Etymologically
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zuvor

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Pronunciation

  • /t͡suˈfoːɐ̯/[1]

Forms

zuvor[1]

Etymology

It is from German zu + vor.[1][2] According to Paul and the Grimms it came into High German from Low German: Middle Low German tovoren was taken into Middle German as zuvorn, first recorded in Nikolaus von Jeroschin, and only later adapted to the adverb vor.[3][4][2] The Grimms point out that neither Old nor Middle High German had the word in its narrow temporal and spatial sense; on High German ground they find it first in late Middle High German vocabularies.[4]

The West Germanic formation is old: Old Saxon teforan, Old Frisian tofara and Old English tōforan, whose modern English counterpart is before.[4] The Grimms take the High German adverb to stand to the Low German one as bevor stands to bevoren.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Middle High German zuovor “before, in advance” is recorded at the end of the 14th century.[5] The Grimms cite it for Latin abante in the Eltville vocabulary of 1472, and in the form zuvorn in Luther.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Early New High German, and still in 19th-century letters, the word opened a greeting: meinen grusz zuvor, lieber vater (“my greetings first, dear father”).[3] Today it belongs to the more formal register and means the same as vorher.[3] The particle verb zuvorkommen now means to forestall a rival, but in Early New High German, as in Luther's Romans 12:10, it meant to outdo someone in respect or kindness; from that sense comes the adjective zuvorkommend “obliging”.[3]

Timeline

  • End of the 14th century – Middle High German zuovor is recorded.[5]
  • 1472 – A vocabulary from Eltville glosses Latin abante with the word.[4]
  • 15th century – zuvor spreads, probably after Low German tovoren.[3][2]
  • 16th century – Luther writes zuvorn.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. before, previously, first: Wir fahren gleich, aber zuvor muss ich tanken.[6][1]
  2. With a time expression: before that, earlier: am Tag zuvor, kurz zuvor, wie nie zuvor.[6]

Word family

  • zuvorkommen
  • zuvorkommend

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 32, 883
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag