Ich German · revision 34813

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Middle High German|origins=ine-pro *eǵ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɪç/, [ʔɪç]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Ich''' ''n'' (genitive Ichs, plural Ichs or Ich)^(Wiktionary)

+ Poets of the 17th and 18th centuries also used the noun as a masculine, and the accusative ''mich'' could be used as a noun in the same way, as in Fleming's ''den ganzen mich''.^(DWB|10, 2017) Goethe usually inflects the genitive, ''des Ichs''.^(GWB)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the pronoun [[ich]] “I”, used as a neuter noun.^(Wiktionary DE)^(Wiktionary)^(Duden 7 2014|399) The pronoun is [[inh|gmh|ich]], [[inh|goh|ih]], [[inh|gem-pro|*ek]], the same word as [[got|𐌹𐌺|tr=ik]], [[non|ek]] and [[ang|ic]], and it continues [[ine-pro|*eǵ]] beside [[ine-pro|*eǵom]], which also gave [[grc|ἐγώ|tr=egṓ]] and [[la|ego]].^(Kluge 2011|435)^(Duden 7 2014|399)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Paul notes that the noun occurs here and there in Middle High German in the sense “one's own person, self”.^(Paul 2002) Lexer quotes ''mîn ander ich'' “my second self” and Ulrich von Liechtenstein's ''daʒ wir beide sîn ein ich'' “that we both are one self”.^(Lexer 1872|1, 1411)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 17th century poets used the noun for a beloved friend or one's own soul, as in Logau's ''mein andrer ich'' on the death of a friend.^(DWB|10, 2017) Goethe often wrote of the inner person or one's own self, ''mein eigentliches Ich'' (1823).^(GWB) The derivative [[Ichheit]] is recorded as early as the 14th century, and [[Ichsucht]] (18th century), which Paul attributes to Jean Paul, was formed to replace [[Egoismus]].^(Duden 7 2014|399)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ In philosophy the word became central with Fichte, who opposed the ''Ich'' to the ''Nicht-Ich''.^(Paul 2002) Sigmund Freud's ''Das Ich und das Es'' (1923), which distinguishes the ''Ich'' from the ''Über-Ich'' (conscience) and the ''Es'' (drives), had a lasting effect on psychology and psychoanalysis.^(Paul 2002) English borrowed the German noun in this sense, and Modern Hebrew uses ''Nikht-Ikh'' for Fichte's term.^(Wiktionary)^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Middle High German – Isolated use of ''ich'' as a noun “self”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 14th century – ''Ichheit'' appears.^(Duden 7 2014|399)

+ * 18th century – ''Ichsucht'' is formed as a replacement for ''Egoismus''.^(Duden 7 2014|399)

+ * 1823 – Goethe writes of ''mein eigentliches Ich''.^(GWB)

+ * 1923 – Freud publishes ''Das Ich und das Es''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|self]] of which one is conscious and by which one distinguishes oneself from the world around: ''sein besseres Ich'', one's better self.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden 7 2014|399)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(psychology)'' The [[m|en|ego]], the agency that mediates between the ''Es'' and the ''Über-Ich''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Ichheit]]

+ * [[Ichsucht]]

+ * [[ichsüchtig]]

+ * [[Über-Ich]]

+ * [[Nicht-Ich]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ich]]

+ * [[Egoismus]]

+ * [[la|ego]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}