Etymologically
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verstehen

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Pronunciation

  • /fərˈʃteːən/, /fɛr-/, [fɐˈʃteː.ən][1]

Forms

verstehen (irregular strong, third-person singular present versteht, past tense verstand, past participle verstanden, past subjunctive verstände or verstünde, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German verstān, inherited from Old High German firstān, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frastān, a West Germanic prefixed form of stehen with ver-.[2][3][4][1] As with the simple verb, Old High German also had a strong form with a nasal infix and a dental extension, firstantan, beside the athematic one.[5] The same verb is Old Saxon farstandan, Old Frisian forstān, Old English forstandan and Dutch verstaan;[2][5][6] Old Norse forstanda is a loan, and Gothic has no such verb.[2][5][6] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).[7]

The starting point is evidently “to stand before”, but the prefixed verb is used figuratively from the beginning, so the details of the change of meaning can no longer be grasped;[2] Kluge thinks of standing in front of an object and so perceiving it better.[2] Duden and Wahrig call the origin of the sense unclear.[4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German firstantan is found in glosses of the last quarter of the 8th century,[7] and Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and Williram all use it.[5] It already meant “to perceive, grasp with the mind, recognise”, but also “to stand in the way, bar”.[3][10] Old Saxon farstandan occurs in the Heliand.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the sense “to have clear ideas of something, be able to do it” was added, as in sein Handwerk verstehen “to know one's trade”;[4] the verb could also mean “to stop, cease”, “to represent, defend” and, reflexively, “to see sense”.[3] A literal sense “to lapse by standing too long” survived into the 18th century in verstandene Pfänder, forfeited pledges.[11][12]

Jemandem etwas zu verstehen geben “to hint” is recorded by Maaler in 1561, das versteht sich by Stieler, and the intensified das versteht sich von selbst by Adelung.[11] The noun Verstand (Old High German firstant “wisdom”) took its present sense in the 16th century,[3] and einverstanden belongs to an 18th-century sich einverstehen “to agree”.[4] English has borrowed the noun Verstehen (1934) as a term for empathic understanding in the social sciences.[13]

Timeline

  • Last quarter of the 8th century – firstantan in Old High German glosses.[7]
  • c. 830 – Old Saxon farstandan in the Heliand.[5]
  • Middle High German – The sense “to know how to do something”.[4]
  • 1561 – Maaler records zu verstehen geben.[11]
  • 16th century – Verstand takes its present meaning.[3]
  • 18th century – einverstanden and Einverständnis.[4]
  • 1934 – English borrows Verstehen.[13]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hear clearly what is said: Bei dem Wind konnte ich kein Wort verstehen.[9][1]
  2. To understand, grasp the sense of something: eine Anleitung nicht verstehen.[9][1]
  3. To interpret in a particular way: Wie soll ich das verstehen?[9][1]
  4. (sich verstehen als) To see oneself as: Sie versteht sich als Vermittlerin.[9][1]
  5. (sich verstehen, commerce) Of prices, to be meant in a certain way: Die Preise verstehen sich ab Werk.[9]
  6. To put oneself in someone's place and understand them; to find someone's behaviour natural.[9][6]
  7. (sich verstehen mit) To get on well with someone.[9][1]
  8. To know how to do something well, to master it; to know a lot about something: viel von Pferden verstehen;[9][1] sich auf etwas verstehen, to be expert at it.[9][1]
  9. (sich verstehen zu, dated) To bring oneself to do something unwelcome.[9][12]

Word family

  • Verstand
  • verständig
  • verständlich
  • Verständnis
  • einverstanden
  • einverständlich
  • Einverständnis
  • missverstehen
  • unverstanden

Usage notes

Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof (colloquial) is “I don't understand a thing”;[11] Paul quotes it from Fallada.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 957
  3. ^ a b c d e Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 904
  5. ^ a b c d e f Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 25, 1660
  6. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 310
  11. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  12. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de