Anfang German · revision 35082

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=9th century, Lorsch Confession|origins=gem-pro *fanhaną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈʔanfaŋ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Anfang''' ''m'' (genitive Anfanges or Anfangs, plural Anfänge)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|anevanc]], [[inh|goh|anafang]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*anafangi|t=grasp, embrace]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|1, 225) The noun belongs to the verb [[anfangen]], Old High German [[m|goh|anafāhan]] (9th century), a particle verb formed from [[m|goh|ana|t=on]] and [[m|goh|fāhan|t=to catch, seize]], the ancestor of [[fangen]].^(Kluge 2011|44)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|1, 225) The same formation is [[gml|anevanc]], [[dum|aenvanc]], [[ofs|onefeng]], [[ang|onfang]] and [[non|áfang]].^(EWA|1, 225)^(AWB) Wiktionary leaves open whether the Old Norse noun is a parallel formation or a loan.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ In the other West Germanic languages the particle verb means “to take hold of, tackle”, and this was probably the first sense in German too, but in Old High German the sense “to begin” is already fully developed.^(Kluge 2011|44)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2007) Paul suspects that the verb was originally a legal word, “to lay hands on, seize”.^(Paul 2002) The base verb continues [[gem-pro|*fanhaną|t=to catch]], which Kluge explains as a nasalized form of the root [[ine-pro|*pāḱ-|t=to fasten, hold]].^(Kluge 2011|276) The /ng/ of the modern verb comes from its past tense, and spread into the present and the infinitive in the second half of the 16th century, as it did in the simple verb.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''anafang'' is first recorded in the 9th century in the Lorsch Confession, which lists ''unrehtes anafanges'' “wrongful touching” among the sins confessed.^(DWB2|2, 861)^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|34) This sense “touching, grasping” is rare, while Notker uses the word for the [[m|en|beginning]] of a month or of an event.^(AWB)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German ''anevanc'' was also a legal term for laying hands on stolen goods in order to claim them back; later it survived only as a historical term.^(DWB2|2, 861)^(FWB) Early New High German also used ''anfang'' for the creation of the world, for the origin or cause of something, and for the introit of the Mass.^(FWB) Luther begins the Old Testament with ''am Anfang'' and the Gospel of John with ''im Anfang''.^(DWB|1, 324) Goethe's Faust answers the biblical ''Im Anfang war das Wort'' with ''Im Anfang war die Tat''.^(Paul 2002)

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+ The plural ''Anfänge'' “first attempts, rudiments” appears in book titles such as Christian Wolff's ''Anfangs-Gründe Aller Mathematischen Wissenschaften'' (1710).^(Paul 2002) The adverb [[anfangs]], originally a genitive, and the adjective [[anfänglich]] date from the second half of the 15th century.^(Pfeifer 1993) The word was borrowed into Finnish as ''anfangi'' and into Swedish as ''anfang''.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 9th century – ''anafang'' appears in the Lorsch Confession, meaning “touching”.^(DWB2|2, 861)^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 1227 – First record of Middle High German ''anevanc'' as a legal claim to stolen property.^(DWB2|2, 861)

+ * 1478 – Niclas von Wyle uses the adverb ''anefangs''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Second half of the 16th century – The /ng/ of the past tense spreads into the present of ''anfangen''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1710 – Christian Wolff's ''Anfangs-Gründe'' uses the word for the rudiments of a science.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|origin]] or first coming into being of something: ''von Anfang an'' “from the very start”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|start]], starting point: ''einen neuen Anfang machen'' “to make a fresh start”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # The first part or early stage of something: ''die Forschung steckt noch in den Anfängen'' “the research is still in its infancy”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # The first part of a period of time, without article: ''Anfang Juni'' “at the beginning of June”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # The beginning of something in space, such as a road or a path.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[anfangs]]

+ * [[anfänglich]]

+ * [[Anbeginn]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[anfangen]]

+ * [[Anfänger]]

+ * [[fangen]]

+ * [[empfangen]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proverb ''aller Anfang ist schwer'' “every beginning is hard” is recorded by Adelung.^(Adelung 1793)^(Duden GWDS 1999) The warning ''Wehret den Anfängen!'' “resist the beginnings” goes back to Ovid's ''Principiis obsta'' in the ''Remedia amoris''.^(Duden 7 2014|119) Adelung notes that the plural is rare.^(Adelung 1793)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}