ständig
Pronunciation
- /ˈʃtɛndɪç/, /ˈʃtɛndɪk/[1]
Forms
ständig (strong nominative masculine singular ständiger, not comparable)[1]
Etymology
It is a derivative from German Stand + -ig, first recorded in the 16th century.[2][3][1] It first meant “keeping its stand, staying in the same place”, and then, transferred to time, “continual”.[2] Old and Middle High German had the formation only in compounds, such as Old High German instentīgo (“eagerly, unceasingly”), Middle High German gestendec (“unchanging”) and widerstendic (“resisting”).[3][4] The noun Stand is the verbal abstract of stehen.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Grimms' dictionary finds the adjective from the first half of the 16th century, in Sender's chronicle, at first mostly in uses that differ from today's, and Paul dates it to 1536.[4][5] The Early New High German dictionary gives three old senses: “stubborn, not to be moved from the spot” (of horses) and “standing”, “lasting, continual”, and “fixed, certain” (of revenues).[6]
Semantic evolution
The lexicographers were slow to accept it: Hulsius listed it first in 1616, Stieler left it out, and Frisch noted that it rarely stood alone and was commoner in compounds.[4] Adelung around 1800 knew it chiefly in phrases such as ständige Spanndienste “regular carting services” and ständige Gefälle “fixed dues”, as opposed to unständig “occasional”, and found it most at home in beständig, anständig, verständig and similar words.[7]
The temporal sense “permanent, continual” became quite ordinary later, and was used of institutions as well, as in ständige Garnison and ständiges Mitglied.[4][5] The Grimms' dictionary found the word foreign to the Upper German dialects but alive in Central and Low German ones.[4]
Timeline
- 1536 – First record, in Sender's chronicle.[5][4]
- 1616 – Hulsius is the first lexicographer to list it.[4]
- c. 1800 – Adelung knows it mainly in fixed phrases for regular services and dues.[7]
- 19th century – The sense “continual” becomes general.[4][5]
Meanings
Adjective
- constant, frequent, recurring again and again: Er beschwert sich ständig über den Lärm.[8][1]
- Doing a task permanently: ständige Mitarbeiter, the permanent members of a council.[8]
- permanent, fixed, not changing: ihr ständiger Wohnsitz, a regular income.[8][1]
Word family
- Ständigkeit
Related words
Usage notes
Middle Low German stendich, common in the first half of the 16th century, meant “confessing, admitting”, like High German geständig, and the Grimms' dictionary keeps it apart from ständig.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 876
- ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 17, 771
- ^ 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
- ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
- ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
- ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag