erfahren German · revision 35443

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 800, Weißenburger Katechismus|origins=gmw-pro *uʀfaran}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʔɛɐ̯ˈfaːɐ̯n/, /ʔɛɐ̯ˈfaːʁən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''erfahren''' (class 6 strong, third-person singular present erfährt, past tense erfuhr, past participle erfahren, past subjunctive erführe, auxiliary haben)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|ervarn]], [[inh|goh|irfaran]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*uʀfaran]], the verb [[fahren]] “to go, travel” with the prefix [[er-]].^(Kluge 2011|254)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary compares [[ang|āfaran]], and Köbler sets up [[gem-pro|*uzfaraną|t=to go away]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler AHD) The Grimms' dictionary, on the contrary, calls it a specifically High German formation without a match in Gothic or in Old English, and takes [[nl|ervaren]], [[sv|erfara]] and [[da|erfare]] as borrowings from German.^(DWB|3, 788) The participle used as an adjective, “experienced”, is the same word.^(Kluge 2011|254)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ The original sense was “to travel through, to reach”; from “to get to know a country by travelling” it came to mean “to get to know” in general.^(Kluge 2011|254)^(Duden 7 2014|257) [[gml|ervāren]] had the same range of senses.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The oldest record, in the Weißenburger Katechismus (about 800), uses ''arfaran'' for Latin ''procedere'' of the Holy Spirit proceeding from Father and Son.^(DWB2|8, 1697) Old High German ''irfaran'' meant “to perceive, find out”, “to overtake, reach, catch”, “to go away” and “to traverse”; it occurs in Tatian, Notker and the Monsee Fragments.^(Schützeichel 2012|96)^(Köbler AHD) Otfrid uses it for overtaking someone, and Notker says that he “had travelled through many cities”.^(DWB2|8, 1697)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The concrete senses “to travel through” and “to overtake, catch” lasted into the 17th century.^(DWB2|8, 1697)^(Paul 2002) Already in Old High German the verb meant “to find out, get to know”, at first of knowledge gained by one's own effort, then also of hearing something by chance, as in Luther's ''Sehet zu, das es niemand erfare'' (Matthew 9:30).^(Paul 2002) With a passive sense it meant “to suffer, feel”, usually of something unpleasant: Luther has ''Denn du lassest mich erfaren viel vnd grosse Angst'' (Psalm 71:20).^(Paul 2002) From the 18th century the subject is often not a person, and finally the verb became a function verb that paraphrases the passive (''eine Überarbeitung erfahren'' “to be revised”).^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ The participle ''erfahren'' became an adjective, first “widely travelled”, then “experienced, versed”.^(DWB2|8, 1696)^(Paul 2002) Kluge and Duden date the adjective from the 15th century, Paul from the 13th, and the revised Grimm quotes ''der wol ervarne Tristant'' from about 1285/90.^(Kluge 2011|254)^(Duden 7 2014|257)^(Paul 2002)^(DWB2|8, 1696) [[Erfahrung]] (Middle High German ''ervarunge'') first meant “wandering through, exploration”.^(Pfeifer 1993) Regionally the verb also meant “to run over” with a vehicle and “to earn by carting”.^(DWB|3, 788)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 800 – Old High German ''arfaran'' in the Weißenburger Katechismus.^(DWB2|8, 1697)

+ * 863/71 – Otfrid uses ''irfaran'' for overtaking someone.^(DWB2|8, 1697)

+ * Before 1022 – Notker uses it of travelling through cities.^(DWB2|8, 1697)

+ * c. 1285/90 – The adjective “widely travelled” in Heinrich von Freiberg's ''Tristan''.^(DWB2|8, 1696)

+ * 1421 – The adjective “skilled, versed” in Johannes Rothe.^(DWB2|8, 1696)

+ * 1533 – Turmair still uses the verb for travelling through lands.^(DWB2|8, 1697)

+ * 18th century – The verb is used more often with a subject that is not a person.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|learn]], find out, come to know: ''Sie erfuhr die Neuigkeit erst am Abend.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(formal)'' To [[m|en|experience]] in oneself, to undergo: ''viel Freundlichkeit erfahren''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(weakened)'' To undergo a change or treatment, as a paraphrase of the passive: ''Der Plan hat eine Änderung erfahren.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|experienced|alt=Experienced]], skilled, versed (''in'' something): ''ein erfahrener Bergführer''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Erfahrung]]

+ * [[Erfahrenheit]]

+ * [[unerfahren]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fahren]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}