schließen

Forms

schließen (class 2 strong, third-person singular present schließt, past tense schloss, past participle geschlossen, past subjunctive schlösse, auxiliary haben)^[1] The older present forms du schleußt, sie schleußt and the imperative schleuß were used in literature until the 19th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German slieʒen, inherited from Old High German sliozan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sleutan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sleutaną (“to bolt, lock”).^[3][1][4] The verb is limited to German, Dutch and Frisian: the same word is Old Saxon -slūtan, Middle Low German slūten, Middle Dutch sluten, Dutch sluiten and Old Frisian slūta, which point to a variant *slūtaną, and it is missing in North and East Germanic.^[5][6][4] Wiktionary also compares English slot.^[1]

Kluge compares, without the initial /s/, Latin claudō (“to close”), which belongs with clāvis (“key, bolt”), Old Irish cló (“nail”) and Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, hook, key”), and, with a final velar, Old Church Slavonic ключити (ključiti, “to close”) beside ключь (ključĭ, “key”): to close would then be “to put a bolt across”.^[3] Pfeifer takes the Germanic stem from Proto-Indo-European *skleud-, with the initial cluster simplified, and puts it under a root Proto-Indo-European *klēu- “hook, peg”, the peg being the oldest means of shutting something.^[5] Wahrig calls the outside connections not certain,^[7] and according to Wiktionary, Kroonen regards the word as purely Germanic and leaves its origin open.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The simple verb is first found in a Bavarian gloss of the first third of the 9th century, where sliozan renders Latin dēvallāre “to surround with a rampart”.^[8][9] Pfeifer cites intsliozan “to unlock, open” from the 8th century.^[5] Middle High German slieʒen meant “to close, lock”, “to enclose, contain” and “to join, fasten together”.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the verb took on the sense “to infer, conclude logically”, that is, to attach a thought to what goes before.^[6][7] Early New High German also used it for “to prove” and “to assert definitively”.^[4] From closing a door or a shop came the use of geschlossen for a shop, theatre or museum that is not open, and in computing schließen has meant “to close a program or file” since the 1980s.^[2]

Schließer “doorkeeper, jailer” dates from the 17th century, and the adverb schließlich “finally” from the 16th.^[5] Polish took szlusować “to join someone or something” from the verb in 1833.^[11]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German intsliozan “to unlock, open”.^[5]
• First third of the 9th century – sliozan in a Bavarian gloss.^[8]
• 16th century – The sense “to infer, conclude”.^[6][7]
• 16th century – schließlich “in the end” appears.^[5]
• 17th century – Schließer “doorkeeper”.^[5]
• 1833 – Polish szlusować is recorded.^[11]
• 1985 – The computing sense “to close a program” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To close, shut a door, lid, box, the eyes or the hand: Schließ bitte das Fenster, es zieht.^[12][1]
2. (reflexive) To close, come together: Die Tür schloss sich hinter ihr.^[12]
3. To close in a certain way: Der Deckel schließt nicht mehr dicht.^[12]
4. To lock, to turn a key in a lock: Der Schlüssel schließt schwer.^[12][1]
5. To lock someone or something in: das Geld in den Tresor schließen.^[12]
6. To close a shop or institution for a time, or to shut it down for good: Die Bäckerei schließt um sechs.^[12][13]
7. To fill a gap or opening, to complete a circuit: eine Lücke schließen.^[12]
8. To end a meeting, speech or letter, or to come to an end: Die Vorsitzende schloss die Sitzung kurz nach zehn.^[12][1]
9. To enter into a contract, marriage, peace or friendship: einen Vertrag schließen.^[12][1]
10. To infer, conclude: Aus seinem Schweigen schloss sie, dass er gekränkt war.^[12][1]

Word family

• abschließen
• anschließen
• aufschließen
• ausschließen
• beschließen
• einschließen
• entschließen
• erschließen
• verschließen
• zuschließen
• Schluss
• Schließer
• Schließung
• schließlich

Related words

• Schloss
• Schlüssel
• Schlosser
• Klausur

Usage notes

Die Augen schließen can mean “to die”, and die Augen vor etwas schließen is to refuse to see something.^[2] Etwas in sich schließen is to contain or imply it.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
3. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 811
4. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 742
7. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 446
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 976
11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org