starten

Forms

starten (third-person singular present startet, past tense startete, past participle gestartet, auxiliary haben or sein)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English start (“to set off, begin”), borrowed in the second half of the 19th century, first in horse racing; the noun Start was taken from English at about the same time.^[2][3][4][5] The English verb meant “to rush off, leap up, move suddenly”, which developed into “to set out, begin”.^[4][3] It is distantly related to stürzen, with a different ablaut grade.^[2][3][1] The same borrowing is Dutch starten.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch has its first example from 1862.^[4] At first the verb belonged to sport, especially racing, used both of starting a race and of the runners or horses that set off; it also meant taking part in a competition.^[4][3] An example from 1885 speaks of racing “on the water”, and one from 1895 puts starten in quotation marks as still a foreign word.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From sport the verb spread to any setting off on a journey, and then to vehicles, aircraft and later rockets.^[4][3] Transitively it came to mean setting an engine or a machine going, and in recent decades a computer or a program.^[4][6] In a figurative sense it means to begin or launch an undertaking, such as a campaign or an event; during the Second World War it was used in particular of military operations, as in eine Offensive starten.^[4] The noun Starter, from English starter, first meant the official who gives the signal and a competitor; since the first half of the 20th century it has also meant the device that starts an engine.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1862 – First record of starten.^[4]
• Second half of the 19th century – Start and starten are used in racing.^[3][2]
• 1885 – The verb is used of a race on water.^[4]
• First half of the 20th century – Starter comes to mean a device for starting an engine.^[3]
• Second World War – starten is used of military operations.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To start a race or contest, give the signal for it: Der Schiedsrichter startet das Rennen.^[6][4]
2. (intransitive, with sein) To set off in a race or contest: Sie ist als Erste gestartet.^[6][1]
3. (intransitive, with sein) To compete, take part in a contest: für einen Verein starten.^[6][4]
4. (transitive) To launch something towards a goal: einen Satelliten starten.^[6]
5. (intransitive, with sein) To set off; of an aircraft, to take off: Die Maschine nach Rom startete mit Verspätung.^[6][1]
6. (transitive) To set going, switch on: den Motor starten, ein Programm starten.^[6][1]
7. (intransitive) Of a machine or program, to start up.^[6]
8. (transitive) To begin or launch an undertaking: eine Kampagne starten.^[6][4]
9. (intransitive, with sein) To set out on an undertaking; to begin, get under way.^[6][7]

Word family

• startbereit
• startklar

Related words

• Start
• Starter
• stürzen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 g h 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 h i j k l m n 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
5. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org