verkaufen

Forms

verkaufen (third-person singular present verkauft, past tense verkaufte, past participle verkauft, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German verkoufen, inherited from Old High German firkoufen (“to sell”), from Old High German fir- + koufen (“to buy, trade”).^[2][1][3] The prefix gives the sense “to dispose of by trade”, while the simple verb mostly means acquiring; in the earliest times, when all trade was barter, both meant giving in exchange.^[4]

The simple verb kaufen continues Proto-Germanic *kaupōną (“to trade”), also in Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍀𐍉𐌽 (kaupōn, “to trade”), Old Norse kaupa, Old English cēapian and Old Saxon kōpon.^[5][2] It is a very early borrowing: Kluge and Duden derive it from Latin caupōnor (“to haggle, trade”), itself from caupō (“innkeeper, small trader”), which was borrowed as Old High German koufo (“merchant”) and Old English cȳpa.^[5][3][6] Pfeifer allows that the Germanic verbs were formed from the borrowed noun.^[2] Duden explains that the innkeeper who followed the Roman legions was the Germans' small trader, above all for wine.^[3] The Latin noun is usually connected with Ancient Greek κάπηλος (kápēlos, “retail dealer”), and both are thought to be loanwords.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German firkoufen “to sell” is recorded in glosses of the 8th century and in the Benediktinerregel, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[7][2][8]

Semantic evolution

Umlauted forms such as verkeufen appear in Middle High German, especially in Middle German, and still in Luther, but by the 16th century verkaufen had almost displaced them.^[4] A strong past verkief written by a Frankfurt author of the early 19th century was a false analogy.^[4]

Regionally, especially in the south-west, sich verkaufen means “to make a bad purchase” (Schiller, Hebel), recorded from about 1800.^[9][2] The phrase verraten und verkauft goes back to Luther, and jemanden für dumm verkaufen “to take someone for a fool” is recorded in literature in 1939.^[9] Colloquially people verkaufen sich gut, present themselves well.^[9] The noun Verkauf is an Early New High German back-formation, and Verkaufspreis is recorded in 1780.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German firkoufen.^[2][7]
• 16th century – verkaufen displaces the umlauted forms; the noun Verkauf appears.^[4][2]
• 17th century – Verkäuferin is first recorded.^[2][3]
• 1780 – Verkaufspreis.^[9]
• c. 1800 – Reflexive sense “to make a bad purchase”.^[2]
• 1939 – jemanden für dumm verkaufen.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sell, hand over for money: Sie hat ihr altes Fahrrad einem Nachbarn verkauft.^[10][1]
2. sich verkaufen: to sell in a certain way: Das Buch verkauft sich gut.^[10][1]
3. (regional) sich verkaufen: to buy something that turns out poor or too dear.^[10][11]
4. sich verkaufen: to sell oneself, put one's services at someone's disposal for money or advantage: sich an den Feind verkaufen.^[10][11]
5. (colloquial) To promote a person or idea so that it finds approval;^[10][9] jemanden für dumm verkaufen “to take someone for a fool”.^[10][9]

Word family

• Verkauf
• Verkäufer
• Verkäuferin
• verkäuflich

Related words

• kaufen
• Kauf
• Käufer
• Kaufmann
• English cheap

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 618
5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 483
6. ^ 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. 5, 727
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 181
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org