Volk German · revision 35458

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /fɔlk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Volk''' ''n'' (genitive Volkes or Volks, plural Völker, diminutive Völkchen n or Völklein n)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older New High German still had the unchanged plural, as in Luther's ''zwey volck sind in deinem leibe'' (“two nations are in thy womb”, Genesis 25:23).^(DWB|26, 453) The plural ''Völker'' then became general.^(DWB|26, 453)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|volc]], [[inh|goh|folc]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*folk]], [[inh|gem-pro|*fulką|t=troop, army; people]].^(Kluge 2011|962)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|3, 451) The same word is [[osx|folk]], [[ang|folc]], [[ofs|folk]], [[non|folk]], [[nl|volk]] and [[en|folk]].^(Kluge 2011|962)^(EWA|3, 451) Gothic has no such noun, but East Germanic personal names such as the Visigothic Fulgaredus imply it, and [[fro|folc]] comes from Frankish.^(EWA|3, 451)

+

+ Kluge finds no exact comparison outside Germanic.^(Kluge 2011|962) It is probably an extension of the root of [[voll]] and [[viel]], [[ine-pro|*pelh₁-|t=to fill]], with the sense “multitude”, as in [[la|populus|t=people]], [[m|la|plēbs|t=common people]] and [[grc|πλῆθος|tr=plêthos|t=crowd, multitude]].^(Kluge 2011|962)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)^(Wiktionary) Pfeifer and the Duden take “band of warriors, host” as one of its oldest senses: the men able to bear arms representing the community.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) The Slavic word for a troop, [[cu|плъкъ|tr=plŭkŭ|t=army division]], is a borrowing from Germanic, and [[Pulk]] came back from Slavic.^(Wiktionary)^(Kluge 2011|962)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''folc'' is recorded from the 8th century in glosses and then in the Hildebrandslied, Isidor, the Strasbourg Oaths, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^(EWA|3, 451)^(Köbler AHD) It meant “people, tribe, population, crowd” and also “troop, army”, glossing Latin ''populus'', ''plebs'', ''turba'', ''cohors'' and ''legio''.^(EWA|3, 451)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The military sense lived on for a long time: Schiller writes of ''die schott'schen Völker'' (“the Scottish troops”), and it survives in [[Fußvolk]] and ''Kriegsvolk''.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020) From Old High German on the word also meant a crowd, as in Luther's ''folgete jm viel Volcks nach'' (“many people followed him”, Matthew 8:1),^(Paul 2002) and early on the mass of the population as against its upper ranks.^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ The sense “nation, a community joined by language, culture and history” took shape with the national consciousness of the humanist age;^(Duden 7 2020)^(Pfeifer 1993) Romanticism gave it an emotional tone, seen in [[Volkslied]], coined by Herder in 1773 after English ''popular song'', and in [[Volkstum]].^(Duden 7 2020)^(Pfeifer 1993) The National Socialists made it a central racist term, and [[völkisch]] took on the sense “belonging to the people as a supposed race”.^(Duden 7 2020)^(Paul 2002) Hunters speak of ''ein Volk Rebhühner'' (“a covey of partridges”), and beekeepers of a colony as a ''Volk''.^(Adelung 1793)^(Wiktionary) English borrowed ''Völkerwanderung'' in 1855 and ''völkisch'' in 1939.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''folc'' appears in glosses.^(EWA|3, 451)^(Kluge 2011|962)

+ * Late 15th century – The adjective ''volckisch'' is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1645 – Zesen uses ''Völkerrecht'' “international law”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Early 18th century – ''Völkerwanderung'' is formed, after Latin ''migratio gentium''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1773 – Herder coins ''Volkslied''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1806 – ''Volkskunde'' appears in the circle of ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * c. 1830 – ''Volkswirtschaft'' is formed after English ''national economy''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1855 – English borrows ''Völkerwanderung''.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|people]], [[m|en|nation]]: a large community joined by culture, history and often language: ''die Völker Südamerikas''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(no plural)'' The population of a country as a body, the citizens: ''Das Volk wählt das Parlament.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(no plural, dated)'' The common people, the lower classes: ''Sie stammte aus dem einfachen Volk.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(no plural, colloquial)'' A [[m|en|crowd]], people gathered somewhere: ''Auf dem Marktplatz war viel Volk unterwegs.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(biology, hunting)'' A [[m|en|colony]] of bees, a [[m|en|covey]] of partridges.^(Wiktionary)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bevölkern]]

+ * [[Bevölkerung]]

+ * [[völkisch]]

+ * [[Völkchen]]

+ * [[Volkslied]]

+ * [[Volkstum]]

+ * [[volkstümlich]]

+ * [[Volkskunde]]

+ * [[Völkerwanderung]]

+ * [[Völkerrecht]]

+ * [[Volkswirtschaft]]

+ * [[Fußvolk]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[voll]]

+ * [[viel]]

+ * [[Pulk]]

+ * [[Folklore]]

+ * [[en|folk]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Im Namen des Volkes'' (“in the name of the people”) is the formula with which German courts pronounce judgement.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Das Volk der Dichter und Denker'', said of the Germans, goes back to Musäus, who wrote of the Germans as an enthusiastic people of thinkers and poets in the preface to his ''Volksmärchen der Deutschen'' (1782–1786).^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}