vergeben

Forms

vergeben (class 5 strong, third-person singular present vergibt, past tense vergab, past participle vergeben, past subjunctive vergäbe, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vergëben, inherited from Old High German firgeban, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away, grant; to forgive”), a prefixed form of geben with ver-.^[1][2][3] The same verb is Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (fragiban, “to grant, forgive”), Old Saxon fargeban, Old English forgifan, the source of English forgive, Dutch vergeven and Icelandic fyrirgefa.^[3][1] Wiktionary suggests that the sense “to forgive” may be a calque of Late Latin perdōnō, or the reverse.^[1]

The simple verb *gebaną (“to give”) has no direct cognate outside Germanic.^[4] It is usually compared with Proto-Indo-European *gʰabʰ- (“to seize, take”), as in Latin habeō (“to have, hold”) and Old Irish gaibid (“takes”), but neither the vowel nor the meaning fit well.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German firgeban is first recorded in glosses of 765 and is frequent in the Old High German texts, meaning “to give away, grant, entrust, forgive”, and also “to poison”.^[2] The Wessobrunn Prayer asks God: forgip mir in dînô ganâdâ rehta galaupa (“grant me in your grace true faith”), and the Old Saxon Heliand has Christ say ik fargibu thî himiles slutilôs (“I give you the keys of heaven”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The original sense “to give away” survives in particular uses: offices, posts, contracts and prizes are vergeben, and a daughter who is engaged or married is schon vergeben.^[6][7] Sich etwas vergeben is “to compromise one's dignity”, with a dative of what is harmed.^[6] The commonest sense is “to forgive”, already Old High German;^[6] Paul explains it as remitting what one could claim, as in Luther's Vnd vergib vns vnsere Schulde / wie wir vnsern Schüldigern vergeben (Matthew 6:12).^[6] The noun Vergebung is late Middle High German.^[6]

From late Middle High German vergeben with vergift (“to give poison”) came “to poison”, still used by Lessing and Goethe but now obsolete.^[7][6] The participle meant “in vain” already in Middle High German, from “given away, got for nothing”; from it came vergebens (14th century).^[6][8] In card games sich vergeben is to misdeal, and in sport a player vergibt a chance when failing to score.^[7][9]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German firgeban in glosses.^[2]
• 14th century – vergebens “in vain”, from the participle.^[8]
• Late Middle High German – Vergebung “forgiveness”, and the sense “to poison”.^[6][7]
• 1915 – The noun Vergabe “award, allocation” is entered in the Duden.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (elevated) To forgive someone something: Ich habe ihm den Streit längst vergeben.^[7][1]
2. To award or allocate a post, a contract, a prize or the like: Die Stadt vergab den Auftrag an eine Baufirma aus der Region.^[7][1]
3. sich (Dativ) etwas vergeben: to damage one's standing or dignity.^[7][6]
4. (sport) To waste a chance to score: Der Stürmer vergab in der letzten Minute.^[7][10]
5. (card games) sich vergeben: to misdeal.^[7][10]

Adjective

1. Taken, not free;^[7][1] (colloquial) already engaged or in a relationship: Tut mir leid, am Freitagabend bin ich schon vergeben.^[7][1]

Word family

• Vergebung
• vergebens
• vergeblich
• Vergabe

Related words

• geben
• English forgive

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ 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, 381
4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 337
5. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 952
9. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 388
10. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org