notwendig

Forms

notwendig (strong nominative masculine singular notwendiger, comparative notwendiger, superlative am notwendigsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of Not “distress, need” and the verb wenden “to turn, avert”, first meaning “averting distress”: a word for measures that ward off a need and are therefore indispensable.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary analyses it as Not and the adjective wendig.^[1] Pfeifer records beside it an older meaning “urgent, forced by need”, properly “brought about by need”.^[3]

The noun is Middle High German nōt, Old High German nōt, from Proto-Germanic *naudiz (“need, compulsion”), found also in Old Saxon nōd, Old English nīed, Old Norse nauð and Dutch nood, whence English need.^[3] Pfeifer explains it as an abstract noun with a /t/ suffix, like nautin (“need”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *nāu- (“death, corpse; to exhaust”) that may also lie behind Russian нужда (nuždá, “want, poverty”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Notwendig is recorded from the beginning of the 16th century, first in the sense “averting need”; about 1526 it is found in the sense of nötig “needed”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century notwendig spread at the expense of the older nötig, which goes back to Old High German nōtag “in distress”; since the end of the 19th century notwendig is often preferred for tasks and errands.^[5][3] The sense “lying in the nature of things, inevitable”, as in eine notwendige Folge, came in the 18th century, and the philosophical use goes back to Christian Wolff in 1723.^[3][5] Notwendigkeit is recorded from the 16th century; in the 17th and 18th it could also mean a necessary thing, often in the plural.^[3][5]

Like nötig haben, notwendig haben could take a genitive, as in Pestalozzi; the phrase ein notwendiges Übel “a necessary evil” is very common.^[5]

Timeline

• Early 16th century – notwendig is first recorded.^[5][2]
• c. 1526 – It is used in the sense “needed, required”.^[5]
• 16th century – Notwendigkeit is recorded.^[3]
• 1723 – Christian Wolff uses the word in philosophy.^[5]
• 18th century – The sense “inevitable, following from the nature of things” appears.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. necessary, essential, indispensable: Für die Reise sind gültige Papiere notwendig. As a noun: sich auf das Notwendigste beschränken.^[4][1]
2. (adverb) Absolutely, by all means: Wir brauchen notwendig einen Klempner.^[4]
3. inevitable, following from the nature of things: eine notwendige Konsequenz.^[4][6]

Word family

• Notwendigkeit
• notwendigerweise

Related words

• Not
• nötig
• wenden
• Notdurft
• English need

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 660
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
6. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org