Sprache German · revision 35430

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈʃpʁaːxə/, [ˈʃpʁäːχə], [ˈʃpʁɑːχə]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Sprache''' ''f'' (genitive Sprache, plural Sprachen)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|sprāche]], [[inh|goh|sprāhha]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*sprāku|t=speech, language]].^(Kluge 2011|871)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) Kluge reconstructs the West Germanic form as [[m|gmw-pro|*sprǣkō]], and Kroonen gives [[gem-pro|*sprēkō-|t=speech]].^(Kluge 2011|871)^(Kroonen 2013) The same word is [[osx|sprāka]], [[gml|sprāke]], [[ang|sprǣc]] and [[ofs|sprēke]], continued in [[nl|spraak]].^(Kluge 2011|871)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) Paul notes that the word is West Germanic and was borrowed into North Germanic, as in [[da|sprog]] and [[sv|språk]].^(Paul 2002)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ It is an abstract noun of [[sprechen]], formed with an ablaut grade of the verb, and first meant the act and the faculty of speaking.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(Kluge 2011|871) As with the verb, Old English lost the /r/ in a variant, [[m|ang|spǣc]], which is continued in [[en|speech]].^(Kluge 2011|871)^(Pfeifer 1993) The verb itself has no certain origin: Kluge and Duden compare [[non|spraka|t=to crackle]], so it may first have been an expressive, sound-imitating word.^(Kluge 2011|871)^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''sprāhha'' is first recorded in glosses about 765, and then in the Benediktinerregel, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|306) Schützeichel gives the senses “language; statement; speech; disputation; consultation, conversation; gossip”.^(Schützeichel 2012|306)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Middle High German senses “conversation, discussion, consultation” and “formal speech, especially in court” survive only in compounds such as [[Absprache]], [[Ansprache]], [[Aussprache]] and [[Rücksprache]], and in the phrases ''zur Sprache kommen'' and ''zur Sprache bringen''.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020) The faculty of speech is named from Old High German on, as is a person's way of speaking, as in Luther's ''denn deine Sprache verrät dich'' “for thy speech betrayeth thee” (Matthew 26:73).^(Paul 2002) The sense “language of a community” is Old High German too but became common only in New High German.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Grammar was called ''Sprachkunst'' in the 16th century, translating Latin ''ars grammatica'', and ''Sprachlehre'' from the early 17th; [[Sprachwissenschaft]] dates from the 17th century, [[Sprachforscher]] from the 18th and [[sprachlich]] from the 19th.^(Pfeifer 1993) [[sprachlos]] goes back to Old High German ''sprāhhalōs'' (11th century).^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) English took ''Mischsprache'' (1930) and ''Schriftsprache'' (1931) as terms of linguistics.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * 11th century – Old High German ''sprāhhalōs'' “speechless”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – ''Sprachkunst'' for grammar.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * Early 17th century – ''Sprachlehre''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 17th century – ''Sprachwissenschaft''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 19th century – ''sprachlich''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)

+ * 1930 – English borrows ''Mischsprache''.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The faculty of [[m|en|speech]]: ''Da blieb ihr die Sprache weg.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Speaking, talk, in phrases: ''etwas zur Sprache bringen'' “to raise a subject”;^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''mit der Sprache herausrücken'' “to come out with it”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A way of speaking, voice, [[m|en|accent]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|style]] of expression: ''die Sprache der Werbung''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|language]], the system of words and rules of a community: ''die deutsche Sprache''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sprachlich]]

+ * [[sprachlos]]

+ * [[-sprachig]]

+ * [[Sprachforscher]]

+ * [[Sprachlehre]]

+ * [[Sprachwissenschaft]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Absprache]]

+ * [[Ansprache]]

+ * [[Aussprache]]

+ * [[sprechen]]

+ * [[Sprecher]]

+ * [[Spruch]]

+ * [[Gespräch]]

+ * [[en|speech]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}