tragen

Forms

tragen (class 6 strong, third-person singular present trägt, past tense trug, past participle getragen, past subjunctive trüge, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German tragen, inherited from Old High German tragan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dragan (“to haul, carry”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to draw, drag”).^[2][3][1] The same verb is Old Saxon dragan, Old Frisian draga, Old English dragan, Old Norse draga and Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (dragan); in English and Norse it means “to pull” rather than “to carry”, hence English draw.^[2][3][4] The Grimms' dictionary knows the Gothic verb only from one passage, the prefixed 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gadragan, “to heap up”) in 2 Timothy 4:3.^[5] Pfeifer and Paul take “to drag along the ground” as the starting sense, from which “to carry” developed.^[3][6]

There is no certain cognate outside Germanic.^[2][3][7] Latin trahō (“to pull, drag”) corresponds in meaning but not in sound: Paul still considers it probably related despite the sound laws, Kluge notes that the sounds do not match, and Kroonen rules it out because of the initial /t/.^[6][2][4] Pfeifer reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *dherāgh- (“to pull, drag along the ground”) and compares Sanskrit ध्रजति (dhrájati, “glides along”), and Kroonen sees an o-grade intensive verb but leaves the origin open.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German tragan is recorded from 765 in glosses, and in Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “to carry, bear, endure, bring, have with one”.^[8][9] The agent noun tragāri is also Old High German, of the 8th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Paul thinks the verb at first referred only to living beings carrying something from place to place, and only later took things as its subject.^[6] Jemanden auf Händen tragen “to cherish someone” spread from Luther's version of Psalm 91:12, and die eigene Haut zu Markte tragen “to risk one's own skin” is recorded by Steinbach.^[6]

The nouns Tracht and Getreide “grain” belong to the verb.^[7][10] Trage “stretcher, carrying frame” is recorded around 1400, and Träger took the umlaut in the 14th century.^[3][7] Tragweite, from the early 19th century, was first the range of a gun, translating French portée, and since the mid-19th century the bearing or importance of a matter.^[7] Antrag has had its sense “application, motion” since the 16th century, as a word of law and administration, and Auftrag “commission” is from the 17th.^[7]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German tragan appears in glosses.^[8]
• 8th century – tragāri “carrier” is recorded.^[3]
• 14th century – Träger takes the umlaut.^[3]
• c. 1400 – Trage appears.^[3]
• 16th century – Antrag takes the sense “application, motion”.^[7]
• 17th century – Auftrag “commission” appears.^[7]
• Early 19th century – Tragweite is formed after French portée.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry, hold and move by one's own strength: einen Rucksack auf dem Rücken tragen.^[11][1]
2. To support from below, bear the weight of: Vier Pfeiler tragen die Brücke.^[11][12]
3. Of water or air, to keep afloat or aloft: Das Meerwasser trägt den Schwimmer.^[11]
4. To bear, endure (a fate, pain); to take on (responsibility, costs, consequences).^[11][1]
5. To wear (clothes, glasses, jewellery), or one's hair in a certain way: Er trägt einen Bart.^[11][1]
6. To have with one for a purpose: eine Waffe tragen.^[11]
7. (formal) To bear (a name or title).^[11][1]
8. To bear (fruit), yield: Der Baum trägt in diesem Jahr gut.^[11][1]
9. Of female mammals, to be pregnant.^[11][12]
10. To have a certain range: eine tragende Stimme “a voice that carries”.^[11]
11. (reflexive, finance) To pay for itself.^[1]

Word family

• Träger
• Trage
• tragbar
• Tracht
• Antrag
• Auftrag
• Beitrag
• Vertrag
• Ertrag
• betragen
• vertragen
• ertragen
• übertragen
• Tragweite

Related words

• Getreide
• Zwietracht
• English draw

Usage notes

Sich mit dem Gedanken tragen is to be considering doing something, and schwer an etwas zu tragen haben is to suffer under something.^[11] Zur Schau tragen “to display” is already in Luther's Bible as Schau tragen (Colossians 2:15).^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 923
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 21, 1048
6. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 865
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 334
10. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
12. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org