Etymologically
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selten

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈzɛltən/, [ˈzɛltən], [ˈzɛltn̩][1]

Forms

selten (strong nominative masculine singular seltener or (uncommon) seltner, not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German sëlten, inherited from Old High German seltan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *seldanē (“seldom”), formed from a stem Proto-Germanic *selda- (“rare”) with an adverbial ending.[2][3][1] The same adverb is Old English seldan (whence English seldom), Old Norse sjaldan, Old Frisian sielden, Dutch zelden and Swedish sällan.[2][3][4] The stem without the ending survives in the first part of Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (sildaleiks, “wonderful, astonishing”), Old Saxon seldlīk and Old English seldlīc, literally “of rare shape”, and in German seltsam.[2][5][4] The final consonant of the English word was taken over from adverbs that were dative plurals.[4]

Its further origin is unclear.[2][5][6] Pfeifer suggests a starting sense “by itself, standing alone” and a link with the pronoun stem Proto-Indo-European *se- of sich,[3][7] while the Grimms' dictionary reports a comparison with Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to grow still”) and Latin sileō (“to be silent”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German seltan appears in glosses from the last quarter of the 8th century, meaning “seldom” and rendering Latin rarus and pretiosus.[4][7][9] The adverb is better attested than the adjective, which grew out of it;[9][4][10] Notker uses the comparative seltenôr.[9][4][10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German sëlten was an adverb, often used as a euphemism for “never”.[11][3] Its use as an adjective began in the 15th century, and Paul cites ein seltener Gast “a rare guest” and seltene Bücher from the 17th and 18th centuries.[2][3][12]

From the meaning “not frequent” the adjective developed the senses “exceptional, excellent” and “strange, odd” at the beginning of the 18th century.[3][5] Paul notes that the praising sense then returned to the adverb as an intensifier before adjectives, as in Goethe's der selten ruhig-schöne Abend (1828).[12] The abstract noun Seltenheit dates from the late 15th century; around 1500 it was often used in litotes, keine Seltenheit meaning “frequent”.[3][12]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German seltan appears in glosses.[4][7]
  • c. 1000 – Notker uses the adverb and its comparative.[9]
  • 15th century – selten begins to be used as an adjective.[2][3]
  • Late 15th century – The noun Seltenheit appears.[3]
  • Early 18th century – The adjective takes on the senses “excellent” and “strange”.[3]
  • 1828 – Goethe uses selten as an intensifier: der selten ruhig-schöne Abend.[12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. rare, infrequent: found or happening only occasionally or in small numbers: eine seltene Orchidee; as an adverb, seldom: Wir fahren nur noch selten ans Meer.[13][1]
  2. Unusual, exceptional: eine seltene Begabung;[13][1] ein seltener Vogel (colloquial) is an odd person.[13][1]
  3. (chemistry, dated) Seltene Erden: the oxides of the rare-earth metals.[13]
  4. (intensifying, before adjectives) Unusually, particularly: ein selten günstiger Moment.[13][1]

Word family

  • Seltenheit
  • seltsam
  • English seldom

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 842
  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 e f g Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 1092
  5. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 774
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 542
  9. ^ a b c d Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 441
  10. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 276
  11. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 872
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag