Etymologically
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klein

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Pronunciation

Forms

klein (strong nominative masculine singular kleiner, comparative kleiner, superlative am kleinsten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German kleine, inherited from Old High German kleini, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“fine, dainty”).[2][1][3] The same West Germanic adjective is Old Saxon klēni (“delicate, clever”), Middle Dutch cleine and Old English clǣne (“pure, clean”), and today Dutch klein and English clean.[2][4][5] Pfeifer and the EWA reconstruct a stem Proto-Germanic *klainja- found only in West Germanic;[4][3] the EWA thinks it may continue an older stem Proto-Germanic *klaini-.[3]

Its further origin is unclear.[2][1] Heidermanns, followed by Kroonen, connects it with the verb seen in Old Norse klína (“to smear”) and Old High German klenan (“to smear, stick”), the family of Klei, so that the adjective first meant “finely plastered” or “shining”;[2][5] the Duden dictionaries likewise start from the root Proto-Indo-European *glei- (“to stick, smear”), with an original sense “smeared with fat” or “plastered, polished”, whence “shining, smooth”.[6][7] Pfeifer also allows a link with Ancient Greek γλαινοί (glainoí, “ornaments on a helmet”) and a root meaning “to shine”, as did Baader.[4][2] Wiktionary notes that a borrowing from a substrate has also been proposed.[1]

Beside the diphthong there is a regional variant with /iː/, as in Swiss German and Low German.[2][5] Kluge finds this hard to explain as ablaut, while Kroonen compares the same alternation in Dutch droog beside English dry.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German kleini is first recorded in glosses of about 790, and then in Otfrid, Notker and Williram.[8][9] Its senses were wide: “fine, delicate, slim, precious”, “clever, cunning, subtle” and “thin, slight, small”, rendering Latin subtilis, gracilis, astutus and parvus.[3][9] Middle High German kleine still meant “pure, pretty, dainty, fine, clever” as well as “slight, weak”.[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Kluge and Wahrig date the modern sense, the opposite of groß, only to the period after Middle High German;[2][11] Pfeifer traces it from the Middle High German sense “fine, dainty”.[4] It took over from the old word for “little”, Old High German luzzil, Middle High German lützel, which died out in the 16th and 17th centuries and survives in the place name Lützelburg, the older name of Luxembourg.[12] The older sense “fine, precious” lives on in Kleinod.[12]

Paul records meine Kleine “my darling” from the 18th century.[12] Kleinbürger in the sense “philistine” goes back to Börne around 1830, after occasional 18th-century use for a workman, and kleinbürgerlich to Immermann in 1838.[4][12] The intensive klitzeklein “tiny” came from the Lower Rhine and became common in the early 20th century.[12] English borrowed kleindeutsch and Kleindeutscher as political terms.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 790 – Old High German kleini appears in glosses.[8]
  • 16th–17th century – The synonym lützel “little” dies out, leaving klein as the opposite of groß.[12]
  • 18th century – meine Kleine “my darling” is recorded.[12]
  • c. 1830 – Börne uses Kleinbürger for a narrow-minded philistine.[4][12]
  • 1838 – Immermann uses kleinbürgerlich.[4][12]
  • 1892 – Kleinbahn (narrow-gauge railway) becomes an official term.[12]
  • 1916 – English records Kleindeutscher, a supporter of a Germany without Austria.[13]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Small, little: below the average or a comparison in size or extent: eine kleine Küche.[7][1]
  2. Young, not grown up: ihr kleiner Bruder.[7][1]
  3. Small in number, amount or duration: eine kleine Pause.[7][14]
  4. Slight, insignificant; of people, of humble means or influence.[7][1]
  5. Written in lowercase letters.[14]

Word family

  • Kleinigkeit
  • kleinlich
  • Kleinheit
  • verkleinern
  • zerkleinern
  • Kleinod
  • kleinlaut
  • kleinmütig
  • Kleinbürger
  • kleinbürgerlich
  • Kleinstadt
  • Kleinstaat
  • Kleingeld
  • Kleinkind
  • klitzeklein

Usage notes

Before wenig and bisschen the adjective can stay uninflected: ein klein wenig.[12] Von klein auf “from childhood” is formed like von Kind auf, and kurz und klein schlagen is to smash to pieces.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 498
  3. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 581
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 440
  7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 177
  10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  14. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org