tätig

Forms

tätig (strong nominative masculine singular tätiger, not comparable)^[1] Older spelling: thätig.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a derivation from German Tat (“deed, act”) + -ig.^[1][4] As an independent word it appears only in the 16th century; before that tætic and Old High German tātīg occurred only at the end of compounds, such as übeltætic, ubiltātīg and Old Saxon meindādīg.^[5][6][3][7]

The base Tat is Middle High German tāt, Old High German tāt, from Proto-Germanic *dēdiz, also found in Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (gadēþs), Old Norse dáð and Old English dǣd, whence English deed.^[4][8][1] It is an abstract noun with the suffix ⟨-ti-⟩, formed from tun in another ablaut grade.^[4] Pfeifer and Köbler trace it to the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, set, place”), which also gave Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis, “a setting, proposition”) and Lithuanian dėtis (“load, freight”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Early New High German used tätig for “diligent, busy, thorough”.^[10] Among the oldest records the Grimms' dictionary quotes the Swiss lexicographer Maaler for thätig arbeitsam händ “active, industrious hands”, and Hans Sachs for a woman who is nit hurtig und nit thetig “neither quick nor busy”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Paul notes that at first the word was used like tätlich, which until the 18th century could also mean “active”, but then narrowed to “violent, coming to blows”.^[7] Adelung, around 1800, explains thätig as showing one's being through deeds, with religious uses such as der thätige Glaube and thätige Sünden “sins of commission”, and notes that in Upper German it also meant “effective”, as of a medicine.^[2] In the 18th century, Paul says, the active life was a mark of the middle class as opposed to the nobility, and today the word refers mainly to working life.^[7]

The noun Tätigkeit is recorded by Stieler in the 17th century, and Tätigkeitswort “active verb” by Sanders.^[7] The verb tätigen dates from the end of the 18th century and has been mainly a commercial word since the early 20th, as in einen Abschluss tätigen.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 9th–10th century – Old High German -tātīg occurs in compounds.^[11][3]
• 16th century – tätig appears as an independent word.^[5][7]
• 17th century – Stieler records Tätigkeit.^[7]
• 18th century – tätig becomes a mark of the active middle-class life.^[7]
• Late 18th century – First record of tätigen.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Working, employed in a job: Sie ist als Ärztin in einer Klinik in Hamburg tätig.^[6][1]
2. Busy doing something; of a volcano, still active: Der Ätna ist noch immer tätig. Fixed phrase: tätig werden (especially official language), to step in, take action.^[6]
3. Energetic, always busy: ein tätiger Mensch.^[6][1]
4. Shown in deeds, practical: tätige Hilfe.^[6] Fixed phrase: tätige Reue (law), active repentance that undoes the harm of an offence.^[6]

Word family

• Tätigkeit
• tätigen
• betätigen

Related words

• Tat
• tätlich
• Täter
• tun

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
3. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 21, 318
4. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 908
5. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org