Gruppe German · revision 34934

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1573|origins=it gruppo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɡʁʊpə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Gruppe''' ''f'' (genitive Gruppe, plural Gruppen, diminutive Grüppchen n or Grüpplein n)^(Wiktionary)

+ Until the second half of the 18th century the word was often spelled ''groupe'' or ''grouppe'', and a masculine ''Grupp'' was used until the middle of that century.^(DWB|9, 969)^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|groupe]], first a term of the visual arts, which comes from [[it|gruppo|t=cluster, group]], older also [[m|it|groppo|t=knot, lump]].^(Kluge 2011|378)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) German made the word feminine, after [[Truppe]] and the declension of nouns ending in ⟨-e⟩.^(DFWB)^(DWB|9, 969) The same French word gave [[nl|groep]], [[en|group]] and [[sv|grupp]].^(Kluge 2011|378)

+

+ The further origin is unclear.^(Kluge 2011|378)^(Duden 7 2020)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Pfeifer and the Fremdwörterbuch mention a derivation from [[gem-pro|*kruppaz|t=lump, body]], the source of [[Kropf]], which would have reached Italy through Gothic;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary gives the same chain through [[la-vul|*cruppus]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB)^(Wiktionary) The Fremdwörterbuch also cites a Gallo-Romance verb meaning “to tie together”, formed with [[frk|*rēp|t=rope]].^(DFWB)

+

+ The sources date the borrowing differently: Kluge to the 18th century, Pfeifer to the beginning of that century, the Duden to the late 16th century.^(Kluge 2011|378)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|343) The Fremdwörterbuch has an isolated record from 1573 and continuous use from the early 17th century,^(DFWB) and the ZDL's word history finds it first as a term of music in 1619, borrowed again from French and Italian as a term of art later in the 17th century.^(WGd)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record, from 1573, describes a horse that goes ''von grupo zu grupo'', keeping its legs close together.^(DFWB) Michael Praetorius used the word as a term of music in 1619.^(WGd) In 1708 Marperger explains ''groupe'' as a painters' term for several bodies placed close together, and calls the Laocoön a ''groupe'' of three figures.^(DWB|9, 969)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 18th century the word was used mainly in painting and sculpture, for figures arranged so that they form a whole.^(Paul 2002)^(Adelung 1793) Adelung remarks that German had earlier used ''Klump'' for this, which seemed too low, so the foreign word was taken instead.^(Adelung 1793) Campe in 1801 records the wider sense “a number of things of one kind together”, such as people, trees or mountains.^(Paul 2002) In the 19th and 20th centuries it became a word for a category and for people with common interests, as in ''soziale Gruppe'', and a technical term in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and the social sciences.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(WGd) The sense “squad”, the small unit of the army, police or fire brigade, is a narrowing, and since the 1950s and 1960s, after English, the word also means a band.^(WGd)

+

+ The verb [[gruppieren]] appears in the 18th century, first in the arts;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) Lessing in his ''Laokoon'' (1766) still uses it intransitively.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) German passed the word on to Hungarian as ''grupp'' (1803) and to Czech and Slovak as ''grupa''.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1573 – An isolated first record, in horsemanship.^(DFWB)

+ * 1619 – Praetorius uses the word in music.^(WGd)

+ * 1708 – Marperger defines ''groupe'' as a term of painting.^(DWB|9, 969)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1766 – Lessing uses ''gruppieren''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1801 – Campe records the wider sense.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1803 – Hungarian ''grupp'' is recorded.^(LWP)

+ * Second half of the 19th century – The sense “circle of people with common interests” appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1950s–1960s – The sense “band” appears after English.^(WGd)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small number of people or things together: ''eine Gruppe Radfahrer''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A class or [[m|en|category]] of things with common features.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A circle of people joined by common interests or aims: ''eine Gruppe von Umweltschützern''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(sports)'' A group of teams or players in a tournament.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(military)'' A [[m|en|squad]], the smallest unit.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(geology)'' A group of systems of strata.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A [[m|en|group]], a set with an associative operation, an identity and inverses.^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' A column of the [[m|en|periodic table]].^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(music)'' A [[m|en|band]].^(WGd)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gruppieren]]

+ * [[Gruppierung]]

+ * [[Grüppchen]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Kropf]]

+ * [[en|group]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Low German has a different ''Gruppe'' or ''Grüppe'' “ditch, drain behind the cattle in a stable”, which the Grimms' dictionary records from glossaries of the early 16th century.^(DWB|9, 976) Adelung already separated it from the art term and connected it with [[graben]].^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}