acht German · revision 34986

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German|origins=ine-pro *oḱtṓw}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /axt/, [ʔäχtʰ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''acht''' (invariable; inflected ''achten'' after a preposition with no noun following)^(Wiktionary)^(DWB|1, 164)

+ The ordinal [[achte]] once had a syllable more: Middle High German ''ahtede'', Old High German ''ahtodo''.^(Kluge 2011|13) The long form was shortened from Middle High German times and died out in the 16th century.^(Kluge 2011|13)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|aht]], [[inh|goh|ahto]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*ahtō]], [[inh|gem-pro|*ahtōu|t=eight]].^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|1, 121) The number is found in every Germanic language: [[got|𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿|tr=ahtau]], [[non|átta]], [[ang|eahta]], [[ofs|achta]] and [[osx|ahto]], and today [[nl|acht]], [[en|eight]] and [[sv|åtta]].^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Kroonen 2013)^(EWA|1, 121)

+

+ It continues [[ine-pro|*oḱtṓw|t=eight]], also in [[sa|अष्टौ|tr=aṣṭáu]], [[grc|ὀκτώ|tr=oktṓ]], [[la|octō]], [[lt|aštuoni|alt=aštuonì]] and [[sga|ocht]].^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) [[cu|осмь|tr=osmĭ]] was reshaped after the ordinal.^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Pfeifer 1993) The ending of the Indo-European word looks like a dual, “twice four”, which points to an old count by fours.^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB2|1, 1365) Kroonen, Kluge and Pfeifer mention the proposal that it is the dual of a word seen in [[ae|ašti-|t=width of four fingers]], so that eight was the width of two hands without the thumbs, though the meaning of the Avestan word is not certain.^(Kroonen 2013)^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Pfeifer 1993) Other links, with the root [[ine-pro|*oḱ-|t=sharp]] (the four fingertips) or with the word for four, remain uncertain.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|13)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''ahto'' is recorded in the 8th century, in the glosses and then in Tatian, Otfrid and Notker; the Grimms' revision quotes ''dies VIII taga'' from an 8th-century gloss on Luke 2:21.^(Kluge 2011|13)^(Schützeichel 2012|30)^(DWB2|1, 1365) Old High German still inflected it, as in Notker's ''ahtouuiu'' and ''ahtouuen''.^(EWA|1, 121)^(DWB2|1, 1365)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The numeral long ago stopped inflecting before a noun, but forms with a dative ending survive when no noun follows: Adelung in 1774 records ''er fährt mit achten'' “he drives with eight horses”.^(DWB|1, 164)^(DWB2|1, 1365) ''Acht Tage'' has meant “a week” since Middle High German, because the day of the week was counted at both ends, as also in Latin.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''ahto'' appears in glosses.^(Kluge 2011|13)^(DWB2|1, 1365)

+ * 9th century – The ordinal ''ahtodo'' and the compound ''ahtozehan'' “eighteen” are recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1451 – ''Achtel'' “eighth part” is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 16th century – The three-syllable ordinal dies out.^(Kluge 2011|13)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # [[m|en|eight|alt=Eight]], the number 8.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Eight o'clock, or eight years of age.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[achte]]

+ * [[Achtel]]

+ * [[achtzehn]]

+ * [[achtzig]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Oktober]]

+ * [[en|eight]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The noun ''die Acht'' (the figure 8, a playing card, a figure-of-eight) is the numeral used as a noun.^(Wiktionary)^(Duden GWDS 1999) In older spelling the phrases ''sich in acht nehmen'' “to be careful” and ''außer acht lassen'' “to disregard” were written lowercase, but they contain a different word, the old noun ''Acht'' “attention”, not the numeral.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020|79)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}