trotzdem
Pronunciation
Forms
trotzdem[1]
Etymology
It is from German trotz + dem, the preposition trotz “despite” with the dative of the demonstrative, written as one word.[1][2][3] The adverb arose in the 19th century, and the conjunction from the adverb followed by a clause with dass, which was then dropped, as in seitdem and indem.[3][4][5]
The preposition developed in the 16th and 17th centuries out of phrases in which the noun Trotz “defiance” was followed by a dative.[3][4] From the mid-18th century it also took the genitive, but the old dative survives in this word and in trotz alledem.[3][4]
The noun is Middle High German traz, trutz, trotz, with Middle Low German trot in the phrase “to offer defiance”; it is found only in German.[6][3][7] Its origin is unclear.[6][3][7] Kluge tentatively compares Lithuanian nir̃sti (“to rage”);[6] Pfeifer suspects an imitative origin, given the varying vowels, and reports de Vries's link with Dutch tarten (“to provoke”) by metathesis and Pokorny's with Old English teart (“sharp, bitter”) and the root of zehren.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Grimms call the word quite young.[8] The adverb is quoted from the letters of Prince Pückler, es ist mir trotzdem sehr leicht geworden (“it was nevertheless very easy for me”).[8][5] The Grimms also quote it from Otto Ludwig, Riehl, Gottfried Keller and Treitschke.[8] The conjunction appears in Gaudy, first as trotzdem dasz and then on its own: sprang, trotzdem sie ihn am mantel festzuhalten strebten, aus dem schlag (“jumped out of the carriage, although they tried to hold him by the coat”).[9][5]
Semantic evolution
Pfeifer cites Trutz meinem Feind (“in defiance of my enemy”) and Duden zum Trotz as the kind of phrase from which the preposition grew.[3][4] Freiligrath's poem Trotz alledem uses the extended form: Hebt hoch die Stirn, trotz alledem![8][5] Fontane uses the conjunction often.[9] Grammarians long rejected it; the Duden grammar has accepted it since 1959, though dictionaries still mark it as colloquial.[5][10]
Timeline
- 16th–17th century – The preposition trotz develops from the noun Trotz.[3][4]
- Mid-18th century – trotz begins to take the genitive.[3]
- 19th century – trotzdem appears as an adverb and as a conjunction.[3][4]
- 1959 – The Duden grammar no longer rejects the conjunction.[5]
Meanings
Adverb
- nevertheless, all the same, in spite of that: Es regnete, trotzdem gingen wir spazieren.[10][1]
Conjunction
Related words
- trotz
- trotzen
- trotzig
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
- ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
- ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 932
- ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 876
- ^ 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. 22, 1114
- ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 22, 1115
- ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag