Etymologically
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wechseln

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Pronunciation

  • [ˈvɛksl̩n][1]

Forms

wechseln (third-person singular present wechselt, past tense wechselte, past participle gewechselt, auxiliary haben)[1] Alemannic and Swabian texts have wihseln in Middle High German, and Middle German sources of the 15th century have wesseln without the /k/.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wëhseln, inherited from Old High German wehsalōn, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wihslōną (“to change, exchange”), formed from the noun Wechsel, Old High German wehsal, Proto-Germanic *wihslaz (“change”).[3][4][1] Paul and the Grimms also note a verb with the suffix -jan, seen in Old English wixlan.[5][2] The noun is Old Saxon wehsal, Old Frisian wixle (“exchange, trade”) and Old Norse víxl (“exchange”); the verb continues in Dutch wisselen.[3][4][1]

Kluge explains the noun as formed with the suffix -sla- from the base also found in Latin vicis (“change, turn”) and probably in Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō, “order, turn”); another extension of it gives Latin vītō (“to avoid”) and Old High German wīsan (“to avoid”).[3] Pfeifer connects it with the root Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend, turn, yield”), also behind weichen and weich,[4] and Duden takes the first sense to be “giving way, making room”, with Woche as a close relative.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wehsalen “to exchange, acquire by exchange, lend” is first recorded in glosses before about 790,[7] and wehsalōn in the 8th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Paul distinguishes two lines.[5] Transitively it meant exchanging one thing for another, a dwelling, clothes or horses, and with several people exchanging things mutually, as glances, words, letters or rings;[5] Geld wechseln goes back to Old High German, at first as a trade.[5] The intransitive use is not yet Middle High German: the moon, the weather and opinions wechseln, and Goethe writes of police officers who relieved each other every three hours.[5] In hunting, game wechselt when it moves from one area to another, hence Wildwechsel.[5][8]

The noun Wechsel entered the payment system in 1383 as a rendering of cambio, and it meant the bill of exchange from 1712, shortened from Wechselbrief.[5][3][4] Prefixed verbs are old: verwechseln goes back to Old High German, and abwechseln is recorded from the 15th century.[4]

Timeline

  • Before about 790 – Old High German wehsalen appears in glosses.[7]
  • 8th century – Old High German firwehsalen, the ancestor of verwechseln.[4]
  • 1383 – The noun Wechsel renders Italian cambio in the payment system.[5]
  • 15th century – abwechseln is first recorded.[4]
  • 1712 – Wechsel is first used for the bill of exchange.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To change, replace something with another of the same kind: Sie hat letztes Jahr den Arbeitgeber gewechselt.[9][1] Den Besitzer wechseln is to pass into someone else's hands.[9]
  2. To exchange with someone: Die beiden wechselten einen kurzen Blick.[9][1] Ein paar Worte wechseln is to speak briefly.[9]
  3. To change (money) into smaller notes or coins, or into another currency: Kannst du mir einen Fünfziger wechseln?[9][8]
  4. To vary, alternate, change repeatedly: Das Wetter wechselt hier sehr schnell.[9][1]
  5. With sein: to move from one place to another, to switch: Der Spieler ist im Winter zu einem anderen Verein gewechselt.[9][8] With haben: to move something to another place.[9]
  6. (hunting) Of game, to cross from one area to another.[5][8]

Word family

  • abwechseln
  • auswechseln
  • einwechseln
  • verwechseln
  • Wechsler
  • wechselhaft
  • wechselseitig
  • Wechselbalg
  • Wechselstrom
  • Wechselstube
  • Wechsel
  • Woche
  • weichen

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 27, 2730
  3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 974
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag