Etymologically
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toll

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Pronunciation

  • /tɔl/, [tʰɔl][1]

Forms

toll (strong nominative masculine singular toller, comparative toller, superlative am tollsten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German tol, also dol, inherited from Old High German tol (“foolish”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dol, from Proto-Germanic *dulaz (“dazed, foolish”).[2][3][1] The same word is Old Saxon dol, Old English dol, Old Frisian dol, Dutch dol and English dull;[2][3] Icelandic has dulinn (“conceited”).[2][3] A full grade of the root appears in Gothic 𐌳𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍃 (dwals, “foolish”) and Middle Low German dwal, and the adjectives belong with the strong verb Proto-Germanic *dwel-a- (“to be confused”), seen in dwolian (“to go astray”) and twelan (“to tarry, fall asleep”).[2][3]

Words outside Germanic have been compared, such as Old Irish dall (“blind”), Lithuanian dulinė́ti (“to loaf about”) and Ancient Greek θολερός (tholerós, “muddy, confused”), but Kluge thinks the comparison uncertain because they are ambiguous in form and do not match in meaning.[2] Pfeifer and Duden take the basic sense to be “clouded, befuddled” and set up a root Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel- (“to stir up, make cloudy”), an extension of the root of Dunst.[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German tol “foolish, stupid” is recorded in the 9th century, in glosses and the Kassel Glosses.[2][3][6] In Middle High German it meant foolish and senseless, but also bold and, already, handsome or stately.[7][4]

Semantic evolution

The first modern sense is “mad, out of one's mind”: Luther's Bible has du tol vnd töricht Volck “you mad and foolish people”, and people became toll with anger or drunkenness, as in the pair toll und voll.[8] Until the 19th century it was used for the insane, hence Tollhaus “madhouse” in 1678, and of animals “rabid”, as ein toller Hund in the 16th century, from which Tollwut “rabies” was formed in 1792 after tolle Wut in 1763.[8][3] The deadly nightshade was called Tollkirsche from 1600, after the confusion its berries cause.[3] It also meant wild and boisterous, as in Goethe's Und alles tanzte schon wie toll “and everyone was already dancing like mad”, and the verb tollen “to romp” is recorded in Luther in 1521.[8][3]

In Early New High German it came to mean “astonishing”, and also “very”.[4] Adelung describes toll “strange, odd” as familiar speech;[8] Kramer has the approving ein toller Kerl “a terrific fellow”, and this praising use became the main one, today especially among young people.[8] In colloquial speech it has also faded into a mere intensifier “very (great), a lot”, for which the regional form doll is mostly used.[8][4]

Timeline

  • 9th century – Old High German tol “foolish” is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1521 – Luther uses the verb tollen.[8]
  • 16th century – ein toller Hund “a rabid dog”.[8]
  • 1600 – Tollkirsche “deadly nightshade”.[3]
  • 1678 – Tollhaus “madhouse”.[8]
  • 1780 – Adelung marks the sense “strange, odd” as familiar speech.[8]
  • 1792 – Tollwut “rabies”, after tolle Wut in 1763.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (dated) mad, insane; beside oneself: toll vor Wut.[9][1][10]
  2. (dated) rabid: ein toller Fuchs.[9][10]
  3. Unusual, hardly believable: Er hatte ein tolles Glück.[9]
  4. (colloquial) great, wonderful: Wir hatten tolles Wetter.[9][1][10]
  5. (colloquial) Very great or strong.[9]
  6. (colloquial) As an intensifier: very, a lot: Wir haben uns toll amüsiert.[9][8]
  7. (colloquial) Bad, awful.[9]
  8. (colloquial) Wild and boisterous: Die Kinder trieben es heute zu toll.[9]

Word family

  • Tollheit
  • Tollwut
  • tollen
  • Tollhaus
  • Tollkirsche
  • tollkühn
  • doll
  • Dunst
  • English dull

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 920
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 861
  5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org