Etymologically
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nach

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Pronunciation

  • /naːx/, /nax/[1]

Forms

nach (preposition with the dative; adverb)[2] In northern colloquial speech the vowel is short.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German nāch, inherited from Old High German nāh, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nāhw, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nēhw (“near”).[4][1] It was originally the adverb of the adjective nah, with the development “near to” > “immediately after”.[4][5][6] The final /h/ of the Old High German word became ⟨ch⟩ here, while the adjective continues its inflected forms.[1]

The same adverb is Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 (nēƕa), Old English nēah, Old Frisian nēi, Middle Low German nā and Middle Dutch na, and it survives in Dutch na and English nigh.[4][5][7] Kroonen takes the adjective Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz (“near”) as a lengthened-grade formation from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German nāh is found as an adverb, “near, almost, afterwards”, in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, and as a preposition, “near, by, behind, according to”, in glosses and the Monsee Fragments at the end of the 8th century;[8][5][9] Tatian, Otfrid and Notker use both.[8][5][9]

Semantic evolution

The starting point was the adverb with verbs of motion, “into the vicinity of something”; this gave “towards something” and, when the goal itself moved, “behind, after”, and in time nach became the opposite of vor.[5][3] The old sense “near” is still preserved in Nachbar, and nach was used for “near” until the 18th century, as by Schiller.[3] With names of countries and towns (er kam nach England) it replaced Middle High German ze and zuo.[3] The sense “according to” (nach meiner Meinung) is already found in Old High German.[8][3]

As an independent adverb it lives on in the phrases nach wie vor “still, as before” and nach und nach “gradually”, and above all as the first element of separable verbs (nachfahren, nachkommen).[5][3] The conjunction nachdem was still written as two words, nach dem, in the 15th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German nāh as an adverb in glosses.[8]
  • End of the 8th century – nāh as a preposition in glosses and the Monsee Fragments.[8]
  • 15th century – nach dem “after” is written separately;[5] nacheinander appears.[5]
  • Around 1600 – Nachricht “message” is first recorded.[5]
  • 18th century – Schiller still uses nach in the old sense “near”.[3]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. Towards, in the direction of: nach oben, nach links.[2][1]
  2. To (a destination, especially a place name): nach Amerika fliegen, nach Hause;[2][1] (regional) also before other nouns, nach Oma gehen.[2][1]
  3. after (in time): nach wenigen Minuten, fünf nach drei.[2][1]
  4. After, behind (in order or rank): eins nach dem andern.[2][1]
  5. With certain verbs, marks the object aimed at: nach etwas greifen, sich nach jemandem sehnen.[2][1]
  6. according to; after the model of: nach meiner Meinung, frei nach Goethe.[2][1]

Adverb

  1. After, following: mir nach! “follow me!”; in nach und nach “gradually” and nach wie vor “still”.[2]

Word family

  • nachdem
  • nacheinander
  • nachahmen
  • nachgerade
  • nachhaltig
  • Nachmittag
  • Nachnahme
  • Nachricht
  • Nachruf
  • Nachtisch
  • Nachwelt
  • Nachwort
  • Nachbar
  • nah
  • English nigh

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  4. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 645
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 232