Etymologically
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modern

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Pronunciation

  • /moˈdɛʁn/[1]

Forms

modern (strong nominative masculine singular moderner, comparative moderner, superlative am modernsten)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French moderne, borrowed for good at the beginning of the 18th century,[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin modernus (“current, present, new”), from modo (“only, just; just now”), an adverb that was originally the ablative of modus (“measure, manner”).[2][3][6] The same word is Dutch modern, English modern and Swedish modern.[2] It belongs with Modus; its link with Mode “fashion” is a later association, not its origin.[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Isolated records come before the borrowing: Paracelsus has modernisch in 1566, and Furttenbach in 1627 a palace built alla moderna.[4][7] The WGd places the first record of modern in 1675, in Sandrart's Teutsche Academie.[5] Its first meaning was “new, of the present time”.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century modern was used above all in contrast to antik, borrowed at the same time;[4][7] Wieland rendered it with heutig and neu.[4][7] Schiller wrote in 1781 that all his characters spoke zu modern, zu aufgeklärt für die damalige Zeit “too modern, too enlightened for that time”.[7][4] After the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes (1687) it became a term for an epoch in aesthetics, and Schiller and Friedrich Schlegel used antik and modern for two basic kinds of poetry.[7] The noun ein Moderner (1668) echoes the medieval Latin pair antiqui and moderni.[7]

Under the influence of Mode it came to mean “fashionable, up to date”, so that the word could express approval of the latest taste or rejection of it.[4][3] The noun die Moderne “modern times; modernism in the arts” dates from the 19th century, hochmodern from 1884.[3][7] modernisieren (18th century) is from French moderniser.[3] Hungarian borrowed modern in 1799.[8]

Timeline

  • 1566 – Paracelsus uses modernisch.[4][7]
  • 1668 – ein Moderner is recorded.[7]
  • 1675 – modern in Sandrart's Teutsche Academie.[5]
  • Early 18th century – the adjective is borrowed from French for good.[3][4]
  • 1781 – Schiller finds his characters' speech zu modern.[7]
  • 1799 – Hungarian modern.[8]
  • 19th century – the noun Moderne.[3]
  • 1884 – hochmodern is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fashionable, in keeping with the latest fashion: Solche Hüte sind nicht mehr modern.[9][1]
  2. Up to date, in line with the latest state of technical or social development: eine moderne Küche.[9][1]
  3. Open to the present and its ideas: Sie hat sehr moderne Ansichten.[9]
  4. Belonging to recent or modern times: moderne Kunst.[9][10]

Word family

  • Moderne
  • modernisieren
  • Modernisierung
  • Modernität
  • Modernismus
  • hochmodern
  • unmodern
  • postmodern

Usage notes

Modern with the stress on the first syllable, /ˈmoːdɐn/, is a different verb, “to rot, moulder”, formed from Moder “mould, decay”, a Low German word;[1][2][11] vermodern is found from the 15th century and simple modern from the 17th.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 629
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 561
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  5. ^ a b c Wortgeschichte digital (2020–), Zentrum für digitale Lexikographie der deutschen Sprache (ZDL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, zdl.org/wb/wortgeschichten
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  8. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  9. ^ a b c d Duden. Deutsches Universalwörterbuch (2007), 6th ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  11. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  12. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 2445