Etymologically
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wahrscheinlich

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Pronunciation

  • /vaː(ɐ̯)ˈʃaɪ̯nlɪç/, /vaˈʃaɪ̯n(l)ɪç/[1]

Forms

wahrscheinlich (strong nominative masculine singular wahrscheinlicher, comparative wahrscheinlicher, superlative am wahrscheinlichsten)[1]

Etymology

It is from Dutch waarschijnlijk (“probable”), a loan translation taken into High German around the middle of the 17th century.[2][1][3] The Grimms' dictionary finds the formation first in Dutch, in Kilian's dictionary;[2][4] Kluge sees the German word as a rendering of Latin vērīsimilis (“like the truth, probable”), following the example of Dutch and of French vraisemblable.[2][4] It is made of wahr “true”, the stem of scheinen “to seem” and -lich.[1][5] Kluge counts it among the words in which the verb means mere appearance, with no certain reality behind it.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 16th century the notion was expressed as der Wahrheit gleich “equal to the truth”, and in the 17th and early 18th centuries der Wahrheit ähnlich “like the truth” was usual.[2] The Grimms found the oldest records of wahrscheinlich in Zesen, Thomasius, Bödiker and Morhof, and the dictionaries list it from Kramer on;[2] Stieler had only the noun Wahrscheinlichkeit, as a word not yet fully at home.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first belonged to logic and philosophy: Thomasius wrote in 1688 that two contrary things cannot both be true but can both be probable, since probability lies between true and false.[2] In 1720 Christian Wolff explained it with dice: es sey wahrscheinlicher, dasz einer mit zwey würffeln 7 wirffet, als dasz er 12 wirffet “it is more probable that one throws 7 with two dice than 12”.[2] Adelung, around 1800, defines it as having some but not yet sufficient grounds for taking something as true, and no longer mentions the older expressions.[7][2] The Hungarian loan translation valószínű “probable” is recorded from 1827.[8]

Timeline

  • 16th century – The notion is expressed as der Wahrheit gleich.[2]
  • Mid-17th century – wahrscheinlich passes from Dutch into High German.[2]
  • 1688 – Thomasius discusses the probable as lying between the true and the false.[2]
  • 1720 – Christian Wolff's dice example.[2]
  • 1827 – Hungarian valószínű is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. likely, probable, to be assumed with fair certainty: Die wahrscheinliche Ursache war ein Kurzschluss.[3][1]

Adverb

  1. probably: Sie kommt wahrscheinlich erst am Montag.[3][1]

Word family

  • Wahrscheinlichkeit
  • unwahrscheinlich

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 27, 994
  3. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 968
  5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 799
  7. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  8. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de