Jahrhundert German · revision 35068

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=calque, compound|attested=17th century|origins=la saeculum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /jaːɐ̯ˈhʊndɐt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Jahrhundert''' ''n'' (genitive Jahrhunderts, plural Jahrhunderte)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|de|Jahr|hundert|t1=year|t2=hundred]], formed in the 17th century as a loan translation [[der|la|saeculum|t=age, century]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(DWB|10, 2243) Before it, Rompler had tried a native coinage of his own; the Tatian and the Annolied rendered the Latin word with [[goh|weralt|t=world, age]].^(DWB|10, 2243)^(Adelung 1793) The same compound is [[nl|jaarhonderd]].^(Wiktionary)

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+ Adelung thought the unusual type of compound came from the old habit of naming years by their hundreds alone, leaving out the thousand (“in the year five hundred and ten” for 1510).^(Adelung 1793) [[Jahr]] is [[m|goh|jār]], from [[gem-pro|*jērą|t=year]].^(Kluge 2011|454)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Grimms' dictionary finds it first in Schottel's grammar, recorded as a word of Birken's, and fully established by the end of the 17th century, in the senses “a hundred years” and, more freely, “an age, an era, a generation”.^(DWB|10, 2243) Stieler's dictionary explains it with Latin ''seculum'' and ''Menschenalter'' “a lifetime”.^(DWB|10, 2243)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The new word was not accepted at once: as late as 1755 it was criticised as “un-German”, unintelligible and unusable in the plural.^(Pfeifer 1993) In the 18th century it was the model for [[Jahrzehnt]] and [[Jahrtausend]].^(Pfeifer 1993) Adelung lists the plural ''Jahrhunderte'' and calls the years 1700 to 1800 ''das gegenwärtige Jahrhundert''.^(Adelung 1793)

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+ Writers of the 18th century also used it for “the age, the spirit of the time”: Lessing speaks of ''der feinere Geschmack des Jahrhunderts'', and Goethe of the individual who should know ''sich und sein Jahrhundert''.^(DWB|10, 2243) Today ''des Jahrhunderts'' after a noun marks something unmatched in a hundred years.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 17th century – Formed to render Latin ''saeculum''; first recorded in Schottel.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|10, 2243)

+ * End of the 17th century – Fully established.^(DWB|10, 2243)

+ * 18th century – ''Jahrzehnt'' and ''Jahrtausend'' are formed on its model.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1755 – Still criticised as un-German and unusable in the plural.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1793 – Adelung lists the plural ''Jahrhunderte''.^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|century]], a period of a hundred years: ''im achtzehnten Jahrhundert''; abbreviated ''Jh''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|age]] or era marked by something: ''das Jahrhundert der Eisenbahn''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(DWB|10, 2243)

+ # After a noun, ''des Jahrhunderts'': unique in a hundred years: ''das Spiel des Jahrhunderts''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Jahr]]

+ * [[hundert]]

+ * [[Jahrzehnt]]

+ * [[Jahrtausend]]

+ * [[Säkulum]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The Duden dictionary counts a century from the year 0 to the year 99 of a hundred, while the German Wiktionary counts from 01 to 00 (the 17th century as 1601–1700).^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}