Etymologically
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kritisieren

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Pronunciation

  • /kʁitiˈziːʁən/[1]

Forms

kritisieren (third-person singular present kritisiert, past tense kritisierte, past participle kritisiert, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French critiquer (“to criticize”), recorded from the 17th century, but with the German verb suffix -isieren in place of a French ending.[2][3][1] The Grimms' dictionary notes that the sibilant is unexpected and quotes Klopstock, who thought the verb should have kept the velar consonant of the French word; the form was probably modelled on the adjective kritisch.[4]

The French verb belongs to critique (“criticism; critic”), from Latin criticus (“critic”), from Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós, “able to judge, decisive”), derived from κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, decide, judge”).[5][3][2] Duden places the Greek verb in the large family of Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer and Duden date the verb to the 17th century, with the senses “to judge” and “to find fault with”.[3][2] Schmotther's dictionary of 1726 already lists critisiren as “to examine, to censure”.[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb grew up beside Kritik, taken from French in the late 17th century as a term of aesthetic judgement, and Kritiker, which in the 18th century replaced the older Latin Criticus.[3] Early New High German also has an isolated kritisieren “to be in a crisis”, linked to the medical sense of kritisch (the decisive days of an illness).[6][3]

Today the verb has two uses: the reviewer's assessment of a book or performance, and the everyday sense of disapproving of someone or something and saying so.[7][8] The Loanwords in Polish and other languages database lists Dutch kritiseren, recorded in 1698, among words taken from German.[9]

Timeline

  • 17th century – kritisieren is formed after French critiquer.[3][2]
  • 1698 – Dutch kritiseren is recorded.[9]
  • 1726 – Schmotther's dictionary lists critisiren “to examine, to censure”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To review and assess something as a critic, such as a book, a play or a concert: Sie kritisierte die neue Inszenierung sehr wohlwollend.[7][8]
  2. To criticize, censure: to disapprove of a person or their conduct and say so: Die Opposition kritisierte den Haushaltsplan scharf.[7][1]
  • Kritik
  • Kritiker
  • kritisch
  • Krise
  • Kriterium
  • English criticize

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 11, 2337
  5. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 543
  6. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  7. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de