schwer

Forms

schwer (strong nominative masculine singular schwerer, comparative schwerer, superlative am schwersten)^[1] Early New High German often spelled the vowel ä, as Dasypodius and Maaler did, and Luther wrote the uninflected form schweer.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German swære, inherited from Old High German swāri, also swār, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *swār, inherited from Proto-Germanic *swēraz (“heavy”).^[3][1][4] The same word is Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴𐍂𐍃 (swērs, “honoured, esteemed”), Old Norse svárr, Old English swǣr, Old Frisian swēr and Old Saxon swār, and today Dutch zwaar and Swedish svår.^[3][5][4] Pfeifer explains the Gothic sense as “weighty”.^[5]

Outside Germanic it is related to Lithuanian svarùs (“heavy”) and Lithuanian sver̃ti (“to weigh”), and perhaps to a Russian word for “lever”.^[3][5][4] Kroonen explains it as a lengthened-grade adjective to an unattested strong verb Proto-Germanic *sweraną.^[4] The sources differ on the further origin.^[3][5][6] Kluge and Orel consider Latin sērius (“earnest”), and Pfeifer also Ancient Greek ἕρμα (hérma, “prop, ballast”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *u̯er- (“to bind, hang up”) with an initial /s/;^[3][6][5] Kluge calls the origin unclear and mentions a tempting link with Ancient Greek ἀείρω (aeírō, “to lift”).^[3][6][5] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German swār is first recorded in glosses of 765 and swāri in glosses of the late 8th century; both are found in the Benedictine Rule and Otfrid, and swāri also in the Tatian and Notker.^[7][8] The meanings were “heavy”, and already “burdensome, dangerous, serious, strict”.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the basic sense “having weight”, the word developed already in Old High German the figurative sense “oppressive, burdensome”, used especially of work, need, illness and sin; the main later extension is “difficult”.^[9] Middle High German swære also meant “painful, sad” and even “grand, noble”.^[5][10]

Paul traces further transfers: to quality, swaeres ezzen “rich food” in the 14th century, and later heavy velvet, wine and scents; to movement, einen schweren Gang haben; and in seamen's language schwere See “a heavy sea” (1820).^[11] The adverb schwerlich, Middle High German swærlīche “with difficulty”, has meant “hardly” since the 16th century.^[5][9] Schwermut (16th century) is a back-formation from schwermütig, schwerfällig dates from the 18th century, and schwerhörig from the 19th.^[5][9]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German swār appears in glosses.^[7]
• Late 8th century – swāri appears in glosses.^[7]
• 1150–1170 – Middle High German swære is recorded.^[10]
• 14th century – swaeres ezzen “rich food” is recorded.^[11]
• 16th century – schwerlich takes the sense “hardly”;^[5] Schwermut is formed.^[5]
• 18th century – schwerfällig appears.^[9]
• 1820 – schwere See is recorded in seamen's language.^[11]
• 19th century – schwerhörig is formed.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of great weight, heavy: ein schwerer Rucksack.^[12][1]
2. Having a stated weight: das Paket ist zwei Kilo schwer.^[12][11]
3. Needing great physical effort, hard: schwere Arbeit.^[12]
4. difficult: eine schwere Prüfung.^[12][1]
5. Intellectually demanding: schwere Lektüre.^[12]
6. Great, severe, serious: ein schwerer Unfall, ein schwerer Fehler.^[12][1]
7. (of food) Rich and hard to digest;^[12][1] (of scents) strong and sweet;^[12][1] (of air) humid and oppressive.^[12][1]
8. (nautical) Stormy: schwere See.^[12][11]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) Very, greatly: schwer verletzt, er hat sich schwer geärgert.^[12][1]

Word family

• Schwere
• schwerlich
• beschweren
• Beschwerde
• erschweren
• Schwermut
• schwermütig
• schwerfällig
• schwerhörig
• Schwergewicht

Related words

• schwierig

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 15, 2541
3. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 835
4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 324
9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 767
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
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