Welt German · revision 34831

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=3rd quarter of the 8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=gem-pro *weraldiz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vɛlt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Welt''' ''f'' (genitive Welt, plural Welten)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old High German had many spellings, among them ''weralt'', ''werolt'' and ''worolt'', and Middle High German mostly used the shortened ''werlt''.^(DWB|28, 1456) The standard form ''welt'' is found from the 12th century, first mainly in Alemannic texts, and became frequent only in late medieval manuscripts.^(DWB|28, 1456)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|werlt]], [[inh|goh|weralt]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*weraldi]], [[inh|gem-pro|*weraldiz]].^(Kluge 2011|981)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|werold]], [[ang|weorold]] and [[ofs|warld]], and today [[nl|wereld]], [[en|world]] and [[sv|värld]];^(Kluge 2011|981)^(Pfeifer 1993) Pfeifer thinks [[non|verǫld]] was probably borrowed from Old English.^(Kluge 2011|981)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ It is an old compound.^(Kluge 2011|981)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|927) The first part is [[gem-pro|*weraz|t=man]], found in [[got|𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂|tr=wair]], [[non|verr]], [[ang|wer]] and [[goh|wer]], and outside Germanic in [[la|vir]], [[sga|fer]], [[sa|वीर|tr=vīrá]] and [[lt|vyras|alt=výras]];^(Kluge 2011|981)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) it survives in [[Werwolf]] and [[Wergeld]].^(Duden 7 2020|927)^(Paul 2002) The second part is a noun meaning “age, lifetime, people”, kept in [[got|𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃|tr=alds]] and [[m|non|ǫld]], which belongs with [[alt]] to the root [[ine-pro|*al-|t=to grow, nourish]].^(Kluge 2011|981)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|927) The Duden explains the compound as “age of men, lifetime of men”.^(Duden 7 2020|927) Kluge argues that the starting point was rather “the race of men, mankind”, like [[la|saeculum]] and [[m|got|𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌴𐌸𐍃|tr=manaseþs]], and that both the sense “age” and the sense “earth” are secondary; the word did not start from a picture of space, as [[goh|mittilagart|t=world]] did.^(Kluge 2011|981)

+

+ The modern form arose by assimilation, with the loss of the /r/ of the older form.^(Wiktionary)^(DWB|28, 1456)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''weralt'' is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, and is frequent in the Isidor, the ''Muspilli'', the Benedictine Rule, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|380) It meant “time, age, eternity” and “mankind”, as well as “world, earth”; the phrase ''in werlte werlte'' meant “for ever and ever”.^(Schützeichel 2012|380)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Old High German word translated both [[m|la|saeculum]] and [[m|la|mundus]], and so took on their senses: “age, lifetime”, “the people of the earth”, “the earth” and “the whole creation”;^(Pfeifer 1993) Christian Latin added “earthly, sinful life”.^(Pfeifer 1993) The temporal senses “lifetime” and “age” were still used in Middle High German but are now lost, as Adelung noted around 1800.^(Paul 2002)^(Adelung 1793) From the 14th century the language of natural science applied it to the universe as a macrocosm, and to man as a small world.^(Pfeifer 1993) At the same time it came to name a whole mental sphere, as in ''eine Welt von Erinnerungen'', a use that became common in the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ In the sense “people” it gave ''alle Welt'' “everyone”, already in Old High German, and ''die große Welt'', “high society”, which grew frequent in the 18th century under the influence of French ''monde''.^(Paul 2002) The religious contrast between the world and the cloister gave [[weltlich]], Old High German ''weraltlīh'' (9th century), the opposite of ''geistlich''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) [[Umwelt]] first appears in 1800 in a German poem by the Dane Baggesen, perhaps after Danish ''omverden'';^(Pfeifer 1993) Goethe used it in 1816.^(Pfeifer 1993) It later rendered French ''milieu'', and the ecological movement made it a key word around 1970.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German ''weralt'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 9th century – The adjective ''weraltlīh'' “worldly” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 12th century – The shortened form ''welt'' appears beside ''werlt''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|28, 1456)

+ * 14th century – The word is applied to the universe and to the mental sphere.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1408 – ''vor gott und der welt'' “before God and the world” is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 16th century – ''Weltmann'' takes the sense “man of the world”.^(Duden 7 2020|927)

+ * 18th century – ''Weltall'' and ''Weltanschauung'' are formed.^(Duden 7 2020|927)

+ * 1800 – ''Umwelt'' appears in a poem by Baggesen.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * First half of the 19th century – ''Weltschmerz'' is coined.^(Duden 7 2020|927)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|earth]] as the place where people live: ''eine Reise um die Welt''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # All people, mankind;^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE) ''alle Welt'': everyone.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(dated)'' A social group or class: ''die feine Welt''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Life and existence in general, the way things are on earth.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A self-contained sphere or domain: ''die Welt des Theaters'', ''die Welt der Kinder''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # The [[m|en|universe]]; also a star or planetary system.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[weltlich]]

+ * [[verweltlichen]]

+ * [[Weltall]]

+ * [[Weltanschauung]]

+ * [[Weltkrieg]]

+ * [[Weltmann]]

+ * [[weltmännisch]]

+ * [[Weltschmerz]]

+ * [[Weltwunder]]

+ * [[Umwelt]]

+ * [[Halbwelt]]

+ * [[Nachwelt]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Werwolf]]

+ * [[Wergeld]]

+ * [[alt]]

+ * [[en|world]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Auf die Welt kommen'' is “to be born”, and ''etwas aus der Welt schaffen'' is to settle or get rid of something.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Die Alte Welt'' is Europe and ''die Neue Welt'' America, and ''die Dritte Welt'' the developing countries.^(Duden GWDS 1999) The saying ''hier ist die Welt mit Brettern vernagelt'', for a remote, dull place, goes back to a tall tale in the ''Ethographia mundi'' of 1608, in which a traveller reaches the end of the world and finds it boarded up.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Die Welt will betrogen sein'' renders Latin ''mundus vult decipi'' and is found in Murner.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}