lesen German · revision 35147

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Germany: /ˈleːzn̩/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Austria: /ˈleːsn̩/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lesen''' (class 5 strong, third-person singular present liest, past tense las, past participle gelesen, past subjunctive läse, auxiliary haben)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|lesen]], [[inh|goh|lesan]], [[inh|gem-pro|*lesaną|t=to gather, pick]].^(Kluge 2011|573)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) The same strong verb is [[got|𐌻𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽|tr=lisan|t=to gather]], [[non|lesa]], [[ang|lesan|t=to gather, collect]], [[ofs|lesa]] and [[osx|lesan]].^(Kluge 2011|573)^(Kroonen 2013) English kept it only in the dialect verb [[en|lease|t=to glean]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) It continues [[ine-pro|*les-|t=to gather]], also found in [[lt|lèsti|t=to peck]] and [[hit|leššāi-|t=to pick up]].^(Kluge 2011|573)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge sees a variant of the root in [[la|legō|t=to gather; to read]] and [[grc|λέγω|tr=légō|t=to gather; to say]].^(Kluge 2011|573) Old High German still had grammatical change, with /r/ in the past plural and the past participle, but these forms were mostly levelled out by the 9th century.^(EWA|5, 1202)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ Germanic shares only the sense “to gather, pick up”; how the verb came to mean “to read” is disputed.^(Pfeifer 1993) Kluge, Paul and Pfeifer see a loan meaning from Latin [[m|la|legō]], which had both senses, the link being “to follow a track” and then “to follow written signs”;^(Kluge 2011|573)^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Kluge rejects the gathering of rune sticks as an explanation, since runes were not said to be “read” with this verb.^(Kluge 2011|573)^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Duden thinks it more likely that the verb already referred in Germanic times to gathering and interpreting the sticks cast for divination.^(Duden 7 2020|509) Kroonen derives “to read” from an intermediate sense “to examine, analyse”, not from picking up letters.^(Kroonen 2013)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''lesan'' is recorded from the 8th century, in the ''Abrogans'' and other glosses, and then in Tatian, Otfrid, Notker, the Benedictine Rule and the Monsee fragments.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|5, 1202)^(Schützeichel 2012|198) Its senses ranged from “to gather, pick up, collect” to “to read, read aloud, recite, study”.^(EWA|5, 1202)^(Köbler AHD)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German ''lesen'' meant to gather selectively, pick up, put in order, perceive, read, read aloud, teach as a lecturer, say mass and tell.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|5, 1202) The old sense of gathering survives in harvesting: grapes and ears of corn are ''gelesen'', and Luther wrote ''den Weinberg lesen''; from it come [[Lese]] “harvest” (early 18th century), [[Auslese]] and [[erlesen]].^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020|509) Sorting peas or lentils by picking out the bad ones is ''verlesen''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Because few people could read in older times, ''lesen'' often meant reading aloud; from this come reading mass and lecturing at a university, ''Vorlesungen halten''.^(Paul 2002) [[belesen]] “well-read” and ''lesbar'' “legible” belong to the 17th century.^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) In computing ''lesen'' is used of reading data from a medium.^(Wiktionary DE)^(EWA|5, 1202)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''lesan'' is first recorded, in glosses.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 9th century – The past forms with /r/ (''lārum'') are mostly levelled to /s/.^(EWA|5, 1202)

+ * 16th century – Luther writes ''den Weinberg lesen'' for harvesting the vineyard.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 17th century – ''belesen'' “well-read” and ''lesbar'' appear.^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+ * Early 18th century – ''Lese'' “harvest, gathering” appears.^(Duden 7 2020|509)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|read]] (a text, words, signs): ''sie liest jeden Abend Krimis'' “she reads crime novels every evening”; also ''Noten lesen'' “to read music”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To read aloud, give a [[m|en|reading]]: ''der Dichter las aus seinem neuen Roman'' “the poet read from his new novel”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # To [[m|en|lecture]] at a university;^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE) ''eine Messe lesen'' is to say mass.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(reflexive)'' To read in a certain way: ''der Text liest sich mühsam'' “the text makes hard reading”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To pick, [[m|en|gather]] or [[m|en|harvest]] (grapes, ears of corn); to sort by hand, picking out the bad ones.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(computing)'' To read data from a storage medium.^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Leser]]

+ * [[Lesung]]

+ * [[Lese]]

+ * [[Weinlese]]

+ * [[Auslese]]

+ * [[auslesen]]

+ * [[erlesen]]

+ * [[belesen]]

+ * [[verlesen]]

+ * [[vorlesen]]

+ * [[Vorlesung]]

+ * [[nachlesen]]

+ * [[Lesebuch]]

+ * [[leserlich]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[leer]]

+ * [[en|lease]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}