Etymologically
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rund

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Pronunciation

Forms

rund (strong nominative masculine singular runder, comparative runder, superlative am rundesten)[1] The older form rond is still found in the 17th century.[2] Beside the comparative runder there was ründer, used by Wieland but now obsolete.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German runt, borrowed from Old French ront (“round”), from Vulgar Latin *retundus, a dissimilated form of Latin rotundus (“round”), from rota (“wheel”), which is related to Rad.[3][4][1] Pfeifer gives the Old French forms as reont, older roont, and Anglo-Norman ruunt;[3] Kluge names ronde, which had been used much earlier in the knightly term tavelrunde (“Round Table”).[5] Middle Low German runt, Dutch rond and English round were borrowed from French too.[3][4]

The word is rare in Middle High German, found for instance in a Rhenish poem on Charlemagne; it spread slowly and by the 17th century had entirely displaced the native Middle High German sinwel (“round”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge and Paul date runt to the 13th century, Paul to its end.[5][6] An early dated record is in Berthold von Regensburg (about 1275).[7] Besides “round”, Middle High German runt also meant “nimble, skilful”.[8][7]

Semantic evolution

At first the word meant “circular”, but it was soon used of cylinders, spheres and anything evenly curved, and often of the human body.[6] Because the circle and the sphere were thought perfect, it also came to mean “complete, finished”: Goethe found the Iliad so rund und fertig (1798).[6] Hence runde Zahl and runde Summe, recorded by Adelung in 1777, and, in the 19th century, the sense “about, approximately”.[6] From Luther on it also meant “frank, plain”, as in rund heraus.[6]

The neuter noun Rund (17th century) is the French substantive rond.[3][4] Runde in the military sense “round of the guard” was borrowed in the early 17th century from French ronde, which comes from Spanish and ultimately Arabic, and was only felt as belonging to rund.[5][3] Rundfunk was coined in the 20th century by the engineer Hans Bredow.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – Middle High German runt is used by Berthold von Regensburg.[7]
  • 15th century – The verb ronden, later runden, appears.[3]
  • Early 17th century – Ronde, later Runde, “round of the guard” is borrowed from French.[3]
  • 17th century – rund has displaced the native sinwel.[2]
  • 1777 – Adelung records runde Zahl.[6]
  • 20th century – überrunden “to lap” appears.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. round: shaped like a circle or sphere, without corners: ein runder Tisch.[10][1]
  2. Of the body, plump, chubby.[10][1]
  3. (colloquial) Full, whole: ein rundes Jahr; of numbers, round: eine runde Summe.[10]
  4. Well-rounded, complete; running smoothly: ein runder Klang, Der Motor läuft rund.[10][1]

Adverb

  1. About, approximately: rund hundert Gäste.[10][1]
  2. Around: rund um die Uhr.[1]

Word family

  • Rund
  • Runde
  • runden
  • abrunden
  • aufrunden
  • überrunden
  • rundlich
  • Rundung
  • Rundfunk
  • rundum
  • rundweg
  • kreisrund
  • kugelrund
  • Rad
  • rotieren
  • Tafelrunde
  • English round

Usage notes

Runder Tisch, after King Arthur's Round Table and English round table, is a meeting of participants with equal rights; in the GDR, from autumn 1989 to March 1990, the Runde Tisch was an assembly of all political groups outside parliament.[6] Jetzt geht's rund “now things are getting lively” dates from the early 20th century.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 14, 1498
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 777
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 541
  9. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag