morgen

Forms

morgen^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German morgene, inherited from Old High German morgane, the dative singular of the noun Morgen “morning” used as an adverb, properly “in the morning”.^[2][3][4][5] The noun with a preposition served the same purpose in the other old Germanic languages, and English morrow and morn are the same word.^[2][1]

The noun is Old High German morgan, from Proto-Germanic *murginaz (“morning”), also found in Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍃 (maurgins), Old Norse morginn and Old English morgen.^[2][3][6] It probably first meant “dawn, twilight”: Kluge and Pfeifer connect it with a root Proto-Indo-European *merk- (“to flicker; to grow dark”), found in Russian мрак (mrak, “gloom, darkness”) and Lithuanian mérkti (“to close one's eyes”).^[2][3][6] Kroonen calls its derivation uncertain, and the Grimms thought its origin obscure.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is recorded from the 9th century;^[2][3] Pfeifer finds the Old High German dative used this way only in ubarmorgane “the day after tomorrow”.^[2][3] The EWA lists the noun morgan in adverbial phrases meaning “on the next day, tomorrow”, glossing Latin cras, and ubar morgana for perendie.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The meaning moved from “in the morning” to “on the following morning”, after the night between, and then to “on the whole of the following day”.^[3][4][9] Hence morgen früh and morgen Abend.^[10] Older writers could also use it from a past point of view for “on the next day”, as Lessing did: ward morgen ins Verhör gebracht (“was brought to trial the next day”).^[10] It also came to mean “in the future”, and the noun das Morgen “the future” is formed from it.^[5][1]

The adjective morgig “of tomorrow” dates from the 15th century, shortened from Middle High German morgenic.^[4] The Grimms note a short form morn.^[11] Esperanto morgaŭ was borrowed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 9th century – The Old High German dative is used as an adverb, in ubarmorgane.^[2][3]
• c. 1120–1130 – Middle High German has an adjective morgen “of tomorrow”, in the Exodus poem.^[12][13]
• 15th century – morgig “of tomorrow” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Tomorrow, on the day after today: Morgen fahren wir an die See.^[5][1]
2. In the future, in time to come: die Technik von morgen.^[5]

Word family

• morgig
• übermorgen

Related words

• Morgen
• morgens
• English morrow

Usage notes

The proverb morgen, morgen, nur nicht heute, sagen alle faulen Leute (“tomorrow, tomorrow, just not today, say all the lazy people”) goes back to a song by Christian Felix Weiße;^[5][1] morgen ist auch noch ein Tag means that something can wait.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. 635
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
5. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 2556
8. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 6, 557
9. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
10. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 2564
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 2200