zeigen

Forms

zeigen (third-person singular present zeigt, past tense zeigte, past participle gezeigt, auxiliary haben)^[1] The older spelling zaigen survived in Bavarian until the 18th century.^[2] Forms with -e- such as zeiget and gezeiget were still common in the 18th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German zeigen, inherited from Old High German zeigōn, a verb found only in High German.^[3][4][5] Kluge, Pfeifer and Paul take it as an intensive formation to zeihen in the older sense of that verb, “to show”, with the alternation of /h/ and /g/ known as grammatical change.^[3][4][5][6] Kroonen explains it as an iterative with the root vowel /a/, Proto-Germanic *taigōną, to the root of Proto-Germanic *tīhaną, and compares a Swiss form with /x/ from Visp.^[7][1] Wiktionary also considers a derivation from a noun Proto-West Germanic *taigā (“designation”).^[1] The root is Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, point out”).^[8][1]

The Grimms' dictionary separates the stem of Zeichen, and with it Old English tǣcan (English teach), from that of zeigen, but notes that all three stems share the basic sense “to show”.^[2] In New High German the verb also absorbed the unrelated Middle High German zöugen (“to show”), which is related to Gothic 𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ataugjan); the unrounding of vowels in most of Upper German helped zeigen to prevail.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German zeigōn is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, and then in Otfrid and Notker, meaning “to show, point out, designate” and “to prove”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Paul describes the first sense as “to point at something”, also with a thing as subject, as a compass needle points north; from this came “to let see, not keep hidden”, used of mental perception as well, and the reflexive senses “to appear” and “to turn out”.^[5] Goethe has the reflexive in the dedication of Faust: Die früh sich einst dem trüben Blick gezeigt.^[5] Es jemandem zeigen is used as a threat.^[5][10]

The Grimms note that the Central and Low German dialects never had zeigen as a popular word and use weisen instead;^[2] Adelung, around 1800, considered the two verbs equal in meaning, with zeigen the more refined.^[11] The agent noun Zeiger, Old High German zeigāri (9th century), first meant the index finger; from the 14th century it was also used for the hand of a clock.^[4][12] Zeigefinger is recorded in 1469,^[5] anzeigen in the 15th century and Anzeige around 1500.^[4]

Timeline

• 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German zeigōn appears in glosses.^[8]
• 9th century – zeigāri “index finger” is recorded.^[4]
• 14th century – zeiger is used for the hand of a clock.^[4][12]
• 1469 – Zeigefinger is recorded.^[5]
• 15th century – anzeigen “to announce” appears.^[4]
• c. 1500 – Anzeige “notice, announcement” appears.^[4]
• 18th century – The Bavarian spelling zaigen goes out of use.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To point in a direction with a finger or arm; of instruments, to indicate: sie zeigte auf das Schild, der Pfeil zeigt nach rechts.^[10][1]
2. To make something clear to someone by explaining or demonstrating: er zeigte ihr, wie man den Ofen anheizt.^[10][1]
3. To let someone see something, to exhibit; of a cinema or broadcaster, to screen: sie zeigte uns ihre Fotos.^[10][1]
4. To display a feeling or quality: Mut zeigen.^[10][1]
5. To prove, make evident: die Umfrage zeigt, dass viele unzufrieden sind.^[10][1]
6. (reflexive) To appear, show oneself; to turn out: es zeigte sich bald, dass der Plan nicht aufging.^[10][1]

Word family

• Zeiger
• Zeigefinger
• anzeigen
• Anzeige
• aufzeigen
• bezeigen
• erzeigen
• herzeigen
• vorzeigen

Related words

• zeihen
• Zeichen
• verzeihen

Usage notes

Es jemandem zeigen (colloquial) means to show someone what one is capable of, or, as a threat, to teach someone a lesson.^[10][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 501
3. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1004
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 404
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
12. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 947