schön

Forms

schön (strong nominative masculine singular schöner, comparative schöner, superlative am schönsten)^[1] Middle German long resisted the umlaut, which prevailed in Upper German from the 13th century, so unumlauted schon survived into New High German, as in Luther's Bible (Isaiah 4:2).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German schœne, inherited from Old High German scōni, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skaunī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skauniz (“beautiful”).^[3][4][1] The same adjective is Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌿𐌽𐍃 (skauns, “graceful, comely”), Old English scīene, Old Frisian skēne and Old Saxon skōni, and today Dutch schoon (“beautiful; clean”) and the poetic English sheen.^[3][4][5][6]

It is a verbal adjective with an n-suffix belonging to schauen, so its first sense was “that can be looked at, worth seeing”.^[3][4][7] Kroonen takes it as formed from a lost strong verb, in parallel with Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌿𐌽𐍃 (siuns, “sight, appearance”) and Old Norse sýnn (“visible”), formed from the verb for “see”, and Pfeifer traces the root to Proto-Indo-European *(s)keu- (“to pay attention, look”).^[5][4] The Grimms' dictionary reports that Jacob Grimm thought of a link with scheinen, and finds Lithuanian šaũnus (“excellent”) closer than the forms usually compared.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German scōni is recorded from the third quarter of the 8th century in glosses, and then in Otfrid, Notker, the Georgslied and Williram, meaning “beautiful, splendid, shining”, also “good, excellent” and “pleasant”.^[8][9][4] Adelung, around 1800, held that the oldest sense was “shining, bright, clean”, still alive in Low German and Dutch, where schön could mean “clean”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

At first the word described what pleases the eye, as in Hartmann von Aue's wart ein schœne man “became a handsome man”.^[11] It was soon extended to the ear, as in Walther von der Vogelweide's schone sanc diu nahtegal “the nightingale sang beautifully”, then to taste (northern das schmeckt schön) and to any pleasant feeling.^[11] Middle High German also used it for “kind, considerate”, a sense that survives in the old adverb schon and in schonen.^[4][7]

The link with art and taste came in the 18th century, under the humanist ideal of education: schöne Künste and schöne Wissenschaften were modelled on French beaux-arts and belles-lettres, and Schöngeist on bel esprit.^[4][7][12] In everyday speech the word has weakened into formulas of politeness (danke schön, bitte schön) and of grudging agreement (na schön).^[13]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German scōni appears in glosses.^[8][3]
• 1060–1065 – Middle High German schœne in Williram.^[14]
• 13th century – The umlauted form prevails in Upper German.^[2]
• 18th century – schöne Künste, schöne Literatur and Schöngeist are formed on French models.^[4][7]
• 1780 – Adelung explains das schöne Geschlecht “the fair sex” by the beauty proper to women.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Beautiful, handsome, attractive in appearance: ein schönes Gesicht.^[13][1]
2. Pleasing to the eye or ear, lovely: eine schöne Melodie.^[13]
3. Pleasant, enjoyable: ein schöner Abend am See.^[13][1]
4. (especially northern Germany) Good, tasty: der Kuchen schmeckt schön.^[13]
5. Good, praiseworthy, kind: eine schöne Geste.^[13]
6. In polite formulas: danke schön, bitte schön, schöne Grüße.^[13]
7. Expressing agreement: na schön! “all right then”.^[13]
8. (colloquial) Considerable: eine schöne Summe.^[13]
9. (colloquial, ironic) Unpleasant, annoying: das ist ja ein schöner Schlamassel!^[13]

Adverb

1. Well, nicely, beautifully: sie singt schön.^[1][13]
2. (colloquial) As expected, properly, in requests: iss schön deinen Teller leer!^[13]

Word family

• schönen
• schönfärben
• schöngeistig
• Schönheit
• Schöne
• Schönling
• schönreden
• Schönschrift
• verschönern
• beschönigen
• Schöngeist

Related words

• schauen
• schon
• schonen
• English sheen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 15, 1464
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 824
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 291
10. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
11. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
12. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling