Etymologically
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vierte

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈfiːɐ̯tə/, /ˈfɪʁtə/[1]

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]

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