sozial

Forms

sozial (strong nominative masculine singular sozialer, comparative sozialer, superlative am sozialsten)^[1] The spelling social was replaced by sozial from the middle of the 19th century.^[2] In the 19th century a form sozialisch is occasionally found.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French social, from Latin sociālis (“of society, sociable”), from socius (“sharing; companion”).^[4][5][6][3] Duden, Wahrig and the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch connect socius with sequor (“to follow, accompany”), with an original sense “going along, follower”.^[6][7][3] Related forms are Dutch sociaal, English social and Swedish social.^[4] Pfeifer and Paul think that the earliest compounds of this kind, at the end of the 18th century, rest on a direct borrowing from Latin rather than on French.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wortgeschichte digital finds the first record in Erhard Weigel's Arithmetische Beschreibung der Moral-Weißheit (1674).^[2] From the 1760s the word appears in its French spelling in connection with Rousseau's Du contrat social (1762).^[2] The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch and Paul cite Schlözer's SocialStand (1793), the “social state” that follows the state of nature, and Socialgesetz (1795), which Paul derives from Latin ius sociale.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In French social meant “sociable” at the start of the 17th century; the Encyclopedists gave it the sense “directed to life in common”, the Physiocrats tied it to the economy, and Saint-Simon opposed it to individuel.^[5] The German translations of Rousseau's Contrat social of 1800 still render it with gesellschaftlich.^[5] As an independent adjective sozial first appears at the beginning of the 19th century, in Schelling and Goethe,^[5][8] and it was only with the French revolutionary ideas that came in after 1830 that it became established and a political watchword: die soziale Frage (about 1830), soziale Revolution (1848).^[5][8] Sozialismus was taken over from French socialisme in 1839.^[5] From the middle of the 19th century it also referred to the structure of society (soziale Stellung).^[8]

From the early 20th century sozial became a moral term, “humane, directed to the common good”,^[8] and asozial was coined as its opposite.^[5][6] Soziale Marktwirtschaft has been a watchword of the CDU since 1949.^[8] In zoology it has been used since the 19th century of animals living in communities.^[8] Hungarian borrowed szociális in 1834.^[9]

Timeline

• 1674 – First record, in Erhard Weigel.^[2]
• 1760s – The word appears in French spelling with reference to Rousseau.^[2]
• 1793 – Schlözer uses SocialStand.^[3][8]
• Early 19th century – sozial used as an independent adjective by Schelling and Goethe.^[5]
• c. 1830 – die soziale Frage.^[8]
• 1839 – Sozialismus is taken over from French.^[5]
• 1842 – Lorenz von Stein uses Sozialpolitik.^[8]
• Mid-19th century – The spelling sozial replaces social.^[2]
• 1949 – soziale Marktwirtschaft becomes a watchword of the CDU.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to the life of people together in a society: soziale Spannungen in einem Land.^[10][1]
2. Relating to society and its economic and political structure: die soziale Frage, the problems that arose with industrialization.^[10]
3. Relating to a person's place among the groups of a society: sozialer Aufstieg.^[10]
4. Serving the common good and protecting the economically weaker: Er hat immer sehr sozial gehandelt.^[10][11]
5. (zoology) Living in colonies or communities: Ameisen sind soziale Tiere.^[10]

Word family

• asozial
• Sozialismus
• Sozialist
• sozialistisch
• sozialisieren
• Soziologie
• Sozialdemokratie
• Sozialpolitik

Related words

• Sozius
• assoziieren
• konsequent
• English social

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Wortgeschichte digital (2020–), Zentrum für digitale Lexikographie der deutschen Sprache (ZDL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, zdl.org/wb/wortgeschichten
3. ^ a b c d e Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 860
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 794
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org