Million German · revision 34906

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1448, Nuremberg chronicle|origins=la mīlle}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /mɪˈli̯oːn/, [mɪlˈjoːn], [mɪ.liˈoːn]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Million''' ''f'' (genitive Million, plural Millionen, diminutive Milliönchen n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|milione|t=great thousand]], an augmentative with the suffix [[m|it|-one]] of [[m|it|mille|t=thousand]], from [[la|mīlle]].^(Kluge 2011|623)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|563)^(DFWB) The Italian word, at first without a fixed value, spread from the 13th century to Spanish, French, English and German.^(DFWB)^(Duden 7 2014|563) The same word is [[nl|miljoen]], [[en|million]], [[fr|million]] and [[sv|miljon]].^(Kluge 2011|623)

+

+ The early German records have no clear gender;^(DWB|12, 2218) the word became feminine under the influence of [[Zahl]], as Pfeifer and the Grimms' dictionary explain, or by analogy with other numbers and nouns of the same ending, according to Wiktionary.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|12, 2218)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first German record is from a Nuremberg chronicle of 1448 (''von hundert milion lifergelts''), for a large sum of money without an exact value.^(DFWB)^(DWB|12, 2218)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first the word was used only of money, for very large sums otherwise counted in “tons”: ten tons of gold made a ''Million Goldes''.^(DFWB)^(DWB|12, 2218) In the 16th century it was not yet a common number word and the arithmetic books avoided it: Adam Riese (1574) names no number higher than ''hunderttausend'' and expresses 86 thousand million as ''sechs und achzig tausent tausent mal tausent''.^(Kluge 2011|623)^(DWB|12, 2218) Only in the 17th century did it spread beyond money, and by the end of that century it had the fixed value 1,000,000;^(DFWB)^(Duden 7 2014|563) yet Zedler's encyclopedia (1739) still defines it as a sum of money.^(Kluge 2011|623)

+

+ The plural is used for a vast number, as in Schiller's ''Seid umschlungen, Millionen!''.^(Paul 2002) [[Millionär]] was formed at the end of the 18th century after French ''millionnaire'',^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) and [[Milliarde]] “a thousand million” came from French in the 18th century and became common with the French war indemnity of five ''Milliarden'' after 1871.^(Pfeifer 1993) Hungarian borrowed the word as ''milliom'' in 1640.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1448 – ''milion'' appears in a Nuremberg chronicle.^(DFWB)

+ * 1574 – Adam Riese still does without the word in his arithmetic.^(Kluge 2011|623)

+ * 1640 – Hungarian ''milliom'' is recorded.^(LWP)

+ * 1664 – ''viele Millionen Menschen'': the word is used outside money.^(DFWB)

+ * End of the 17th century – The value 1,000,000 is fixed.^(DFWB)

+ * 1739 – Zedler's encyclopedia still treats it as a sum of money.^(Kluge 2011|623)

+ * End of the 18th century – ''Millionär'' is formed.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A thousand times a thousand, 1,000,000: ''eine Million Euro''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' An indefinite, very large number: ''Millionen von Zuschauern''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(plural)'' A sum of several million: ''der Umbau kostet Millionen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Millionär]]

+ * [[Milliarde]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Billion]]

+ * [[Meile]]

+ * [[Promille]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The abbreviations are ''Mio.'' and ''Mill.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}