Etymologically
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natürlich

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Pronunciation

  • /naˈtyːʁlɪç/, [naˈtʰyːɐ̯lɪç][1]

Forms

natürlich (strong nominative masculine singular natürlicher, comparative natürlicher, superlative am natürlichsten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German natiurlich, inherited from Old High German natūrlīh, formed from Old High German natūra + -līh in Old High German, the base being the noun that became Natur.[1][2][3] The Middle High German variant with -iu- shows the influence of Old French nature on the noun.[2] The noun is borrowed from Latin nātūra (“birth; nature”), from the participle of nāscor (“to be born”).[4][2] In nearly all its uses the German noun follows the senses already present in Latin.[2] Dutch natuurlijk and Swedish naturlig were formed in the same way.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German natūrlīh is first found in Notker, around 1000, meaning “natural, in accordance with nature, innate, given by nature, real”.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German natūrlich also meant “bodily, sensual” and “belonging to the realm of nature”.[6] In Early New High German it often stood where a compound with Natur- is used today: natürliches Recht for Naturrecht, natürliche Geschichte for Naturgeschichte, and natürliche Kunst or natürlicher Meister for natural philosophy and the natural philosopher (voc. 1482).[7][8]

The adverb, Old High German natūrlīcho, first meant “in a natural way, by the force of nature”, as opposed to “miraculous” or “artificial”.[9] From “as is natural” came the modern sentence adverb “of course, obviously”, used in answers and in concessions.[10][2] An uneheliches child was once called a natürliches Kind, a legal term now dated.[10][11]

Timeline

  • About 1000 – Old High German natūrlīh in Notker.[2][3]
  • First half of the 13th century – Middle High German natūrlich in Wolfdietrich B.[6]
  • 1482 – A vocabulary glosses naturlich kunst as Latin physica and philosophia naturalis.[7]
  • 17th century – Naturell is borrowed from French naturel.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Natural, found in nature, not artificial: ein natürlicher See.[10][1]
  2. Following the laws of nature: eines natürlichen Todes sterben.[10]
  3. True to life: in natürlicher Größe.[10]
  4. Innate, inborn: ihre natürliche Haarfarbe.[10]
  5. Grounded in human nature or in the nature of a thing; logical, to be expected: es ist ganz natürlich, dass sie sich freut.[10]
  6. Unaffected, unpretentious: ein natürliches Benehmen.[10][11]

Adverb

  1. Of course, naturally: Kommst du? – Natürlich![10][1]
  2. As expected: der Zug hatte natürlich Verspätung.[10][11]
  3. Admittedly, before a restriction: das ist natürlich schön, aber teuer.[10][11]

Word family

  • Natürlichkeit
  • unnatürlich
  • übernatürlich

Usage notes

Colloquially the adverb is shortened to ’türlich.[1] The Lehnwortportal records the German word as a loan in English and, between 1914 and 1918, in French as naturlich.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 650
  5. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 234
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 455
  8. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  9. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 459
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  12. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de