veröffentlichen

Forms

veröffentlichen (third-person singular present veröffentlicht, past tense veröffentlichte, past participle veröffentlicht, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is a recent formation from German ver- + öffentlich (“public”) + -en.^[1][2][3] Paul calls it a German replacement for publizieren.^[3] The adjective is Middle High German offenlich, Old High German offanlīh, from offen in the sense “lying before the eyes”; the glide consonant /t/ appears from about 1300, and the umlauted form from the 15th century.^[2][4] The base offan continues Proto-Germanic *upanaz, also in Old Norse opinn and Old English open, whence English open; it was formed with ablaut and an /n/ suffix from the same base as auf.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms' dictionary calls it a very new word, missing from Campe (1811) and Heinsius (1822), and quotes it first from the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung of 1840, of “historical conjectures later published by him”.^[5] Paul notes that Kaltschmidt's dictionary of 1834 still lacks it, and that Sanders lists it with Veröffentlichung in 1865.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word spread in the second half of the 19th century beside the older foreign words publizieren and Publikation, which it was meant to replace.^[3] The Grimms quote it in 1881 of the tsar's decree, which was to be made known the next day.^[5] Today it means to make something known to the public, especially through the press, radio and television, and to bring out a book, an article or a recording.^[6]

Timeline

• 1834 – Kaltschmidt's dictionary does not yet have it.^[3]
• 1840 – First record, in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung.^[5]
• 1865 – Sanders' dictionary lists the verb and Veröffentlichung.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make public, announce, especially through the press or broadcasting: Die Behörde veröffentlichte den Bericht im Wortlaut.^[6][1]
2. To publish a book, article or recording: Sie hat drei Romane veröffentlicht.^[6][1]

Word family

• Veröffentlichung

Related words

• öffentlich
• offen
• Öffentlichkeit
• publizieren

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 666
3. ^ 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
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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 951
6. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag