp, with Old Norse kapp (“contest”) beside it.^[3][5]

The noun is probably an early borrowing of Latin campus (“field”), made before the High German consonant shift.^[3][2][6] Kluge explains that the first Germanic sense was “single combat”, fought on a marked-off field, for which the Latin word evidently served as a name.^[3] The same Latin word lies behind the later loans Camp, kampieren, Kampagne and Champignon.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German kempfan is first recorded in the Benedictine Rule of about 800, meaning “to fight, contend”.^[4] Middle High German kempfen meant especially “to fight a single combat”, including the judicial duel.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant the duel, especially a skilled one, and then any fight, also a struggle of the mind.^[9] It was still used of duelling in the 17th century, and Hans Sachs reports that the old art of judicial combat was abolished around 1500 under Emperor Maximilian and gave way to the art of fencing.^[9] Luther's Bible has Jacob told that he hast mit Gott und mit Menschen gekempft “has fought with God and with men” (Genesis 32:28).^[9]

Adelung (1793) found it of people only in elevated style, but common of animals, and hunters used it of stags butting each other.^[10] The phrase Kampf ums Dasein (19th century) follows Darwin's English struggle for existence.^[2] The Low German form of the agent noun gave Kämpe “champion” in the 18th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 800 – Old High German kempfan in the Benedictine Rule.^[4]
• 11th century – Old High German kampf appears in glosses.^[3][4]
• c. 1200 – Hartmann's Iwein uses kempfen of single combat.^[8][7]
• c. 1500 – The judicial duel is abolished, as Hans Sachs reports.^[9]
• 16th century – First record of kämpferisch.^[2]
• 19th century – Kampf ums Dasein, after English struggle for existence.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fight (in war, with weapons): Die Soldaten kämpften bis zur Erschöpfung.^[11][1]
2. To fight physically with someone; figuratively mit den Tränen kämpfen “to fight back tears” and mit dem Schlaf kämpfen “to struggle to stay awake”.^[11]
3. To contend with an opponent by any means, to quarrel or compete: Die beiden Firmen kämpfen um denselben Markt.^[11]
4. (sports) To compete; to give everything in a game: Die Mannschaft hat bis zur letzten Minute gekämpft.^[11]
5. To struggle hard for something: Sie kämpft seit Jahren für bessere Arbeitsbedingungen.^[11][1]
6. To struggle inwardly over a decision: mit sich kämpfen.^[11]
7. Reflexive: to make one's way with great effort: Wir kämpften uns durch den tiefen Schnee.^[11]

Word family

• Kämpfer
• kämpferisch
• bekämpfen
• erkämpfen
• durchkämpfen

Related words

• Kampf
• Kämpe
• Camp
• kampieren

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 468
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de
6. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1547
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ 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. 11, 145
10. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
11. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag