Etymologically
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unabhängig

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈʊn.apˌhɛŋɪç/, [ˈʔʊn.ʔapˌhɛ.ŋɪç], [ˈʔʊ.nap-][1]

Forms

unabhängig (strong nominative masculine singular unabhängiger, comparative unabhängiger, superlative am unabhängigsten)[1]

Etymology

It is from German un- + abhängig.[1][2][3] abhängig is recorded from the 15th century in the physical sense “sloping”, but its meaning “dependent” dates from the 18th century; the verb abhängen “to depend” is found from the 16th century.[4][3] Kluge takes the abstract sense as a loan meaning or loan translation of Latin dependeō (“to hang down; to depend”), perhaps under French influence.[4] The Grimms' dictionary sees it as a coinage of the philosophy of the Enlightenment that rendered the foreign Latin dēpendēns (“dependent”);[3] the new adjective then replaced the older unangebunden.[3]

The base is hängen, whose strong form is Old High German hāhan, from Proto-Germanic *hanhaną (“to hang”), the same word as Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (hāhan).[5][1] Pfeifer compares Hittite gank- (“to hang, weigh”) and tentatively sets up a root Proto-Indo-European *k̑enk- (“to waver, hang”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kramer's Italian dictionary of 1719 has both words: die geschöpffe seynd abhängig von ihren schöpffer; aber der schöpfer ist ein unabhängig wesen “creatures are dependent on their creator, but the creator is an independent being”.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word spread slowly.[3] Christian Wolff wrote of an absolute being that is independent, and all editions of his works kept the foreign word until after the middle of the 18th century;[3] Rondeau's dictionary of 1740 lacks unabhängig, and in 1765 he preferred words such as Entbundenheit for French indépendance.[3] Adelung (1793) knows it only in the figurative sense, gives Latin independent as its equivalent and records the noun Unabhängigkeit.[6]

The political sense, “sovereign, not subject to another state”, and the uses for a free press, judges or experts belong to the modern language.[7] As an adverb with von it means “regardless of”.[1][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1480 – abhengig “sloping” appears in a vocabulary.[3]
  • 16th century – abhängen is used for “to depend”.[4]
  • 1719 – Kramer records abhängig and unabhängig.[3]
  • 1740 – Rondeau's dictionary still lacks the word.[3]
  • 1793 – Adelung records unabhängig and Unabhängigkeit.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Independent of other people or things in one's position or freedom to act: eine unabhängige Gutachterin.[7][1]
  2. Of a state: sovereign, not under the authority of another state; autonomous.[7][2]
  3. Existing by itself, separate from someone or something; not influenced or determined by something.[7][2]

Adverb

  1. unabhängig von: regardless of, irrespective of: unabhängig vom Wetter.[1]

Word family

  • Unabhängigkeit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 52
  4. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 6
  5. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  7. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag