Opfer German · revision 35107

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=back-formation|attested=8th century, Old High German glosses}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɔpfər/, [ˈʔɔpfɐ], [ˈʔɔpɸɐ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Opfer''' ''n'' (genitive Opfers, plural Opfer, diminutive Öpferchen n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|opfer]], [[inh|goh|opfar]], formed in Old High German from the verb [[opfern]].^(Kluge 2011|671)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(Duden GWDS 1999) The same formation is [[osx|opper]] and [[gml|opper]] or [[m|gml|offer]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|671)

+

+ The origin of the verb is disputed.^(Kluge 2011|671) In most of the Germanic languages the Christian notion of sacrifice was expressed by a borrowing of [[la|offerō|t=to bring before, offer]]: [[goh|offarōn]], [[ofs|offria]], [[ang|offrian]] and [[non|offra]].^(Kluge 2011|671)^(Pfeifer 1993) The High German verb [[m|goh|opfarōn]], with the affricate /pf/, does not match that source in its sound.^(Kluge 2011|671) The traditional view, which Pfeifer and Duden follow, takes it from [[la-ecc|operor|t=to work; to perform a religious rite, to give alms]], which came over the Alps into the church language of southern Germany.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(Paul 2002) Kluge finds this unsatisfactory in meaning and reports that recent research prefers to see an irregular development of the borrowing from Latin, though that needs further assumptions.^(Kluge 2011|671) Paul combines the views: its form comes from the Latin word for working, but its religious sense was influenced by the verb borrowed from the Latin word for offering.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''opfar'' is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses from about 765, and then in the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and Williram.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|245) It meant an offering or sacrifice, and also a service;^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|245) ''ferbrunnen opfar'' was a burnt offering.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|245) The verb ''opfarōn'' at first meant “to do a work” as well as “to make an offering”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German ''opfer'' also meant the Mass and the host, and the gifts made to the church.^(Köbler MHD)^(Paul 2002) In Christian use it was above all the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice.^(Paul 2002) Adelung notes that in elevated style it was any gift made as a sign of devotion, and also a thing given up for another's sake.^(Adelung 1793) From the latter came the sense “self-denial, a sacrifice made for someone else”.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ The sense “someone who is killed or harmed by something” is found in Scheffel, who wrote of ''das Opfer der Lawine'' “the victim of the avalanche”.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999) It is fixed in the legal pair ''Täter und Opfer'' and in ''Opfer des Faschismus'', abbreviated ''OdF'' after the war.^(Paul 2002) In the youth language of the 2000s ''Opfer'' became an insult for a weak or inferior person.^(Wiktionary DE)^(Wiktionary) Slovene took ''ofer'' “sacrifice” from German.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * About 765 – Old High German ''opfar'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 9th century – The Tatian and Otfrid use ''opfar''.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 1060–1080 – Middle High German ''opfer'' is used in the ''Genesis''.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 18th century – Adelung records the sense “something given up for another”.^(Adelung 1793)

+ * 2000s – ''Opfer'' becomes a youth-language insult.^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A religious [[m|en|sacrifice]], the offering of someone or something to a god: ''ein Opfer darbringen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|offering]], the thing sacrificed.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A sacrifice for the sake of others; something given up: ''Für ihr Studium brachten die Eltern große Opfer.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A [[m|en|victim]], a person killed or harmed by something: ''Der Sturm forderte drei Opfer.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(chess)'' The deliberate giving up of a piece for an advantage.^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(slang, derogatory)'' A weak or dependent person, a [[m|en|loser]].^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Opferlamm]]

+ * [[Opfergabe]]

+ * [[Opfergang]]

+ * [[Opferstock]]

+ * [[Opfertod]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[opfern]]

+ * [[aufopfern]]

+ * [[operieren]]

+ * [[en|offer]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Einer Sache zum Opfer fallen'' is to be killed or destroyed by something, and ''jemandem etwas zum Opfer bringen'' to sacrifice something to someone.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}