langsam

Forms

langsam (strong nominative masculine singular langsamer, comparative langsamer, superlative am langsamsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German lancsam, inherited from Old High German langsam, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *langasam (“lengthy, long-lasting”), formed from lang with the suffix -sam.^[2][1][3] Beside Old Saxon langsam there is Old English langsum, so the adjective may already have been formed in West Germanic.^[2] Middle Dutch lancsam is the same word.^[4]

Its first meaning was “long-lasting”.^[2][5] The sense “slow” came from the neighbouring adjective Old High German langseimi, Middle High German lancseim (“hesitating, slow”), whose second part is Middle High German seine (“sluggish”), related to Old Norse seinn (“late”) and to Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sainjan, “to delay”).^[2][3] The Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen explains that the compound took the sense “slow” under the influence of the simple adjective and passed it on to its similar-sounding neighbour; the compound then died out, and the adjective in -sam lost its old sense of duration.^[3][6]

The base adjective is Proto-Germanic *langaz;^[7][8] Pfeifer traces it with Latin longus to Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos, from a root Proto-Indo-European *del- (“long”) also found without the nasal in Ancient Greek δολιχός (dolikhós) and Old Church Slavonic длъгъ (dlŭgŭ).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German langsam first appears in two Alemannic glosses of the end of the 8th or beginning of the 9th century, and then in the Old High German Benedictine Rule, with the senses “long, long-lasting, extended, tedious”, translating Latin diuturnus, longus and prolixus.^[3][9][4] In the Rule it describes the long probation of novices in the monastery.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Early New High German the word meant “slow, unhurried”, with a positive shade (measured, steady) or a negative one (hesitant, sluggish), and also “late”, “for a long time”, “rarely” and “hardly”.^[10] Adelung still knew the sense “late” in common speech, especially in Lower Saxony, and noted that the biblical langsam zum Zorn “slow to wrath” (James 1:19) was going out of use.^[11]

In modern German it also means “gradually”, and colloquially it marks that something has nearly reached a point: langsam reicht's.^[5][1] English has taken langsam as a musical direction.^[12]

Timeline

• Late 8th or early 9th century – Old High German langsam “long-lasting” in glosses.^[3]
• Middle High German – lancsam takes over the sense “slow” from lancseim.^[3][6]
• 1350–1650 – Early New High German senses “slow”, “late”, “rarely”.^[10]
• 1793 – Adelung records the regional sense “late”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. slow, moving with little speed or taking a long time: ein langsamer Walzer;^[5][1] langsam, aber sicher (“slowly but surely”).^[5][1]
2. Slow-witted, ponderous, needing a long time for things: ein langsamer Arbeiter.^[5]
3. gradual: die langsame Erholung der Wirtschaft.^[5]

Adverb

1. Slowly; gradually, little by little: Langsam wurde es dunkel.^[5][1]
2. (colloquial) By now, it is getting to the point that: Langsam habe ich genug davon.^[5][1]

Word family

• Langsamkeit
• verlangsamen

Related words

• lang
• Länge

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 559
3. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1021
4. ^ a b c 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, p. 5, 618
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 179
7. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 192
10. ^ a b Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
11. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
12. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de