Etymologically
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stark

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Pronunciation

  • /ʃtark/, [ʃtaʁk], [ʃtaɐ̯k][1]

Forms

stark (strong nominative masculine singular starker, comparative stärker, superlative am stärksten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German starc, inherited from Old High German starc, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *stark, inherited from Proto-Germanic *starkuz (“stiff; strong”).[2][3][1] Kluge reconstructs a u-stem, while Pfeifer and Kroonen give an a-stem.[2][3][4] The same word is Old Saxon stark, Old Frisian sterk, Old English stearc (“stiff, rigid, strong”) and Old Norse sterkr, and today Dutch sterk, English stark and Swedish stark.[2][3][4]

The original sense seems to have been “stiff, rigid”, which English keeps; from it came “unbending”, then “firm, powerful”.[2][5] The word is related by ablaut to verbs meaning “to stiffen”, Old High German gistorchanēn, Old Norse storkna (“to stiffen, dry up”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gastaurknan, “to wither”), which point to a lost strong verb.[2][3][5] Kluge, Pfeifer and the Duden place it, with starren, under the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“stiff, rigid”), with a guttural extension that is also seen in Storch and stracks.[2][3][5] Kroonen takes it as an o-grade adjective of a root *sterg- and compares Lithuanian strė́gti (“to harden, freeze”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German starc is recorded in glosses from the late 8th century, according to Köbler (the EWA dates the glosses to the 9th), and in Otfrid, Notker and the Benedictine Rule.[6][7][8] It meant “strong, mighty, firm, hard, severe” and also “stiff”, rendering Latin fortis, firmus, durus and rigidus.[7][6] Otfrid writes sîs stark io sô stein “be ever as strong as stone”.[9]

Semantic evolution

Early on the word meant “resistant”, and until the 18th century also “healthy”, mirroring the development of krank.[10] It came to refer above all to bodily strength, and then to firmness (Luther's ein starcker Thurn, starck im glauben).[10][5] Middle High German also used it for what is hard to bear, “bad, severe”, the source of the indignant ein starkes Stück and starker Tobak (recorded in 1887).[10][11] In the 18th century Steinbach records it as a polite word for “stout”.[10] The youthful exclamation stark! “great!” is recent.[10][12]

In grammar Jacob Grimm introduced the terms “strong” and “weak” inflection (Deutsche Grammatik, 1822), calling the strong preterite a chief beauty of the language.[10] English took over the term strong for German grammar in 1841, and stark and stärker as musical directions.[13]

The noun Stärke “starch” is not the abstract noun of the adjective but a back-formation from stärken in the sense “to stiffen laundry”, recorded since the 17th century; the Duden cites Middle High German sterke “starch” from the 13th century.[2][5][3]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German starc appears in glosses.[6]
  • 863–871 – Otfrid compares a steadfast man to stone: stark io sô stein.[9]
  • 13th century – Middle High German sterke names starch.[5]
  • 17th century – Stärke “laundry starch” is formed from stärken.[2]
  • 1822 – Jacob Grimm distinguishes strong and weak inflection.[10]
  • 1841 – English uses strong in this sense of German grammar.[13]
  • 1887 – starker Tobak is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having great physical strength, strong; also strong-willed, firm: ein starker Glaube.[12][1]
  2. Thick and sturdy;[12][1] (euphemistic) stout; of a given thickness: eine zehn Zentimeter starke Platte.[12][1]
  3. Numerous; numbering a given amount: eine dreißig Mann starke Truppe.[12]
  4. Highly concentrated, potent: starker Tee.[12][1]
  5. Powerful, of high performance: ein starker Motor.[12]
  6. Good at something, skilled; excellent: Sie ist stark in Chemie.[12][1]
  7. intense, heavy: starker Regen.[12]
  8. (youth slang, slightly dated) Great, awesome.[12][1]
  9. (grammar) Strong: forming the past with a change of stem vowel (verbs) or with the full set of endings (adjectives, nouns).[12][1]

Word family

  • Stärke
  • stärken
  • bestärken
  • verstärken
  • erstarken
  • Starkstrom
  • Starkregen
  • halbstark
  • affenstark
  • willensstark
  • nervenstark
  • ausdrucksstark
  • starren
  • Storch
  • stracks
  • English stark

Usage notes

Sich für jemanden stark machen is to speak up for someone or something with all one's energy.[12] Das ist ein starkes Stück “that's a bit much” expresses indignation.[10][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 877
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ 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. 8, 1000
  8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 311
  9. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 17, 869
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  11. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1142
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de