vierte

Forms

vierte (no predicative form, strong nominative masculine singular vierter, not comparable)^[1] Older spellings include vierde and vierdt (Maaler, 1561).^[2] Some dialects and Middle Dutch had forms like vierste, made on the pattern of superlatives.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vierde, inherited from Old High German fiordo, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *feurþō, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fedurþô (“fourth”), the ordinal of vier.^[1][3][4] The same word is Old Saxon fiortho, Old English fēorþa (whence English fourth), Old Norse fjórði, Old Frisian fiōrda and Dutch vierde; the Gothic ordinal is not recorded.^[5][2] The West Germanic form lost its dental consonant by analogy with the cardinal.^[1]

The cardinal number goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”), seen in Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 (fidwōr), Latin quattuor, Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares) and Lithuanian keturì.^[3][1] Kroonen explains the Germanic ordinal from Proto-Indo-European *kʷet-ur-to-: the zero grade inherited from Indo-European was replaced by a full grade, the first dental was lost by dissimilation, and the initial labial was taken over from the word for “fifth”.^[5] Wiktionary gives the ordinal's ancestor as Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥tós.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German fiordo is recorded in glosses from the end of the 8th century, and then in the Benedictine Rule, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “fourth”.^[4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has always been the ordinal “fourth”;^[7] Adelung records the phrase selb vierte kommen, to come with three others.^[7] Adelung also notes that in High German the first syllable was pronounced very short, as if spelt virrte, though the spelling ie was kept because of vier; the same holds for Viertel, vierzehn and vierzig.^[7][2] The Grimms' dictionary adds that the shortening was widespread in colloquial speech but avoided in educated speech.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – Old High German fiordo appears in glosses.^[4][3]
• Middle High German – The forms vierde and vierte.^[3][4]
• 1561 – Maaler's dictionary has der vierdt “quartus”.^[2]
• 18th century – Adelung notes the short pronunciation virrte.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. fourth: the ordinal number of vier: der vierte Stock;^[1][7] zum vierten Mal.^[1][7]
2. As a noun, der Vierte: the fourth day of a month, or the fourth in a series.^[1][2]

Related words

• vier
• Viertel
• vierzehn
• vierzig
• English fourth

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 26, 310
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 103
7. ^ a b c d e f Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf