Werk German · revision 34997

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vɛʁk/, [vɛʁk], [vɛɐ̯k]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Werk''' ''n'' (genitive Werkes or Werks, plural Werke, diminutive Werkchen n or Werklein n)^(Wiktionary)

+ Upper German wrote ''werch'' and Central German often ''werg'', a spelling the standard language later kept for [[Werg]] “tow”.^(DWB|29, 327)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|werc]], [[inh|goh|werc]], [[inh|gem-pro|*werką|t=work]].^(Kluge 2011|983)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|werk]], [[non|verk]], [[ang|weorc]], [[ofs|werk]] and [[nl|werk]].^(Kluge 2011|983)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Orel 2003) It is not recorded in Gothic, which has the related formation [[m|got|𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍃𐍄𐍅|tr=waurstw|t=work, deed]].^(DWB|29, 327)

+

+ Kroonen treats it as a neuter noun beside the verb [[gem-pro|*wurkijaną|t=to work]], the ancestor of [[wirken]].^(Kroonen 2013)^(Kluge 2011|983) Outside Germanic it matches [[grc|ἔργον|tr=érgon|t=work, deed]], [[xcl|գործ|tr=gorc|t=work]] and [[txb|werke|t=hunting]], and the root is [[ine-pro|*u̯erg̑-|t=to work, do]], also seen in [[ae|varəz-|t=to work]].^(Kluge 2011|983)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Orel 2003) The Duden dictionary takes the original sense to have been “wickerwork”,^(Duden GWDS 1999) and Wahrig derives the family from [[ine-pro|*u̯er-|t=to turn, bend, plait]].^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''werc'', ''werah'' is recorded from the 8th century, in the Benedictine Rule, the Isidor translation, confessions and baptismal vows, and in Notker, meaning “work, deed, labour, service”.^(Kluge 2011|983)^(Schützeichel 2012|383)^(Pfeifer 1993) Tatian and Otfrid have the form ''werc''.^(DWB|29, 327)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Since Old High German times the word has meant both the activity of working and what the work produces.^(Pfeifer 1993) The second sense was applied to artistic and intellectual products, like Latin [[m|la|opus]], hence ''Goethes Werke'' and ''Kunstwerk'', and finally to a book, as in ''Nachschlagewerk''.^(Paul 2002) From the 14th century, and productively from the 17th, ''-werk'' forms collective nouns such as ''Backwerk'', ''Schuhwerk'', ''Mauerwerk'' and, for natural things, ''Laubwerk''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Notker already used the word of a building, as still in ''Bauwerk''.^(Paul 2002) In Middle High German it could also mean the raw material to be worked and a tool.^(Pfeifer 1993) Since the 14th or 15th century the material sense has lived on in ''Räucherwerk'' and ''Feuerwerk''.^(Paul 2002) A mechanism is called ''Werk'' from the Middle Low German ''Räderwerk'' of about 1250, hence ''Uhrwerk''.^(Paul 2002) The sense “workplace” arose in the 16th and 17th centuries (''Bergwerk'', ''Hüttenwerk''), and the sense “factory, plant” in the 17th.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ The derivative ''Gewerkschaft'' appeared in the 16th century for the members of a trade and especially a mining company, and its sense “trade union” came up in the second half of the 19th century.^(Duden 7 2020|929) ''Werktätige'', for all working people who exploit no one, was used at the second congress of the Communist International in 1920.^(Pfeifer 1993) The verb ''werken'' fell behind ''arbeiten'', ''schaffen'' and ''wirken'' in the 17th century and was revived in the 19th by writers such as Gotthelf and Wilhelm Grimm.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''werc'' is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|983)

+ * c. 1250 – Middle Low German ''Räderwerk'' uses the word for a mechanism.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 14th–15th century – First records of the sense “material to be worked”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 16th century – ''Gewerkschaft'' appears; the phrase ''ans Werk gehen'' is recorded.^(Duden 7 2020|929)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 17th century – The sense “factory, plant” develops; collective nouns in ''-werk'' become productive.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1813 – ''Werkstoff'' is coined as a German word for ''Material''.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020|929)

+ * 1920 – ''Werktätige'' is used at the second congress of the Communist International.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Work, [[m|en|labour]] on a particular task: ''Die Helfer machten sich sofort ans Werk.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An act, a [[m|en|deed]]: ''ein Werk der Nächstenliebe'';^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''ein gutes Werk tun''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A product of creative work, a [[m|en|work]] of art, literature or scholarship: ''die Werke Kafkas''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The whole output of an artist or writer, the [[m|en|œuvre]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(historical)'' A self-contained outer part of a [[m|en|fortress]], with rampart and ditch.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|factory]], industrial plant or works; also its workforce: ''Das Werk liegt am Fluss.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|mechanism]] that drives something, such as the works of a clock.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Handwerk]]

+ * [[Bauwerk]]

+ * [[Bergwerk]]

+ * [[Kunstwerk]]

+ * [[Meisterwerk]]

+ * [[Kraftwerk]]

+ * [[Feuerwerk]]

+ * [[Uhrwerk]]

+ * [[Fuhrwerk]]

+ * [[Stockwerk]]

+ * [[Netzwerk]]

+ * [[Lebenswerk]]

+ * [[Nachschlagewerk]]

+ * [[Werkstatt]]

+ * [[Werkzeug]]

+ * [[Werkstoff]]

+ * [[Werktag]]

+ * [[werktätig]]

+ * [[werken]]

+ * [[werkeln]]

+ * [[Gewerkschaft]]

+ * [[bewerkstelligen]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wirken]]

+ * [[Werg]]

+ * [[Energie]]

+ * [[en|work]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed phrases include ''etwas ins Werk setzen'' “to carry something out”, ''zu Werke gehen'' “to proceed, go about it” and ''am Werk sein'' “to be at work”.^(Duden GWDS 1999) Schiller's line ''soll das Werk den Meister loben'' (from ''Das Lied von der Glocke'') is often quoted.^(Paul 2002) In some northern and central dialects a word ''Werk'' means “pain” or “cramp”; the Grimms' dictionary takes it to be the same word.^(DWB|29, 347)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}