werfen

Pronunciation

• /ˈvɛrfən/, [ˈvɛʁ-], [ˈvɛɐ̯-]^[1]

Forms

werfen (class 3 strong, third-person singular present wirft, past tense warf, past participle geworfen, past subjunctive würfe, auxiliary haben)^[1] Beside the past subjunctive würfe, wärfe is also found, as in Wieland and Schiller.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German werfen, inherited from Old High German werfan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *werpan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *werpaną (“to throw”), a strong verb.^[3][1][4] The same verb is Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍀𐌰𐌽 (wairpan), Old Norse verpa, Old English weorpan, Old Frisian werpa, Old Saxon werpan and Dutch werpen.^[3][5][4] The original meaning “to bend, turn” survives in English warp, in the Old Norse phrase aldri orpinn (“bent with age”), and in the reflexive use of the German verb for wood that warps;^[5][4] verpa and Swedish värpa also mean “to lay eggs”.^[5][4]

In Old High German the shifted consonant still appears as ⟨pf⟩ or ⟨ph⟩ in the Tatian, while Otfrid mostly has ⟨f⟩, which became general;^[6] Middle Franconian kept the unshifted /p/ into the 14th and 15th centuries.^[6]

The sources agree that words for throwing often come from words for turning, but not on the root.^[3][5][4] Kluge posits an extension of Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn”), which with another extension gave werden, and perhaps Old Church Slavonic врѣщи (vrěšti, “to throw”).^[3] Pfeifer sees a labial extension of the same root in Ancient Greek ῥάβδος (rhábdos, “rod”), Latin verber (“lash, rod”), Lithuanian vir̃bas (“twig”) and Russian верба (vérba, “willow”), with the basic sense “to fling with a turning swing of the arm”;^[5] Duden adds ver̃pti (“to spin”) and places the group with Wurm.^[7] Kroonen starts from *wergʷ-, comparing ῥέμβομαι (rhémbomai, “to roam about”) and ῥόμβος (rhómbos, “spinning motion”), and explains the Germanic /p/ from the labiovelar after a resonant, as in Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”) and *wulfaz (“wolf”); he doubts the Slavic link.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German werfan is recorded in the 8th century in glosses and the Hildebrandslied, and then in the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and Williram.^[8][9] It meant “to throw, cast out, drive out, throw down, pour out, scatter, overthrow”.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

Since Middle High German the verb has also meant “to give birth” of animals, and in reflexive use “to become uneven, warp”, said of wood (Kepler, 1616).^[7][2] With an object it came to mean “to produce, form”: Schatten werfen (1623), Falten werfen (1761).^[2] Many figurative uses go back centuries: einen Blick auf etwas werfen is Middle High German, and sich auf etwas werfen “to throw oneself into a task” is recorded in 1536.^[2] Fixed expressions include die Flinte ins Korn werfen “to throw in the towel”, Perlen vor die Säue werfen and the proverb Wer im Glashaus sitzt, soll nicht mit Steinen werfen.^[2][1]

Particle verbs developed senses of their own: abwerfen “to yield a profit” (15th century), aufwerfen “to raise (a question)” (16th century), and anwerfen “to start (an engine)”, from cranking it by hand.^[5][7] In many dialects the verb has lost ground to schmeißen.^[6] A Frankish form of the verb gave Old French guerpir “to give up”, the source of French déguerpir.^[6]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German werfan in glosses and the Hildebrandslied.^[8]
• 9th century – the Tatian has forms with ⟨pf⟩, Otfrid mostly werfan.^[6]
• Middle High German – the sense “to bear young” appears.^[7]
• 15th century – abwerfen “to yield a profit”.^[5]
• 1536 – sich auf etwas werfen is recorded.^[2]
• 1616 – Kepler uses sich werfen of warping wood.^[2]
• 1623 – Schatten werfen is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw something through the air with a swing of the arm: Der Junge warf den Ball über die Hecke.^[10][1]
2. To throw something as a missile: mit Schneebällen werfen.^[10]
3. (sport) To make a throw; to score by throwing: Sie warf drei Tore.^[10]
4. (games) To throw a number with dice: eine Sechs werfen.^[10]
5. To fling or put somewhere with force: die Tasche in die Ecke werfen.^[10]
6. (reflexive) To throw oneself: Sie warf sich aufs Sofa.^[10][1]
7. To move a part of the body with a jerk: den Kopf in den Nacken werfen.^[10]
8. To produce, form: Der Baum wirft einen langen Schatten.^[10][1]
9. (reflexive) To warp, of wood and the like.^[10][11]
10. Of mammals, to give birth to young: Die Hündin hat fünf Junge geworfen.^[10][1]
11. (slang) To stand, pay for: eine Runde werfen.^[10]
12. (programming) To throw an exception.^[1]

Word family

• Wurf
• Würfel
• abwerfen
• anwerfen
• aufwerfen
• auswerfen
• einwerfen
• entwerfen
• unterwerfen
• verwerfen
• vorwerfen
• wegwerfen
• Werfer

Related words

• Werfen
• werden
• Wurm
• English warp

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 983
4. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 29, 276
7. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 929
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 382
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org