Etymologically
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kosten

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kosten1 to cost

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkɔstən/[1]

Forms

kosten (third-person singular present kostet, past tense kostete, past participle gekostet, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “to cost” is inherited from Middle High German kosten, borrowed from Old French coster (“to cost”) (now French coûter).[2][3][4] Pfeifer dates the borrowing to about 1200, on the Middle Rhine.[3] The Old French verb continues Vulgar Latin *cōstō, costō, from Latin cōnstō (“to stand firm; to cost”), formed from con- and stō (“to stand”).[2][3][5] Pfeifer explains that the Latin verb had already passed in Roman business language from “to stand firm” to “to come to, have a price”, probably from a balance coming to rest.[3]

The same Romance verb was borrowed as Dutch kosten, English cost and Swedish kosta;[2] the EWA takes the Scandinavian verbs from Middle Low German.[6] The Grimms' dictionary adds that it spread to the Slavic, Baltic and Celtic languages too, which it puts down to merchants and trade.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German kosten meant “to spend, lay out”, “to keep, feed someone” and “to come to, cost”, with the price in the accusative.[8][5] Köbler lists it in Hartmann's Iwein, the Marienleben (1172–1190) and charters from 1278–1280.[5]

Semantic evolution

The Grimms' dictionary notes that the borrowing pushed aside native expressions for the same idea: gelten, zu stehen kommen and above all Middle High German stân and gestân, which matched Latin cōnstāre exactly without being a translation of it.[7]

The person who pays was put in the accusative or in the dative, and the verb was used freely of other losses: es kostet Mühe, Tränen, den Kopf.[9] In the 18th century, under French influence, it was also used without a price, meaning “to be hard for someone”, as in Wieland and Schiller.[9] The noun Kost(e), from Medieval Latin costa (“expense”), meant “price, outlay”; this sense is now kept only by the plural Kosten, the only form current since the 18th century, while the singular Kost narrowed to “expense for food” and then “food”.[3][9][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – Middle High German kosten is borrowed on the Middle Rhine.[3]
  • 1278–1280 – Recorded in Middle High German charters.[5]
  • 16th–17th century – The singular die Kost is still used for “expense”.[9]
  • 18th century – die Kosten becomes the only form for “expenses”, and kosten is used without a price, meaning “to be hard for someone”.[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cost, to have a certain price: Die Karte kostet zwölf Euro.[1][10]
  2. To require, take (effort, time, strength): Der Umzug hat uns viel Kraft gekostet.[9][10]
  3. To cost someone something, make someone lose it: Der Fehler kostete ihn die Stelle.[9][10]

Word family

  • Kosten
  • Kost
  • kostbar
  • köstlich
  • kostspielig
  • Unkosten
  • kostenlos

kosten2 to taste

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkɔstən/[1]

Forms

kosten (third-person singular present kostet, past tense kostete, past participle gekostet, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “to taste” is inherited from Middle High German kosten, inherited from Old High German kostōn (“to try, test, tempt”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *kustōną (“to try, taste”).[2][1][4] The same verb is Old Saxon kostōn, Old English costian (“to try, tempt”) and, with a different sense, Old Norse kosta (“to use; to strive”).[2][11] Kluge calls it an intensive formation to kiesen “to choose”,[2] and Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Germanic *kustuz (“trial, choice”).[1] That verb is Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test, prove”), and the Grimms' dictionary points out that choosing began with testing by taste.[11]

The parallel formations Latin gustus (“taste”) and gustō (“to taste, try”) are related, not a source:[2][4][11] both go back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to taste, try”).[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German kostōn is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, then in Notker, Otfrid and the Tatian, meaning “to try, test, tempt, put to the proof, consider”.[13] The Grimms' dictionary notes that the theological sense “to tempt” is the usual one in Old High German (kostari “tempter”), and that Old English costian was even used of trying one's strength in battle.[11]

Semantic evolution

The sources disagree about when the sense “to taste” took over.[9][11] Paul writes that the verb was already limited in Middle High German to testing by taste;[9] the Grimms' dictionary finds the modern sense not yet attested there, the few Middle High German examples meaning “to examine by looking, perceive”.[11][8] By Early New High German it meant “to smell, taste” and, in forestry, to cut into a tree to test its wood.[14] It was formerly used with the genitive (Voß), which gave way to von etwas kosten and the accusative.[9] Figurative uses are common in the classics: Schiller's ich habe Leben gekostet and Goethe's den Vorgeschmack der Hölle kosten.[9]

Alemannic kept the unbroken vowel in kusten, küsten.[11] The verb was borrowed into Slovene, Czech and Polish (kosztować),[11] and into Hungarian as kóstol, recorded in 1416.[15]

Timeline

  • 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German kostōn in glosses.[13]
  • c. 1150 – Middle High German kosten in the Kaiserchronik.[5]
  • 1416 – Hungarian kóstol “to taste, get to know” is recorded.[15]
  • 1954 – Duden records Kostprobe.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To taste, sample food or drink: Sie kostete die Suppe. vom frischen Most kosten.[16][1]
  2. (elevated) To experience, savour: den Erfolg kosten.[16] Ironically etwas zu kosten bekommen: Er bekam ihren Zorn zu kosten.[16]

Word family

  • Kostprobe
  • verkosten
  • kiesen
  • Kür
  • konstant
  • English cost

Usage notes

The verb meaning “to cost” takes the price in the accusative and the person in the accusative or, less often, the dative: das kostet mich and das kostet mir;[9][1] Paul quotes both from Schiller.[9][1] The verb meaning “to taste” is a regular weak verb as well, so the forms of the two are the same.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 534
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 471
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 720
  7. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 11, 1865
  8. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1689
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 11, 1862
  12. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  13. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  14. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  15. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  16. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag