Etymologically
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wirken

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈvɪrkən/, [ˈvɪʁ.kŋ̍], [ˈvɪɐ̯-][1]

Forms

wirken (third-person singular present wirkt, past tense wirkte, past participle gewirkt, auxiliary haben)[1] Old High German wurken was mainly Upper German and wirken Franconian.[2][3] The form würken was taken up as the seemingly more refined one by some Central and North German writers, Leibniz and J. E. Schlegel among them, until late in the 18th century.[2][3] By the end of that century wirken had prevailed in the Upper German literary language as well.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wirken, inherited from Old High German wirken, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wirkijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wirkijaną (“to make, produce”).[1][4] Middle High German also had würken, from Old High German wurken, and Kluge sees in the pair two ablaut grades of one verb: the zero grade, Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), is the better attested, in Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waurkjan), Old Norse yrkja, Old English wyrcan and Old Frisian werka, while the full grade is found in Old Saxon wirkian and wirka.[4][2][1] Pfeifer, Duden and Wahrig take the full-grade verb to be a later formation from the noun Werk, which then merged with the older verb.[2][5][6][3] Kluge notes that the dental preterite shows an unusual o-grade, which suggests that the verb was originally strong and, like bringen, acquired a dental preterite later.[4]

Both forms go back to Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to work, do”), the root of that noun.[2][4][7] Outside Germanic the verb is found in Avestan vərəziieiti (“works”), Ancient Greek ῥέζω (rhézō, “I do”) and Old Irish do-áirci (“makes, produces”);[4] Paul also compares ἔργον (érgon, “work”).[8] The Grimms' dictionary mentions an attempt to give the sense “to weave” a separate root meaning “to twist”, but finds it unnecessary.[3] Danish virke and Swedish virka were borrowed from German.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wirken is first recorded in the Benedictine Rule of the last quarter of the 8th century, and wurken in glosses of the end of the 8th century.[7] Pfeifer dates wurken to about 800 and the compound firwurken to the 8th century.[2] Schützeichel gives the Old High German senses “to do, accomplish, work, make, carry out, create”, and also “to serve”, in the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and Williram.[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In the early Germanic languages the verb generally meant “to make, produce”, and the sense survives in elevated language.[4] In Middle High German it could take any product as its object, a house, a picture or a tool,[8] but from late Middle High German it narrowed to the making of textiles by weaving, embroidering or knitting,[2][8] hence Wirkwaren and the trade name Strumpfwirker.[8] Adelung records that the baker wirkt the dough when he kneads it for the last time.[11]

Without an object it meant “to be active, work”, as in Luther's ich muß wirken, solange es Tag ist (John 9:4),[8] and then “to exert influence, take effect”, of inanimate things too: Adelung's examples are a medicine and wine acting on the body.[11][8] The derivative wirklich was first used by the mystics, Meister Eckhart among them, in the early 14th century, meaning “active”; since the 15th century it has meant “real” as opposed to imagined.[8][5] verwirklichen followed in the second half of the 18th century.[2][5]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German wirken appears in the Benedictine Rule.[7]
  • c. 800 – Old High German wurken is recorded.[2]
  • Late Middle High German – The sense “to make by weaving, embroidering or knitting” appears.[2][8]
  • Early 14th century – wirklich “active” is used by Meister Eckhart.[8]
  • 16th century – wirksam “having an effect” is recorded.[2]
  • Late 18th century – wirken prevails over würken in the Upper German literary language.[2]
  • Second half of the 18th century – verwirklichen appears.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be active in a profession or field, with some influence: Sie wirkte zehn Jahre als Ärztin in Afrika.[12][1]
  2. (elevated) To bring about, accomplish: Wunder wirken.[12][1]
  3. To have an effect, to work: Die Tablette wirkt erst nach einer Stunde.[12][1]
  4. To make an impression, to seem: Er wirkte müde und nervös.[12][1]
  5. (textiles) To make knitted fabric or weave a tapestry with patterns.[1][13]
  6. (baking) To knead dough.[1][13][11]

Word family

  • wirklich
  • Wirklichkeit
  • verwirklichen
  • wirksam
  • Wirkung
  • bewirken
  • verwirken
  • Gewirk
  • auswirken
  • einwirken
  • mitwirken
  • entgegenwirken
  • Wirkstoff
  • Werk
  • werken
  • English work

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 i j k l m n Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  3. ^ 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. 30, 551
  4. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 991
  5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 936
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 393
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 402
  11. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  12. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  13. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org