zwölf

Forms

zwölf (cardinal number)^[1] The two-syllable form zwelif lost its middle vowel in late Old High German, and Notker has both zwelef and zwelf.^[2] The rounding of the umlaut vowel to ö first appears in Alemannic in the 13th century, in a document of 1277; spellings with e and ö long competed.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German zwelf, inherited from Old High German zwelif, inherited from Proto-Germanic *twalif (“twelve”).^[4][3][1] The same numeral is Gothic 𐍄𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌹𐍆 (twalif), Old Norse tólf, Old English twelf, Old Frisian twelef and Old Saxon twelif, continued in Dutch twaalf, English twelve, Swedish tolv and Icelandic tólf.^[4][5][6]

It is a compound: the first part is the stem of zwei, Proto-Germanic *twai (“two”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”), and the second part is the same as in elf.^[4][3][1] That element, Proto-Germanic *-lif, is usually explained as “left over”, so that the number is “two left over” once ten has been counted.^[3][2][7] Pfeifer and the Grimms' dictionary connect it with bleiben and the root Proto-Indo-European *leyp-;^[3][2] Kluge also allows the root of leihen, Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”).^[8]

Outside Germanic, Lithuanian dvýlika (“twelve”) is formed in the same way.^[4][5][6] Some scholars take the Lithuanian and Germanic elements to be one word, assuming that the labiovelar of the second part became a labial after the /w/ of the first and then spread to the word for eleven;^[8][3] Kroonen, however, holds that the two branches used different roots, so that the formations arose separately.^[5] Kluge sees in this way of counting a relic of a contrast between a system of tens and one of twelves.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German zwelif is first recorded in glosses of the last quarter of the 8th century, and then in the Benedictine Rule, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Duden notes the role of twelve in old systems of measure and coinage, as in the Dutzend, and in astronomy, religion and popular belief.^[12] The Zwölffingerdarm (duodenum), named in the mid-17th century, translates Greek dōdekadáktylos, a term of the Alexandrian anatomist Herophilos for a gut twelve finger-breadths long.^[3][9] Two-syllable forms survive in the dialects of Alsace and the Trier area, and zwölef was used on the telephone to keep the number apart from elf.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – Old High German zwelif appears in glosses.^[10]
• 9th century – The ordinal zwelifto is recorded.^[3]
• About 1000 – Notker has the one-syllable form zwelf.^[3][2]
• 1277 – The rounded form with ö appears in an Alemannic document.^[2]
• Mid-17th century – Zwölffingerdarm is coined.^[3]

Meanings

Numeral

1. twelve, the cardinal number 12: Ein Jahr hat zwölf Monate.^[7][1]

Noun

1. die Zwölf: the figure 12;^[7][13] (colloquial) the tram or bus of route 12.^[7][13]

Word family

• zwölfte
• Zwölffingerdarm

Related words

• zwei
• elf
• English twelve

Usage notes

Es hat zwölf geschlagen (“it has struck twelve”) is used figuratively for “it is too late”.^[7] Adelung notes that the numeral takes the dative ending -en only when it stands without a noun, as in vor zwölfen.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1432
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1021
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 241
9. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 412
12. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 961
13. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
14. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf