traditionell

Forms

traditionell (strong nominative masculine singular traditioneller, comparative traditioneller, superlative am traditionellsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French traditionnel, borrowed in the early 19th century; the French adjective, of the 18th century, is formed from tradition.^[2][3][4] In German it can also be seen as Tradition with the suffix -ell.^[1][5] The noun was borrowed in the first half of the 16th century from Latin trāditiō (“handing over, transmission”), from trādō (“to hand over”), which is formed from trāns- (“across”) and dō (“to give”).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1823, about jene traditionelle Theateretikette “that traditional theatre etiquette”.^[2] It meant “based on tradition, handed down”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective soon meant “customary, conventional” and could be praising (“steeped in history”) or critical (“too bound to tradition”).^[2] An older sense “handed down by oral or written report”, used of legends and stories by Immermann and Alexander von Humboldt, is now dated.^[2][7] As an adverb it also means “as usual, as always”.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1st half of the 16th century – Tradition is borrowed from Latin.^[3]
• 1823 – First record of traditionell.^[2]
• 1831 – die Vergangenheit mit ihren traditionellen Interessen.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. traditional: according to or based on tradition: die traditionelle Küche.^[4][1]
2. Customary, as always: Das Fest findet traditionell im Mai statt.^[4][2]

Related words

• Tradition
• tradieren
• Traditionalismus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
3. ^ a b c 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 große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 923
7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 21, 1025