Klasse German · revision 35179

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1558, Heinrich Bullinger|origins=la classis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈklasə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Klasse''' ''f'' (genitive Klasse, plural Klassen)^(Wiktionary)

+ It was long written ''Classe'' or ''Claß''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) Early records sometimes keep the Latin inflection.^(FWB)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|classis|t=division; class of pupils; army, fleet]], borrowed in the 16th century.^(Kluge 2011|496)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|438) Kluge takes the Latin word to have meant first “a calling together”, then the crowd called up, a military division and finally the property classes into which the Roman people was divided;^(Kluge 2011|496) the Wiktionary DE entry connects it with [[m|la|calō|t=to call together]].^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ The newer senses that arose in the 18th century, “a group with common features” and “a social stratum”, came under the influence of [[fr|classe]],^(Duden 7 2020|438)^(Pfeifer 1993) and Wiktionary holds that the whole word probably came by way of French.^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[nl|klasse]], [[sv|klass]] and [[en|class]].^(Kluge 2011|496)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Heinrich Bullinger's ''Haußbuoch'' (Zurich, 1558).^(WGd) From the start the word had two widely separated senses: a class of pupils at school and a category or group of things.^(WGd) In 1581 Naß writes of people who signed the Book of Concord ''deren villerley Classen seyn'' (“of whom there are many classes”).^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In school use the word, already Latin in this sense in Quintilian, spread to the classroom and the school year.^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002)^(DWB|11, 1005) In the 18th century it became a term of scientific classification, first in Linnaeus's botany: Adelung in 1774 describes plants divided into classes, the classes into orders.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ From the same century it was also used of social groups, partly after French and English: Guden in 1768 distinguishes kinds and classes of inhabitants, and Wieland already speaks of the working classes in 1772.^(Paul 2002)^(DFWB) Girtanner noted in 1791 that it was a democratic term used instead of ''Stände'' “estates”.^(DFWB) In Marxism it became the central unit of society and a rallying word of the socialist movement, with [[Klassenkampf]] (Marx and Engels, 1847), ''Klassenbewusstsein'' (Engels, 1865) and ''Klassengesellschaft'' (Engels, 1878).^(WGd)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ It also came to mean a rank or quality, in taxes, lotteries and orders, and in railway travel after 1847.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) From phrases like ''erster Klasse'' came colloquial ''Klasse'' “excellent”, recorded in 1920 in Courths-Mahler, and the indeclinable adjective [[klasse]], recorded in 1925.^(Paul 2002)^(Kluge 2011|496) German passed the word on to [[cs|klasa]], also in Slovak.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1558 – First record, in Heinrich Bullinger's ''Haußbuoch''.^(WGd)

+ * 1581 – ''Classen'' in the sense “groups, kinds”.^(DFWB)

+ * 1768 – Used of classes of inhabitants.^(Paul 2002)^(DFWB)

+ * 1772 – Wieland speaks of the working classes.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1774 – Adelung records the botanical sense.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1847 – ''Klassenkampf'' (Marx and Engels); railway seats are divided into three classes.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1920 – ''Klasse'' meaning “excellent”, in Courths-Mahler.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1925 – The indeclinable adjective ''klasse''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|class]] at school: a group of pupils taught together.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A school year, [[m|en|grade]]: ''Mein Neffe geht in die dritte Klasse''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|classroom]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(technical)'' A section of an [[Akademie]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ # ''(sociology)'' A social class, a group of people in the same economic and social position.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A group of things with common features; in biology, the rank between [[Stamm]] and [[Ordnung]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A grade of service or rank, as in ''erster Klasse reisen''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Excellence, high quality: ''Der Torwart hat Klasse''.^(Wiktionary)^(Paul 2002)

+ # ''(computing)'' A class in [[m|en|object-oriented]] programming.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Klassenkampf]]

+ * [[Klassenzimmer]]

+ * [[Klassenkamerad]]

+ * [[Klassenlehrer]]

+ * [[klasse]]

+ * [[erstklassig]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[klassisch]]

+ * [[klassifizieren]]

+ * [[klassieren]]

+ * [[en|class]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}