laufen

Forms

laufen (class 7 strong, third-person singular present läuft, past tense lief, past participle gelaufen, auxiliary sein)^[1] Middle High German and Upper German dialects kept the unumlauted present du laufst, er lauft, still used by Opitz and by Goethe in a letter of 1782.^[2][3] The past participle was also geloffen, still in Wieland and once in Goethe's Urfaust.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German loufen, inherited from Old High German hloufan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hlaupan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap forward”), originally a reduplicating strong verb.^[5][6][1] The same verb is Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌰𐌽 (ushlaupan, “to leap up”), Old Norse hlaupa (“to run, leap”), Old English hlēapan (“to leap, dance”), Old Frisian hlāpa and Old Saxon -hlōpan, and today Dutch lopen, English leap and Swedish löpa.^[5][6] Old High German still has the initial /h/ in its oldest records.^[7]

Its origin is unclear.^[5][8] Kluge and Seebold consider an extension of Proto-Indo-European *keleu- (“to travel”), found in Lithuanian keliáuti (“to travel”) and Ancient Greek κέλευθος (kéleuthos, “path, journey”).^[5][6][9] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, hop”), comparing klùpti (“to stumble”), a link Pfeifer finds possible in sound but unsatisfying in meaning.^[1][6] Paul and the Duden suppose an original sense “to hop, dance (in a circle)”.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German loufan is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses and then in the Benedictine Rule, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[5][11][12] It meant “to run, hurry, go, move” and “to flow”.^[12][7]

Semantic evolution

In Early New High German the verb already covered walking at an ordinary pace, running fast, the movement and turning of things, the working of devices and the course of affairs.^[13][7] In newer German the idea of speed often recedes, so that laufen can stand for gehen: in the south-west and in Franconia it is the ordinary word for walking (spazieren laufen), while the standard language links it with speed.^[6][3] In New High German it is also used of vehicles and machines, and later of films, programs and contracts.^[6][10]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German hloufan is recorded.^[5][11]
• 863–871 – Otfrid uses the verb and the noun louf.^[12][11]
• 1060–1080 – Middle High German loufen in the Genesis.^[14]
• 1782 – Goethe writes er lauft in a letter.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To run, move quickly on foot: er lief zum Bahnhof.^[10][1]
2. (colloquial) To walk, go on foot: wir sind nach Hause gelaufen.^[10][1]
3. To be able to walk: das Kind läuft schon.^[10][8]
4. To cover a distance on foot: zehn Kilometer laufen.^[10]
5. (sports) To compete as a runner, to run a race or a time: sie läuft für Österreich.^[10]
6. To move on skates or skis: Schlittschuh laufen, Ski laufen.^[10]
7. Of a machine or engine: to be running, in operation.^[10][1]
8. To flow: das Wasser läuft in die Wanne.^[10][1]
9. To extend in a certain direction: der Weg läuft am Fluss entlang.^[10]
10. To go, proceed, be in progress: wie läuft es im neuen Job?^[10][1]
11. To be valid, remain in force: der Vertrag läuft bis März.^[10]
12. To be registered: das Konto läuft auf ihren Namen.^[10]
13. Of a film or programme: to be showing.^[10]
14. (computing) Of a program: to run.^[1]
15. (colloquial) To sell well.^[10]
16. (hunting) Of a bitch: to be in heat.^[10]

Word family

• ablaufen
• anlaufen
• auflaufen
• auslaufen
• belaufen
• einlaufen
• Lauf
• Läufer
• läufig
• überlaufen
• verlaufen
• zerlaufen
• davonlaufen
• durchlaufen

Related words

• Laufbahn
• Lauffeuer
• Wettlauf
• Zeitläufte
• Galopp
• Loipe
• English leap

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 314
3. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
4. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
5. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 562
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1462
8. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ a b c Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 207
13. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling