verfügen

Forms

verfügen (third-person singular present verfügt, past tense verfügte, past participle verfügt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vervüegen (“to fit, be proper”), formed from Middle High German ver- + vüegen (“to fit together”), the ancestor of fügen.^[2][3][1] Kluge dates the Early New High German form to the 15th century and connects it with Fuge and with the simple verb.^[4] In Middle Low German vorvȫgen meant “to arrange, set up”, and the Grimms thought the modern sense may lean on Low German.^[5][6][2] The same formation is Dutch vervoegen, Danish forføje and Swedish förfoga.^[1]

The simple verb goes back to Old High German fuogen (“to join, fit together”), recorded from the 8th century, and has cognates in Old Saxon fōgian and Old English fēgan, whence English fay “to fit”;^[6][7] Pfeifer relates it to Fach.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German vervüegen is rare and found only in documents, meaning “to fit, be fitting”.^[3][5] Early New High German verfüegen meant “to put in the right place, arrange”, and also “to send someone somewhere”: Luther writes that the chancellor of Baden ward wieder zu mir verfügt, “was sent to me again”.^[6][8][5]

Semantic evolution

From “to arrange” came “to cause, to order”, and in this sense the verb became a typical word of officialdom.^[4][2] From the sense “to send” comes the reflexive sich verfügen “to betake oneself”, which went the same way as sich begeben.^[4][8] Über etwas verfügen, “to have something at one's disposal”, dates from the 19th century.^[2][8]

The noun Verfügung “order, decree” dates from the 16th century according to Pfeifer and the 17th according to Duden; it gave the phrases zur Verfügung stehen and zur Verfügung stellen.^[6][2] Schiller uses eine Verfügung treffen “to make an arrangement” in Maria Stuart.^[8] The adjective verfügbar (19th century) was formed to render disponibel.^[2]

Timeline

• 15th century – Early New High German verfüegen appears.^[4][6]
• 16th century – First record of Verfügung according to Pfeifer.^[6]
• 17th century – Verfügung in the sense “order” according to Duden.^[2]
• 19th century – über etwas verfügen “to have at one's disposal” and verfügbar appear.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To order or decree, especially officially: Das Amt verfügte den Abriss des alten Speichers.^[9][1]
2. (with über) To decide what happens to someone or something; to have at one's disposal: Sie kann frei über ihr Erbe verfügen.^[9][1]
3. (with über) To have, possess (means, abilities): Er verfügt über ausgezeichnete Sprachkenntnisse.^[9]
4. (reflexive, officialese, also humorous) To betake oneself somewhere: Nach dem Essen verfügte er sich in sein Arbeitszimmer.^[9][10]

Word family

• Verfügung
• verfügbar
• Verfügbarkeit

Related words

• fügen
• Fuge
• befugt
• Fug

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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 897
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 951
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, 356
6. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 631
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org