Nacht German · revision 35100

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German glosses (Abrogans)|origins=ine-pro *nókʷts}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /naxt/, [naχt], [nɑxt]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Nacht''' ''f'' (genitive Nacht, plural Nächte, diminutive Nächtchen n)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old consonant-stem endings were gradually replaced by those of the ''i''-declension; remnants are Middle High German genitive and dative ''nahte'' and plural ''naht'', and the dative ''bei Nachte'' in poets of the 17th–19th centuries.^(DWB|13, 145) Beside the genitive ''Nacht'' there has been, since Old High German, a genitive ''Nachts'' formed after ''Tages'', which gave the adverb ''nachts'' and the phrase ''des Nachts''.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|naht]], [[inh|goh|naht]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*naht]], [[inh|gem-pro|*nahts|t=night]].^(Kluge 2011|646)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[got|𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃|tr=nahts]], [[non|nótt]] and [[m|non|nátt]], [[ang|niht]] (now [[en|night]]), [[ofs|nacht]] and [[osx|naht]];^(Kluge 2011|646)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge also lists [[nl|nacht]], [[sv|natt]] and [[is|nótt|alt=nótt]].^(Kluge 2011|646)

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+ It continues the Indo-European word for “night”, [[ine-pro|*nókʷts]], found in [[sa|नक्त्|tr=nákt]], [[grc|νύξ|tr=núx]], [[la|nox]], [[sga|nocht]], [[cy|nos]], [[lt|naktis|alt=naktìs]], [[cu|нощь|tr=noštĭ]] and [[ru|ночь|tr=nočʹ]].^(Kluge 2011|646)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The forms of Greek and of [[hit|nekuz]] “at evening” (from a verb “it grows dark”) point to a root with a labiovelar and a /t/ suffix, and Kluge infers from the Hittite verb that the starting sense may have been “dusk, evening”.^(Kluge 2011|646)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Kroonen reconstructs a static stem, nominative [[m|ine-pro|*nókʷ-t-s]], genitive [[m|ine-pro|*nékʷ-t-s]], and suggests that it lost an initial dental, connecting it with the Germanic word for “dark”; this is his own proposal.^(Kroonen 2013)

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+ Pfeifer explains the wide agreement of the Indo-European languages, unlike the words for “day”, by the use of the night as a unit of time: the moon, on which months and years were counted, can be watched only at night.^(Pfeifer 1993)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''naht'' is recorded in the 8th century in the ''Abrogans'' and the ''Samanunga'' glosses, then in Isidor, Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and other texts, meaning night, evening, darkness and gloom.^(EWA|6, 772)^(Köbler AHD) The early texts already have phrases such as ''mittiu naht'' “midnight”, ''wahta dera naht'' “night watch” and ''tages inti nahtes'' “day and night”.^(EWA|6, 772)^(Schützeichel 2012|233)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Germanic peoples counted by nights rather than days, and the night was reckoned before the day;^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|583) Paul cites Tacitus (''Germania'' 11).^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|583) Hence the old sense “eve”, kept in [[Fastnacht]] and [[Weihnachten]], whose ending is an old dative plural without umlaut, and Middle High German ''siben nehte'' “a week”, beside English ''fortnight''.^(Duden 7 2014|583)^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) In southern Germany ''Nacht'' also stands where the north says ''Abend'': ''gestern Nacht'', ''zu Nacht essen'', ''Nachtmahl'' (Austrian ''nachtmahlen'').^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) The order ''Nacht und Tag'' was still usual in Luther's time.^(Paul 2002)

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+ From Jean Paul and the Romantics on, the night became in literature the realm of death, the irrational and the unconscious, as in Novalis's ''Hymnen an die Nacht'' (1800).^(Paul 2002) ''Bei Nacht und Nebel'' “secretly and unexpectedly” was in Middle High German only an intensified expression for a dark night.^(Paul 2002) Derivatives include ''nächtlich'' (Old High German ''nahtlīh'', about 800), ''übernachten'' (16th century), ''umnachten'' (18th century, now mostly ''geistig umnachtet'' “mentally deranged”) and ''nächtigen'' (19th century), and the plant name ''Nachtschatten'' (Old High German ''nahtscato'', 11th century).^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|583)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''naht'' in the ''Abrogans'' glosses.^(EWA|6, 772)^(Kluge 2011|646)

+ * About 800 – ''nahtlīh'' “nightly”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 11th century – ''nahtscato'' “nightshade”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – ''übernachten'' “to stay the night”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|583)

+ * 18th century – ''umnachten''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|583)

+ * 1800 – Novalis, ''Hymnen an die Nacht''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 19th century – ''nächtigen''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|583)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|night]], the time between nightfall and dawn: ''Die Nächte werden wieder kälter.'';^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''heute Nacht'', tonight or last night.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(poetic)'' [[m|en|darkness]], gloom: ''die Nacht des Todes''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nachts]]

+ * [[nächtlich]]

+ * [[nächtigen]]

+ * [[übernachten]]

+ * [[umnachten]]

+ * [[Mitternacht]]

+ * [[Weihnachten]]

+ * [[Fastnacht]]

+ * [[Walpurgisnacht]]

+ * [[Nachtigall]]

+ * [[Nachtschatten]]

+ * [[Nachtmahl]]

+ * [[Nachthemd]]

+ * [[Nachtwächter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nüchtern]]

+ * [[en|night]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed phrases include ''Gute Nacht!'', the greeting before going to sleep, ''die Heilige Nacht'' (Christmas Eve), ''die Zwölf Nächte'' between Christmas and Epiphany, ''über Nacht'' “overnight, suddenly” and ''die Nacht zum Tage machen'' “to stay up all night”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''Na, dann gute Nacht!'' (colloquial) expresses disappointment or resignation.^(Duden GWDS 1999) Adelung quotes the proverb ''Bey der Nacht sind alle Katzen grau''.^(Adelung 1793|3, 392)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}