Etymologically
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teilweise

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈtaɪ̯lˌvaɪ̯zə/[1]

Forms

teilweise[1] The older spelling was theilweise, and a shorter form teilweis also occurs.[1][2]

Etymology

It is from German Teil + -weise.[1][3] Adverbs in -weise go back to phrases with a genitive governed by the preposition in, as Middle High German en kriuzes wîs “in the manner of a cross”.[4] When the genitive was no longer recognised, the bare stem took its place on the model of other compounds, as in kreuzweise, stückweise and this word.[4] Duden dates the adverbial suffix to Early New High German, while Kluge notes that the history of the early forms has not been studied enough.[5][6] Weise “manner” is Old High German wīsa, from a Germanic noun related to wissen.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms' first quotation is from Goethe in the Teutscher Merkur of 1776: freilich muss es theilweise seine Gesinnung zu erkennen geben (“admittedly it must in part make its views known”), and they also quote Schiller.[2]

Semantic evolution

Goethe already used the word as an adjective, as in mit theilweiser Abweichung “with partial deviation”.[2] Campe in 1807 still called this adjectival use bad, though he quoted examples from Jean Paul and Seume.[8] Paul notes that such formations in -weise have been used as adjectives since the 18th century and have become usual despite the objections of grammarians.[4] Today the adjective stands mainly before verbal nouns.[9]

Timeline

  • 1776 – Goethe uses theilweise in the Teutscher Merkur.[2]
  • 1807 – Campe records the adverb and rejects its use as an adjective.[8]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. partly, in part: Das alte Dach wurde teilweise erneuert.[9][1]
  2. Here and there, in some cases, at times: Die Straße war teilweise noch vereist.[9][1]

Adjective

  1. (attributive) partial, used chiefly with verbal nouns: ein teilweiser Rückzug.[9][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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, 364
  3. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 980
  7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 979
  8. ^ a b Campe, Joachim Heinrich (1807–1811), Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, 5 vols., Braunschweig: Schulbuchhandlung, p. 4, 807
  9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag