ursprünglich

Forms

ursprünglich (strong nominative masculine singular ursprünglicher, comparative ursprünglicher, superlative am ursprünglichsten)^[1] The umlaut was often missing in older German (ursprunglich), and the adjective can be stressed on either the first or the second syllable.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ursprunclich, formed from Ursprung with -lich.^[3][1][4] Beside it stood ursprinclich, from the variant noun ursprinc.^[3][2]

The noun is Old High German ursprung, beside urspring, an abstract noun of the lost verb irspringan (“to spring up, arise”), for which German now says entspringen; it first meant a spring of water.^[4][3][5] The adjective passed into Swedish ursprunglig.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German ursprunclich first appears in the writings of the mystics.^[3][2] Seuse calls God der ursprunglich usflusz alles gutes, “the original outflowing of all good”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare until the 18th century and became common only from the middle of that century.^[3][2] The Grimms' dictionary links its spread with the renewal of intellectual life at that time, while Duden ascribes it to the influence of French original.^[2][5] Adelung explains it as “the first of its kind” and as “containing the ground of something else”, as when God is called the original good.^[6] The sense “genuine, natural, unspoilt” belongs to the same period.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 14th century – Seuse uses ursprunglich.^[2]
• 1645 – Birken writes of the ursprüngliche Quelle of a river.^[2]
• Mid-18th century – The word comes into general use.^[3]
• 1793 – Adelung records the senses “first of its kind” and “containing the ground of something”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Original, initial, first: der ursprüngliche Plan; as an adverb, originally: Ursprünglich wollte er Arzt werden.^[7][1]
2. Genuine, natural, unspoilt: eine ursprüngliche Landschaft.^[7][1]

Word family

• Ursprünglichkeit

Related words

• Ursprung
• entspringen
• springen

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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 2546
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 945
5. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
7. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag