zahlreich

Forms

zahlreich (strong nominative masculine singular zahlreicher, comparative zahlreicher, superlative am zahlreichsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from German Zahl (“number”) + reich (“rich”), literally “rich in number”.^[1][2][3] The second element is used here as in other adjective compounds such as erfolgreich and wasserreich.^[4] The Low German form talryk was recorded by Kramer in 1719.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms' dictionary cites it from the dictionaries of Rädlein and Frisch and explains it as “consisting of many units”; at first it probably referred to a crowd of visible units, especially persons: ein zahlreiches Volk, eine zahlreiche Familie, ein zahlreiches Gefolge.^[3] Adelung defines it as “rich in number, consisting of many units or individuals”, of a people or a library.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Gottsched speaks of einer so zahlreichen Menge von Zuhörern, and Schiller, Goethe, Ranke and Mommsen use it of crowds, followings, parties and populations.^[3] In modern German the plural use, “many, numerous”, is the most frequent: zahlreiche Unfälle are a great many accidents.^[6] The Lehnwortportal lists Dutch talrijk, recorded in 1642, among the words taken from German.^[7]

Timeline

• 1642 – Dutch talrijk is recorded.^[7]
• 1719 – Low German talryk in Kramer's dictionary.^[3]
• 18th century – Gottsched, Haller and Wieland use it of crowds and followings.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Numerous, very many: zahlreiche Besucher.^[6][1]
2. Consisting of many people or things, large: eine zahlreiche Verwandtschaft.^[6][2]

Related words

• Zahl
• reich

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 31, 70
4. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
6. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de