Etymologically
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unterschiedlich

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈʊntɐˌʃiːtlɪç/[1]

Forms

unterschiedlich (strong nominative masculine singular unterschiedlicher, comparative unterschiedlicher, superlative am unterschiedlichsten)[1] Several older forms merged in the modern one: unterscheidlich became obsolete in the 17th century but survives in dialects.[2] Unterscheidenlich, unterscheidentlich and unterschiedentlich are obsolete or rare.[2] Unterschidlich was mainly Upper German.[2] Standard German stresses the second syllable, while Swiss dialects stress the first (únderschidlig).[2]

Etymology

It is from German Unterschied + -lich.[1][3] The modern form continues Old High German untarsceidlīh (adverb untarsceidlīhho), Middle High German underscheidelich, underscheidenlich and underschiedlich, formed partly from the verb unterscheiden and partly from the noun; Middle Low German underschêdelik and Middle Dutch onderscheidelijc are parallel, as is Dutch onderscheidelijk.[2][3]

The noun continues Middle High German underschiet beside the older underscheit and Old High German untarskeid (8th century), and belongs to the verb, Old High German untarskeidan, from unter and scheiden.[4][5][6] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *skaiþaną (“to separate”), also in Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (skaidan) and Old English scēadan; it is related to Latin scindō (“to split”) and Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”), though the forms of the family are not uniform.[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German untarsceidlīh and the adverb untarsceidlīhho already stand at the head of the word's history, and Middle High German had a range of forms such as underscheidelich and underschiedlich.[2] Paul dates the modern form to Middle High German.[5]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century unterschiedlich did the work of the newer verschieden, meaning both “different” and “several, various”;[2][8] Adelung's examples include the “divers tongues” of 1 Corinthians 14 and Ich habe dir noch unterschiedliches zu sagen, “I have various things to tell you”.[2][8] Kant still used it for “distinct”.[5]

Afterwards verschieden narrowed its use considerably: Adelung and Campe assigned unterschiedlich mainly to everyday speech, and the purist Heynatz denied it to good writers altogether.[2][8] Yet it never left the written language, and the Grimm dictionary judges it superior to the newer word in pointed and ironic use.[2] Today it is the ordinary word for things that differ from one another.[9]

Timeline

  • Old High German – untarsceidlīh and the adverb untarsceidlīhho are formed.[2]
  • Middle High German – underscheidelich, underschiedlich and other forms.[2][5]
  • 17th century – The form unterscheidlich becomes obsolete in the standard language.[2]
  • 18th century – Verschieden takes over much of its use.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. different, differing, not alike: Die Geschwister haben sehr unterschiedliche Interessen.[9][1]
  2. Varying from case to case: Die Preise sind je nach Region unterschiedlich.[9][1]

Adverb

  1. Differently, in varying ways or degrees: Die beiden Teams wurden unterschiedlich bewertet.[9][1]

Word family

  • Unterschiedlichkeit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 1772
  3. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 728
  7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 798
  8. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag