wegen German · revision 34898

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=clipping|attested=1369|origins=gem-pro *wegaz}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈveːɡən/, /ˈveːɡŋ̩/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''wegen''' (preposition with the genitive, colloquially the dative; also placed after the noun)^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a shortening: [[inh|gmh|von wegen|t=on the part of]] had a genitive between the preposition and the noun;^(Kluge 2011|975)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) [[m|gmh|wegen]] is the dative plural of [[m|gmh|wec]], the ancestor of [[Weg]], used here in the sense “side, direction”, which it had in Central German and Middle Low German.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2007)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)^(Wiktionary) Kluge explains it by phrases meaning “from all sides”.^(Kluge 2011|975) The same construction is [[gml|van wegen]] and [[dum|van wegen]];^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|975) Pfeifer thinks the shortened form may have entered the chancery language from Middle Low German, and Kluge notes that the word spread from the north of the German area to the south.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|975) [[non|vegna]] with a genitive was probably borrowed from Low German, and modern [[nl|wegens]], [[sv|vägnar]] and [[is|vegna]] are its counterparts.^(Kluge 2011|975)

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+ Kluge also considers a quite different source, the root [[ine-pro|*wek-|t=to wish, want]], comparing an Old Persian phrase meaning “by the will of”; he finds this semantically very attractive, but it would mean that an isolated word was later adapted to the noun.^(Kluge 2011|975)

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+ The noun itself, [[goh|weg]], [[gem-pro|*wegaz]], belongs with [[bewegen]] to the root [[ine-pro|*weǵʰ-|t=to move, carry, travel]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The full phrase ''von … wegen'' “on the part of” is recorded in the 13th century, as in ''von unser beider wegen'' “on behalf of both of us”.^(Pfeifer 1993) The short form ''wegen'' is first recorded in 1369, according to Paul;^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Pfeifer dates it to the second half of the 14th century.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From “on the part of, in the name of” the preposition came to name the cause or the person on whose account something happens.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) It normally governs the genitive, but the dative is common in regional and colloquial speech and occurs in Goethe (''wegen diesem … Beistand'') and Schiller (''wegen den Anwesenden''); Berlin speech even has the accusative, as in Fontane.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ With pronouns it forms compounds such as ''meinetwegen'' (from older ''von meinen Wegen''), ''seinetwegen'', ''deswegen'' and ''weswegen'';^(Paul 2002) ''derowegen'' and ''dieserwegen'' are obsolete.^(Paul 2002) ''Meinetwegen'' has become a colloquial “for all I care, fine by me”.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999) The colloquial exclamation ''von wegen!'' rejects what someone has just said.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – The phrase ''von … wegen'' is used with an enclosed genitive.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1369 – First record of the shortened preposition ''wegen''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Late 18th century – Goethe and Schiller use ''wegen'' with the dative.^(Paul 2002)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Preposition===

+ # ''(with the genitive; colloquially the dative)'' [[m|en|because of]], owing to: ''wegen des Streiks''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|concerning]], about: ''Ich rufe wegen der Wohnung an.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # For the sake of: ''Sie blieb wegen der Kinder.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[deswegen]]

+ * [[weswegen]]

+ * [[meinetwegen]]

+ * [[seinetwegen]]

+ * [[derentwegen]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Weg]]

+ * [[bewegen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}