Etymologically
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verändern

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Pronunciation

  • /fərˈɛndərn/, [fɐˈʔɛn.dɐn], /fɛr-/[1]

Forms

verändern (third-person singular present verändert, past tense veränderte, past participle verändert, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German verendern (also verandern), a prefix derivation from German ver- + ändern that is not recorded in Old High German.[2][3][4] The prefix hardly changed the meaning, so that it was used much like the simple verb.[3] The base verb belongs to the adjective ander “other”, Middle High German ander, Old High German ander, Proto-Germanic *anþeraz, also found in Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌸𐌰𐍂 (anþar), Old Norse annarr and Old English ōþer.[5] Outside Germanic it matches Sanskrit अन्तर (ántara) and Lithuanian añtras (“the other, second”), from Proto-Indo-European *ánteros, a contrastive formation in *-tero- on a pronominal stem.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds Middle High German verendern first in Heinrich von Melk (1150–1190) and then often in charters from 1276 on.[2] Its earliest senses ranged from “to go away, withdraw” and “to bring to another place or into other ownership” to “to change, transform” and “to change one's clothes”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Forms without umlaut, verandern, were used beside verendern into the early 17th century, and Luther still wrote verandert;[3] Middle Low German and Dutch have only the unumlauted form.[3] The spelling verändern appears in dictionaries from 1734.[3]

Beside the general sense “to make into something else” older German said die Luft verändern for going on a journey.[6] The reflexive sich verändern was used of a person's appearance and nature, and also meant “to get married”, which Paul calls obsolete although Mackensen still listed it in 1952.[6][4] Since the 19th century sich verändern has also meant “to change one's job”.[6]

Timeline

  • 1150–1190 – Heinrich von Melk uses verendern.[2]
  • 1276 – The verb appears in charters.[2]
  • 1524 – The Nuremberg Reichstag acts complain that fashions in clothing verendert werden almost every year.[3]
  • 1734 – Steinbach's dictionary spells it verändern.[3]
  • 19th century – sich verändern comes to mean “to change one's job”.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To change or alter something in its nature or appearance: Der Umzug hat ihr Leben verändert.[4][1]
  2. (reflexive) To become different in nature or appearance: Die Stadt hat sich sehr verändert.[4][1]
  3. (reflexive) To change one's job: Nach zehn Jahren bei der Bank wollte sie sich verändern.[4][1]
  4. (reflexive, obsolete) To get married.[4][6]

Word family

  • Veränderung
  • Veränderer
  • verändert
  • unverändert

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 72
  4. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 43
  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