Etymologically
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sicher

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈzɪçər/, [ˈzɪçɐ][1]

Forms

sicher (strong nominative masculine singular sicherer, comparative sicherer or sichrer, superlative am sichersten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German sicher, inherited from Old High German sihhur, borrowed from Latin sēcūrus (“free from care, safe”), probably through a form Vulgar Latin *sicūrus.[2][3][4] The Latin adjective is made of sē- (“without”) and cūra (“care”), the source of Kur.[2][5]

The word was taken over before the West Germanic languages separated, as Old Saxon sikor, Old Frisian sikur and Old English sicor show;[3][6] Pfeifer asks whether it reached Old English before the Anglo-Saxons left the continent.[3][6] Old Norse did not have it, and Danish sikker came from German.[7] The Grimms' dictionary explains the change of the first vowel /e/ to /i/ by the /u/ of the following syllable, and the /k/ was shifted in High German; the Latin stress was kept at first, as Notker's sichiure shows, before it moved to the first syllable.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German sihhur is recorded from about 800 in the Benediktinerregel and then in glosses and Otfrid, meaning “secure, free from fear, unconcerned”.[8][9][10] At first it was a word of the law, as in Latin legal texts: “not liable, free from obligation, guilt and punishment”.[3][7][5]

Semantic evolution

From the legal sense came “free from harm and danger, protected”, and Middle High German applied it to the mind: “calm, carefree, without doubt”.[3] Luther's ich bin sicher / vnd fürchte mich nicht (Isaiah 12:2) shows the sense “safe”, which was soon extended to places and goods.[11] The sense “without care” became “without doubt” about something past or coming, “certain”.[11]

From the 17th century, and increasingly since the 18th, the word also describes skill and steadiness: eine sichere Hand (Adelung), a sure judgement, a self-assured manner.[3][11] Since the second half of the 20th century -sicher has formed many compounds such as kindersicher “childproof”, probably on the model of English -proof and -safe.[5] German sicher was borrowed into Czech, Slovak and Silesian Polish.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 800 – Old High German sihhur appears in the Benediktinerregel.[8]
  • 9th century – sihhurheit and sihhurōn are recorded.[3]
  • 11th century – The adverb sihhurlīhho (now sicherlich) appears.[3]
  • 1498 – sicher used as an answer, “certainly”.[11]
  • 17th century – versichern begins to mean “to insure”, first in sea trade.[3][5]
  • 17th–18th century – The sense “skilled, steady” spreads.[3][11]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Safe, secure, not in danger or not dangerous: Im Keller waren die Kinder sicher;[13][1] sicher vor “safe from”.[13][1]
  2. Reliable, well founded: aus sicherer Quelle “from a reliable source”.[13]
  3. Steady and skilled through practice: ein sicherer Fahrer, eine sichere Hand.[13][11]
  4. Self-assured, confident in manner.[13][14]
  5. Certain, sure to happen: ein sicherer Erfolg.[13][14]
  6. Sure, convinced, often with a genitive: sich seiner Sache sicher sein “to be sure of one's ground”.[1][11]

Adverb

  1. Safely.[1]
  2. Surely, certainly; also as an answer, “of course”.[1][11]

Word family

Usage notes

Sicher ist sicher “better safe than sorry” is a proverbial saying.[11][13] Auf Nummer sicher gehen “to play it safe” comes from the game term Nummer Sicher; colloquially Nummer Sicher also meant prison.[11][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 847
  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. ^ 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, 613
  5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ 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. 7, 1204
  7. ^ 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. 16, 717
  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. 280
  10. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  12. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  14. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org