verlangen

Forms

verlangen (third-person singular present verlangt, past tense verlangte, past participle verlangt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is late inherited from Middle High German verlangen (“to long for”), formed with the prefix ver- on langen, inherited from Old High German langēn (“to long for”).^[2][3][1] Old High German also had belangēn, and Old Saxon langōn is the Old Saxon form.^[2] The verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to long for”), also continued in Old Norse langa and Old English longian, whence English long (“to yearn”).^[2][1][3]

Speakers have always connected the verb with the adjective lang, and Paul derives it from that adjective, with the first meaning “to become too long”.^[4][2] Kluge and Duden hold that the connection is a popular one and that the verb belongs etymologically with gelingen.^[2][3] Wiktionary calls its origin uncertain.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German langēn was used impersonally with the accusative of the person, “someone longs for something”, in Otfrid, Notker and glosses;^[5] belangēn in Notker meant “it seems long to someone, someone longs”.^[5] Middle High German verlangen meant “to long for intensely”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb was at first impersonal: mich verlangt nach “I long for”, as in Luther's Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (Psalm 25:1).^[4][6] The meaning “to desire” developed from “to seem long (in time)”.^[3][7] The personal construction ich verlange nach became more usual later.^[4] From it came the transitive use for an explicit demand: er verlangt einen hohen Preis.^[4] With a thing as subject it came to mean “to require”: das Unternehmen verlangt Mut.^[4]

Adelung still called the impersonal use the most common.^[6] The substantivized infinitive Verlangen “longing, desire” is recorded from the 16th century.^[3] Lessing used unverlangt “unsolicited”.^[4]

Timeline

• 9th century – Old High German langēn “to long for”.^[5][8]
• 14th century – Late Middle High German verlangen.^[2]
• 16th century – The noun Verlangen appears.^[3]
• 18th century – Lessing and Klopstock still use the impersonal mich verlangt.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To demand, insist on having: Die Kunden verlangten ihr Geld zurück.^[7][1]
2. To require, call for: Diese Aufgabe verlangt viel Geduld.^[7]
3. To ask as a price or payment: Was verlangen Sie für das Fahrrad?^[7]
4. To ask to see (a document): Der Schaffner verlangte die Fahrkarten.^[7]
5. To ask to speak to (someone, especially on the telephone): Sie werden am Telefon verlangt.^[7]
6. (formal) To long for, yearn after (with nach): Er verlangte nach einem Glas Wasser.^[7][4]

Word family

• Verlangen
• unverlangt

Related words

• langen
• erlangen
• gelangen
• gelingen
• English long

Usage notes

The impersonal mich verlangt nach … “I long for …” is now old-fashioned and literary.^[4] In Switzerland the person asked can stand in the dative: jemandem die Papiere verlangen.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 954
3. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 899
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
5. ^ a b c Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 192
6. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 558