doppelganger

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɒp(ə)lˌɡɛŋə/ (UK); /ˈdɑp(ə)lˌɡɛŋəɹ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Doppelgänger,^[2][3][4][5] literally “double-goer”,^[4][5] from doppel- “double” and -gänger “goer”,^[2][3][4] from Gang “a going”.^[2] It is sometimes half-translated as doubleganger.^[4][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The apparition or ghostly double of a living person.^[4][6][3] Etymonline dates it to 1826 (as a German word from 1824), the OED and Merriam-Webster to 1851.^[4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word originally had a ghostly sense,^[4] and dictionaries still define it as a spectral double that haunts its living counterpart.^[2][1] It has since been weakened to a person who closely resembles another, an alter ego, or even someone with the same name.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 1824 – as a German word in English.^[4]
• 1826 – an apparition of a living person.^[4]
• 1851 – a ghostly double.^[6][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its counterpart.
2. Someone who looks remarkably like another person; a double.
3. An alter ego, or a person with the same name as another.

Related words

• doubleganger
• double
• gang

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press