Punkt German · revision 34854

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=12th century, Old High German gloss|origins=la pungō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pʊŋ(k)t/, [pʊŋkt], [pʊŋt]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Punkt''' ''m'' (genitive Punktes or Punkts, plural Punkte, diminutive Pünktchen n or Pünktlein n or Punkterl n)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older forms include ''punt'', the weak ''puncte'' and an umlauted plural ''pünt'' (1469); the neuter gender is rare.^(DWB|13, 2233)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|punct]], [[inh|goh|puncto]], [[bor|la-lat|pūnctus]], which stands for classical [[la|pūnctum|t=point; prick]], the neuter past participle of [[m|la|pungō|t=to prick]].^(Kluge 2011|732)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|660) The Latin word first meant something pricked in, a mark made with the stylus on a wax tablet, and then a section of a text, a dot on a die, the smallest quantity and a moment.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) The Latin form itself is kept in the exclamation [[Punktum]].^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ Other languages have the word without the /k/: [[fr|point]], [[en|point]] and [[nl|punt]].^(Kluge 2011|732)^(DWB|13, 2233) [[bunt]], [[Pointe]], [[Punze]] and [[Spund]] go back to the same Latin form.^(Kluge 2011|732)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''puncto'' “point” occurs in a gloss in a 12th-century manuscript.^(Köbler AHD)^(Pfeifer 1993) Middle High German ''puncte'' and ''punct'' appear around 1200 and in the 13th century, meaning “point, centre, moment, circumstance, article, agreement”.^(Köbler MHD)^(Pfeifer 1993) Kluge dates the word to the 14th century.^(Kluge 2011|732)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Paul describes the first sense as a mark made by pricking, then any small round spot; the idea of a point without extent came with scholarship, and the mathematical sense is recorded at the beginning of the 15th century.^(Paul 2002) As a punctuation mark ending a sentence it appears in Niklas von Wyle (1462).^(Paul 2002) Already in Latin the word meant “section of a document”.^(Paul 2002) From this, ''Punkt'' came to mean any single item among several matters, an agenda item or a point of discussion.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ It was also transferred to time, “moment”, whence [[Zeitpunkt]] (17th century).^(Pfeifer 1993) ''Der springende Punkt'' is a loan translation of ''punctum saliens'', Aristotle's moving spot in an incubated egg from which the heart develops; it came to mean the decisive point.^(Duden 7 2020|660)^(Paul 2002) ''Der tote Punkt'' comes from engineering, where it is the position in which connecting rod and crank form a straight line.^(Duden 7 2020|660) In the 1920s and 1930s sports language formed compounds such as ''Punktsieg'' “win on points”.^(DFWB) Hungarian ''pont'' (1513) was borrowed from German.^(LWP)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – Old High German ''puncto'' occurs in a manuscript gloss.^(Köbler AHD)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * Early 15th century – The mathematical sense is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1462 – Niklas von Wyle uses ''Punkt'' for the full stop.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 15th century – ''pünktlich'' appears, first in the sense “careful, precise”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1513 – Hungarian ''pont'' is recorded.^(LWP)

+ * 17th century – ''Zeitpunkt'' appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 18th century – ''Punktum'' “that's that” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1929 – ''Punktsieg'' appears in sports language.^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small round spot, a [[m|en|dot]]: ''ein Kleid mit weißen Punkten''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A dot as a written sign; the [[m|en|full stop]] at the end of a sentence.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A particular place or position: ''der höchste Punkt des Landes''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A [[m|en|point]] without extent.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A point in time, a stage: ''an diesem Punkt der Verhandlungen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # An item, topic or section: ''der nächste Punkt der Tagesordnung''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A unit of scoring in games and sports.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(printing)'' The typographic point, 0.376 mm.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(before a time)'' Exactly, sharp: ''Punkt acht Uhr''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pünktlich]]

+ * [[Pünktlichkeit]]

+ * [[punktuell]]

+ * [[punktieren]]

+ * [[Punktum]]

+ * [[Zeitpunkt]]

+ * [[Mittelpunkt]]

+ * [[Standpunkt]]

+ * [[Höhepunkt]]

+ * [[Doppelpunkt]]

+ * [[Strichpunkt]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Interpunktion]]

+ * [[Akupunktur]]

+ * [[Kontrapunkt]]

+ * [[Pointe]]

+ * [[Spund]]

+ * [[bunt]]

+ * [[en|point]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Der springende Punkt'' is the crucial point, ''ein dunkler Punkt'' something dubious in someone's past, and ''ohne Punkt und Komma reden'' is to talk without stopping.^(Duden 7 2020|660)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}