treffen German · revision 34815

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=gem-pro *drepaną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈtʁɛfən/, [ˈtʰʁ̥ɛfɱ̩]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''treffen''' (class 4 strong, third-person singular present trifft, past tense traf, past participle getroffen, past subjunctive träfe, auxiliary haben)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older German often had the past plural ''troffen'' and the participle ''troffen'' without ''ge-''.^(DWB|21, 1586)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|treffen]], [[inh|goh|treffan]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*drepan]], [[inh|gem-pro|*drepaną|t=to strike]].^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same verb is [[osx|-drepan]], [[non|drepa|t=to strike, kill]] and [[ang|drepan|t=to strike, kill]], and in the later languages [[gml|drēpen]] and [[sv|dräpa|t=to slay]];^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Orel 2003) Dutch [[m|nl|treffen]] was taken from High German.^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Orel 2003) The original sense was “to strike”.^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ Its further origin is unclear: Kluge finds no usable comparison outside Germanic, and Pfeifer no certain one.^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Pfeifer 1993) The Duden and Wahrig connect it with [[got|𐌲𐌰𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽|tr=gadraban|t=to hew out]] and perhaps with the Slavic family of [[ru|дробить|tr=drobitʹ|t=to crush]].^(Duden 7 2020|870)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Since a Germanic /p/ would point to a doubtful Indo-European /b/, Kroonen, as summarised by Wiktionary, takes the verb as a back-formation from an iterative [[gem-pro|*drappōną]] of [[gem-pro|*drabaną|t=to hew]], from [[ine-pro|*dʰrebʰ-|t=to grind, crush]], which is otherwise found only in [[lt|drėbti|alt=drė̃bti|t=to strike]] and [[sla-pro|*drobìti|t=to crush]].^(Wiktionary) The Grimms' dictionary, on the contrary, separates the root of treffen from that of the Gothic verb.^(DWB|21, 1586)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''treffan'' is first recorded in glosses, perhaps after 765, and then in Otfrid, Notker and Williram, meaning “to hit, aim at”, “to refer to, concern” and “to arrive”.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|335) In the glosses it renders Latin ''percutere'' “to strike”, as in ''percussit traf''.^(DWB|21, 1586)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Paul describes the first sense as contact resulting from a blow, thrust, throw or shot, with a person as the subject, then a weapon, lightning or a glance.^(Paul 2002) Weakened, it came to mean “to come together with someone, by chance or on purpose”, and then “to reach the goal of an effort”, as in hitting the right tone or a painter catching a likeness.^(Paul 2002) Middle High German also had “to meet the enemy, fight”, which explains why the noun [[Treffen]] meant “battle” from the 15th century, a unit in battle order in the 18th, and a planned meeting only from the first half of the 20th century.^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|870)

+

+ [[Treffer]] (end of the 16th century) was a hit with a shot or throw, from the mid-18th century also a winning lottery ticket.^(Pfeifer 1993) [[trefflich]] continues Middle High German ''treffelich''.^(Pfeifer 1993) [[betreffen]] (16th century) first meant “to catch in the act”, and its participle [[betroffen]] “dismayed” appears in the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|870) Pfeifer dates [[Treffpunkt]] to the end of the 19th century, the Duden to the 18th.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|870) The verb was borrowed into Swedish ''träffa'', Danish ''træffe'', Polish ''trafić'' and Czech ''trefit'', and Hungarian ''treffel'' is recorded in 1835.^(DWB|21, 1586)^(Wiktionary)^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''treffan'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)^(Kluge 2011|927)

+ * c. 900 – ''ubartreffan'' “to surpass” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 15th century – The noun ''Treffen'' “battle” appears.^(Kluge 2011|927)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – ''betreffen'', ''eintreffen'' and ''zutreffen'' appear.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * End of the 16th century – ''Treffer'' is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * Mid-18th century – ''Treffer'' is used for a winning lottery ticket.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * First half of the 20th century – ''Treffen'' comes to mean “meeting”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|870)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(of a shot, blow, throw)'' To [[m|en|hit]], [[m|en|strike]]: ''Der Ball traf ihn am Knie.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To hit a target: ''Er trifft nie das Tor.'';^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002) ''ins Schwarze treffen'', to hit the bull's eye.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

+ # To [[m|en|meet]] someone by chance: ''Ich habe gestern deine Schwester getroffen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(also reflexive)'' To meet by arrangement: ''Wir treffen uns morgen am Bahnhof.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(with auf, auxiliary sein)'' To come upon, encounter: ''auf Schwierigkeiten treffen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # To affect, hurt someone emotionally: ''Seine Worte haben sie getroffen.''^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # To capture correctly: ''den richtigen Ton treffen''.^(Paul 2002)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(with certain nouns)'' To make, carry out: ''eine Entscheidung treffen''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' In ''es gut treffen'': to be lucky.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[betreffen]]

+ * [[eintreffen]]

+ * [[Treffen]]

+ * [[Treffer]]

+ * [[trefflich]]

+ * [[Treffpunkt]]

+ * [[triftig]]

+ * [[übertreffen]]

+ * [[zutreffen]]

+ * [[antreffen]]

+ * [[treffsicher]]

+ * [[zusammentreffen]]

+ * [[vortrefflich]]

+ * [[betroffen]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen'', “to hit the nail on the head”, is to say exactly the right thing.^(Paul 2002)^(Wiktionary) ''Etwas ins Treffen führen'', “to lead something into battle”, means to bring something forward as an argument; it preserves the old military sense of the noun.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}