Etymologically
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weltweit

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈvɛltvaɪ̯t/[1]

Forms

weltweit (strong nominative masculine singular weltweiter, not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German Welt + weit, and is recorded from the 17th century.[2][3] The Grimms' dictionary notes the same formation in Danish verdensvid and English world-wide.[2]

The first part is Old High German weralt, a West Germanic compound of wer (“man”) and a noun for “age, lifetime” preserved in Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃 (alds, “age, lifetime”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first sense was “as wide as the world, extending as far as the world reaches”: Weckherlin's poems praise God's protection, which sich weltweit und weltbrait erströcket (“stretches world-wide and world-broad”).[2] Stieler's dictionary (1691) glosses it spatiosus et vastus instar orbis terrarum, “spacious and vast like the globe”, and Schottelius writes that the borders of the German language extend weltweit.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “as vast as the world” remained rare and poetic.[2] Since the middle of the 19th century, with growing internationalisation, the word has meant “reaching or covering large parts of the world, worldwide”, which is the usual sense today.[4][2]

Timeline

  • 17th century – Weckherlin uses weltweit in his poems.[2]
  • 1691 – Stieler records the word in his dictionary.[2]
  • 1702 – Kramer's German–Italian dictionary glosses it “as far as the world”.[2]
  • Mid-19th century – The sense “worldwide, global” takes hold.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. worldwide, covering the whole world: eine weltweite Krise.[5][1]

Adverb

  1. All over the world, globally: das Lied ist weltweit bekannt.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 28, 1731
  3. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag