Etymologically
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verletzen

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Pronunciation

  • /fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡sn̩/[1]

Forms

verletzen (third-person singular present verletzt, past tense verletzte, past participle verletzt, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German verletzen, from Middle High German ver- + letzen (“to hinder, damage”).[2][3][1] The simple verb survives only as the obsolete letzen.[3][4] It is Old High German lezzen (“to hold back, hinder, delay”), the same word as Old Saxon lettian, Old English lettan, Old Norse letja, Old Frisian letta and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (latjan, “to tarry”), from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to make slow, hinder”).[2][5][1] That verb is a factitive of Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”), the adjective continued in lass.[2][1][5]

Kluge notes that the present meaning developed only in the history of German.[2] The Grimms' dictionary finds the prefixed verb only in Middle and New High German and in Middle Low German.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German verletzen “to wound, damage” is first recorded in Rudolf von Ems's Willehalm von Orlens (1235–1240).[7] Old High German already had the prefixed gilezzen, in glosses and in Otfrid, with the senses “to hold back” and also “to injure, damage”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Old High German lezzen meant “to hold back, hinder, delay”, and Middle High German letzen “to hinder, stop, end”, reflexively “to refresh oneself”.[5] According to the Grimms' dictionary, the oldest sense of the simple verb was “to set back, push aside”, and of its three Middle High German senses New High German letzen kept only the first and the one taken from Letze “farewell feast”, “to regale”.[6]

In the prefixed verb Paul distinguishes a concrete use, “to wound visibly”, as in Luther's Bible (Exodus 21:22), applied in the 17th century to damaging things, from transferred uses: “to break” a vow or a rule, as in Schiller's Die Räuber, and “to hurt someone's self-esteem”, close to kränken but meant of a single moment.[8] The noun Verletzung dates from the 15th century.[3]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German lezzen “to hinder” in glosses.[5]
  • 1235–1240 – verletzen in Rudolf von Ems's Willehalm von Orlens.[7]
  • 15th century – First record of Verletzung.[3]
  • 1561 – Maaler's dictionary pairs verletzen with beleidigen “to offend”.[8]
  • 17th century – Used of damaging things, such as stones.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To injure, hurt a part of the body; reflexive: to hurt oneself: Er hat sich beim Fußball am Knie verletzt.[9][1]
  2. To hurt someone's feelings, to offend: Ihr Spott hat ihn tief verletzt.[9][1]
  3. To violate a law, rule or agreement.[9][1]
  4. To intrude illegally across a border or into a country's airspace.[9]

Word family

  • Verletzung
  • verletzbar
  • verletzend
  • verletzlich
  • verletzt
  • Verletzter
  • letzen
  • lass
  • Letzt

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 954
  3. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 573
  5. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1222
  6. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 779
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c 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