Etymologically
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verlassen

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Pronunciation

  • /fərˈlasən/, /fɛr-/, [fɐˈlasn̩][1]

Forms

verlassen (class 7 strong, third-person singular present verlässt, past tense verließ, past participle verlassen, auxiliary haben)[1] The standard language shortened the stem vowel, while some dialects kept it long.[2] Contracted forms going back to Middle High German verlân still occur in the 16th century, such as Brant's participle verlan.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German verlāzen, inherited from Old High German firlāzan (“to let go, leave, abandon”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fralātan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fralētaną (“to leave, dismiss”), formed from the prefix Proto-Germanic *fra- and *lētaną (“to let”).[1][3][2] In German terms it is ver- and lassen.[1][4] The same verb is Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fralētan), Old English forlǣtan, Old Saxon farlātan, Middle Low German vorlāten, Dutch verlaten and the archaic English forlet.[2][1]

The simple verb is Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (lētan), Old Norse láta and Old English lǣtan, continued in English let.[5][6] Kroonen derives it from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d-, comparing Ancient Greek ληδεῖν (lēdeîn, “to be tired”) and Latin lassus (“tired, weary”).[6] Kluge finds no exact match outside Germanic: the Greek and Latin words mean “tired”, and Lithuanian léisti (“to let, let go”) fits the sense better, but the root Proto-Indo-European *lēid- set up to unite them is problematic.[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German firlāzan is recorded from glosses of 765 and is frequent in the Benedictine Rule, Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.[3][8] Its senses there were broad: to leave, give up, abandon, release, set free, forgive, allow and leave behind, and with a reflexive pronoun already to rely on.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German verlāzen still covered letting go, releasing, remitting and handing over.[9] Several of these senses lasted into the modern period: jemandem etwas verlassen meant to bequeath (Schiller writes that Charles V verließ seinem Nachfolger eine Gewalt), and until the 18th century the verb meant to sell, as when Lessing says no copy will be verlassen for less than five thalers.[10][11] In Early New High German mit jemandem etwas verlassen meant to agree on something, the source of the old noun Verlass “agreement”.[10] In Austria it has meant to let or rent out.[10]

The reflexive sich auf jemanden verlassen, to rely on someone, was built in Middle High German with an rather than auf.[10] From it come Verlass in darauf ist Verlass and the adjectives verlässlich (recorded by Adelung in 1780) and zuverlässig.[10] The participle verlassen is used as an adjective, “lonely, forsaken; deserted”.[1][12]

Timeline

  • 765 – Old High German firlāzan appears in glosses.[3]
  • 1434 – A weak participle vorlassit is recorded in a Thuringian document.[2]
  • 16th century – Luther uses verlassen for “to agree on”.[10]
  • 1780 – Adelung records verlässlich “reliable”.[10]
  • 18th century – The sense “to sell” goes out of use.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (reflexive, with auf) To rely on someone or something, to count on it: auf meine Schwester kann ich mich immer verlassen.[12][1]
  2. To leave a place, to go away from it: er verließ das Büro um sechs Uhr.[12][1]
  3. To abandon or desert someone one was close to, such as a partner or family.[12][1]
  4. Of a feeling or ability, to fail or leave someone: der Mut verließ ihn.[10][12]
  5. (rare, computing) To exit a program.[1]
  6. (dated) To leave behind or bequeath.[12][10]

Adjective

  1. lonely, forsaken.[1]
  2. Abandoned, deserted: ein verlassenes Dorf.[1][12]

Word family

  • verlässlich
  • Verlassenheit
  • Verlass
  • Verlassenschaft

Usage notes

Darauf ist Verlass (“that can be relied on”) uses the noun formed back from the reflexive verb; the older Verlass “agreement” is obsolete.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 725
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 560
  6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  8. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 193
  9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag