wissen

Forms

wissen (preterite-present, third-person singular present weiß, past tense wusste, past participle gewusst, past subjunctive wüsste, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wizzen, inherited from Old High German wizzan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *witan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *witaną (“to know”).^[1][2] It is a preterite-present verb: its present singular, Old High German weiz, continues the Germanic form Proto-Germanic *wait (“knows”), also in Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍄 (wait), Old Norse veit and Old English wāt.^[2][3] The infinitive is Old Saxon witan, witan, vita and 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (witan), and today Dutch weten, Swedish veta and English wit.^[3][2]

The Germanic present goes back to the perfect without reduplication Proto-Indo-European *wóyde (“has seen, knows”), also in Sanskrit वेद (véda), Ancient Greek οἶδα (oîda, “I know”) and Old Church Slavonic вѣдѣ (vědě).^[2][3] It expressed the state reached by the act of the root Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to find, see”): “I have seen” and so “I know”.^[2][4] The root itself is found in εἶδον (eîdon, “I saw”), in Latin videō (“to see”) and in видѣти (viděti, “to see”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wizzan is one of the commonest verbs, recorded from the glosses of 765 and the Hildebrandslied on, and in nearly all the texts.^[6][7] It meant “to know, be acquainted with, understand, recognize”;^[7] ne weiz waz “I know not what” served for “something”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The past tense wusste replaced older wiste.^[8] Southwestern German says er weißt after the regular verbs, a form the young Schiller used, and weiß Gott keeps the old Germanic order with the subject after the verb.^[8] With zu and an infinitive the verb means “to know how to, be able to”.^[8][4] Middle High German neizwer “someone”, from “I know not who”, died out, and the later ich weiß nicht was imitates French.^[8]

The noun Wissen occurs in Middle High German mainly in the mystics, such as Meister Eckhart, and became common only in Early New High German.^[9][3] Late Middle High German wizzen(t)schaft meant “knowledge, information”;^[3] in the 16th and 17th centuries Wissenschaft came to render Latin scientia, and in the Enlightenment it became the name of a scholarly discipline, replacing Kunst.^[10][3] Wissenschaftler (18th century) was at first disparaging beside Wissenschafter.^[3] The verb was borrowed into Modern Hebrew in phrases such as ikh wais? “how should I know?”.^[11]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German wizzan appears in glosses.^[6]
• 8th century – wizzantheit “knowledge, insight” is recorded.^[3]
• Late Middle High German – wizzen(t)schaft “knowledge” appears.^[3]
• 16th century – meines Wissens “as far as I know” is recorded.^[3]
• 17th century – nach bestem Wissen is recorded.^[3]
• 18th century – nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen appears, and Wissenschaftler is formed.^[3]
• Mid-19th century – Besserwisser “know-all” appears, after Besserwisserei of about 1800.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know, to have knowledge of something from experience or information: sie weiß die Antwort.^[4][1]
2. To be aware of something;^[4][1] (formal) to know someone or something to be in a certain state: sie wussten die Kinder in Sicherheit.^[4][1]
3. (with zu and an infinitive) To know how to, to be able to: er weiß sich zu helfen.^[4][12]
4. (with noch) To remember.^[1]

Word family

• Wissen
• Wissenschaft
• Wissenschaftler
• wissentlich
• Besserwisser
• Gewissen
• bewusst

Related words

• gewiss
• weise
• weisen
• Witz
• Idee
• English wit

Usage notes

The proverb Wissen ist Macht “knowledge is power” goes back to Francis Bacon.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 992
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 396
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 743
10. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 937
11. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
12. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org