tief German · revision 35280

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 765, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *dʰewbʰ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /tiːf/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tief''' (strong nominative masculine singular tiefer, comparative tiefer, superlative am tiefsten)^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle High German had ''tief'' beside ''tiuf''; the Grimms derive the standard pronunciation with a long vowel from Central German ''tîf''.^(DWB|21, 480) The regular form ''tiufe'' of the noun survives in the mining word [[Teufe]] “depth”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|tief]], [[inh|goh|tiof]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*deup]], [[inh|gem-pro|*deupaz|t=deep]].^(Kluge 2011|917)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary) The same adjective is [[got|𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐍃|tr=diups]], [[non|djúpr]], [[ang|dēop]], [[ofs|diāp]] and [[osx|diop]], and it continues in [[nl|diep]], [[en|deep]] and [[sv|djup]].^(Kluge 2011|917)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ Outside Germanic it is related to [[lt|dubus|alt=dubùs|t=hollow, deep]], [[sga|domain|t=deep]] and [[cy|dwfn|t=deep]], from a root [[ine-pro|*dʰewbʰ-|t=deep, hollow]].^(Kluge 2011|917)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|859)^(Kroonen 2013) Kroonen adds [[txb|tapre|t=high]] and offers two derivations: an adjective beside the verbal family of [[gem-pro|*dūbaną|t=to dive]], or a formation [[ine-pro|*dʰewbʰ-nós]] whose /bʰn/ gave Germanic /pp/, later shortened.^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge stresses that the final consonant of the root is ambiguous in all the languages and may have varied from the start, and notes the likeness of [[grc|δύω|tr=dúō|t=I sink, plunge]].^(Kluge 2011|917)

+

+ In German the root also underlies [[taufen]], originally “to make deep”, [[tupfen]] and, with a nasal, [[Tümpel]] “a hollow”.^(Duden 7 2020|859)^(Kluge 2011|917)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''tiof'' is first recorded in glosses of about 765, then in the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and other texts, meaning “deep, unfathomable, low-lying” and also “weighty, significant”.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|331) The Tatian says of Jacob's well ''thiu fuzze teof ist'' (“the well is deep”, for Latin ''puteus altus est''), and Otfrid ''ther puzz ist filu diofêr''.^(DWB|21, 480)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Paul sorts the senses by direction.^(Paul 2002) Vertical depth is the oldest and gave figurative uses of grief and love, as in Walther's ''mines herzen tiefiu wunde'' (“my heart's deep wound”); with it go ''tief'' “low”, of a hanging branch, a low sun or a deep bow.^(Paul 2002) Horizontal depth is as old: the Nibelungenlied has riders entering ''einen tiefen walt'' (“a deep forest”), and Adelung speaks of a house twenty ells deep from front to back.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Paul quotes from the dictionaries of Stieler, Kramer and Adelung the acoustic sense (''tiefe Stimme'', a deep voice), the intensifying use (''tiefer Schmerz'', ''tief bewegt'') and the temporal one (''bis in die tiefste Nacht'').^(Paul 2002) In Middle High German a ''tiefer wec'' was a sunken lane or a muddy road, and ''tiefiu rede'' profound talk.^(Lexer 1872|2, 1432) The compound ''tiefsinnig'' meant “shrewd, sly” at the end of the 16th century and took its present sense “profound, brooding” in the 18th;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|859) ''Tiefsinn'' is a back-formation of the mid-18th century, though Middle High German already had ''tiefer sin''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|859)

+

+ The noun ''Tief'' named a navigable channel in Low German coastal speech, and at the beginning of the 20th century an area of low air pressure.^(Adelung 1793)^(DWB|21, 485)^(Duden 7 2020|859) In Swiss usage ''tief'' can mean “low” of amounts and values.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * 863–871 – Otfrid uses ''tiof'' and the adverb ''tiofo''.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * c. 1200 – The Nibelungenlied speaks of ''einen tiefen walt'' “a deep forest”.^(Paul 2002)^(Köbler MHD)

+ * End of the 16th century – ''tiefsinnig'' is recorded in the sense “shrewd, sly”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * First half of the 18th century – ''tiefsinnig'' takes its present sense “profound, brooding”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * Early 20th century – ''Tief'' comes to mean an area of low air pressure.^(Duden 7 2020|859)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|deep]]: reaching far down, with a long distance to the bottom: ''Der See ist an dieser Stelle sehr tief.'' With a measure after it: ''ein drei Meter tiefer Graben''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|low]]: close to the ground or far down; also low on a scale: ''Die Schwalben fliegen tief.'' ''tiefe Temperaturen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a dish: deep, not flat: ''ein tiefer Teller''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Reaching far back or far inward: ''ein tiefer Schrank'', ''tief im Wald''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Far advanced in time; in the middle of: ''bis tief in die Nacht'', ''im tiefen Winter''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Intense, strongly felt; with adjectives and verbs, “very, deeply”: ''tiefe Trauer'', ''tief enttäuscht''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # [[m|en|profound]]: going to the essential, not superficial: ''ein tiefer Gedanke''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a colour: intense, dark; of a voice or tone: low, deep: ''eine tiefe Stimme''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(Switzerland)'' Low in amount or value.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Tief]]

+ * [[Tiefe]]

+ * [[vertiefen]]

+ * [[Untiefe]]

+ * [[tiefsinnig]]

+ * [[Tiefsinn]]

+ * [[tiefgründig]]

+ * [[tiefgreifend]]

+ * [[tiefschürfend]]

+ * [[abgrundtief]]

+ * [[zutiefst]]

+ * [[Tiefland]]

+ * [[Tiefsee]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Teufe]]

+ * [[taufen]]

+ * [[tauchen]]

+ * [[tupfen]]

+ * [[Tümpel]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Stille Wasser sind tief'' (“still waters run deep”) is recorded by Stieler as ''stille wasser sind gern tief''.^(DWB|21, 480)^(Wiktionary) ''Zu tief ins Glas schauen'' is to drink too much.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}