Ding German · revision 35486

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /dɪŋ/, /dɪŋk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Ding''' ''n'' (genitive Dinges or Dings, plural Dinge or Dinger, diminutive Dinglein n)^(Wiktionary)

+ The plural ''Dinger'' appears from the end of the 13th century, at first mainly in East Central German and Low German; from about the 17th century ''Dinge'' is used for objects and matters and ''Dinger'' for disparaging uses.^(EWA|2, 649)^(DWB2|6, 1081)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|dinc]], [[inh|goh|thing]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*þing]], [[inh|gem-pro|*þingą|t=assembly; appointed time]].^(Kluge 2011|202)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|thing]], [[ofs|thing]], [[ang|þing]], [[non|þing]], [[nl|ding]] and [[en|thing]].^(Kluge 2011|202)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Orel 2003) Kluge, Pfeifer and Kroonen connect it with [[got|𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃|tr=þeihs|t=time, occasion]].^(Kluge 2011|202)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ The Germanic word named the assembly of the free men, where law was spoken and decisions taken.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|223) The present meaning grew out of “what is discussed at the assembly, a legal case”, which was generalized to “matter” and then “object”, as with [[Sache]] and with [[fr|chose]] from [[la|causa|t=legal case]].^(Kluge 2011|202)^(EWA|2, 649) Pfeifer and Kroonen think that the oldest sense was “appointed time”, which would also explain the Gothic word.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ Its further origin is uncertain.^(Kluge 2011|202) Pfeifer and Duden derive it from [[ine-pro|*ten-|t=to stretch, draw]] through an extended form [[ine-pro|*tenk-]], with [[la|tempus|t=time]] and [[sga|tan|t=time]];^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|223) Kroonen and Wiktionary connect it with the verb [[gem-pro|*þinhaną|t=to succeed, be suitable]], so that the first meaning was “suitable time”.^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary) Kluge also weighs [[mga|téchtae|t=lawful]] and holds that no certain decision is possible yet.^(Kluge 2011|202)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''thing'', ''ding'' is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses, then in the Hildebrandslied, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^(Kluge 2011|202)^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|72) It meant a court, a court day and its session, an assembly, a legal case, and also a matter or affair; in the Hildebrandslied it is a fight.^(Schützeichel 2012|72)^(EWA|2, 649) The sense “object” appears only from the 11th century.^(EWA|2, 649)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German ''dinc'' still meant a court until the end of the Middle Ages, and the old sense lives on in Scandinavian words for an assembly or parliament (Norwegian ''Storting'', Danish ''Folketing'') and in the historicizing German form [[Thing]].^(Duden 7 2014|223) Beside it, “matter, affair” and “object” spread, and in medieval philosophy ''ding'' could also mean “being, essence”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 649)

+

+ From the 14th century the word is used for a person or thing that cannot or should not be named, and since the 17th century, often disparagingly, for a girl or young person (''ein armes Ding'').^(Pfeifer 1993) The philosophical ''Ding an sich'' (“thing in itself”) is first recorded in Reimarus in 1760 and became frequent through Kant;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|2, 1152) English took it over as ''Ding an sich'' in 1846.^(LWP) Old adverbial genitives such as ''aller Dinge'' gave [[allerdings]], ''neuerdings'' and ''schlechterdings'', with a secondary ''-s''.^(Paul 2002) In thieves' cant ''ein Ding drehen'' meant “to pull off a burglary”, whence it passed, softened, into colloquial speech.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''thing'' appears in glosses.^(Kluge 2011|202)^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 11th century – First record of the sense “object”.^(EWA|2, 649)

+ * Late 13th century – The plural ''Dinger'' appears.^(EWA|2, 649)^(DWB2|6, 1081)

+ * 14th century – Used for persons or things that are not named.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – ''Dings'' “thingummy” becomes a word of its own, from a partitive genitive.^(Duden 7 2014|223)

+ * 17th century – ''Ding'' is used of girls and young people;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 649) ''Dinge'' and ''Dinger'' begin to divide the senses.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 649)

+ * 1760 – ''Ding an sich'' is recorded in Reimarus.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1846 – English borrows ''Ding an sich''.^(LWP)

+ * 19th century – ''dingfest machen'' “to arrest” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|223)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|thing]] or [[m|en|object]] that is not named more precisely (plural ''Dinge''): ''Sie packte ihre Dinge in einen Koffer.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Something one cannot or will not name, often disparaging (plural ''Dinger''): ''Wozu ist dieses Ding da?''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|matter]] or [[m|en|affair]] (plural ''Dinge''), as in ''vor allen Dingen'' “above all” and ''guter Dinge sein'' “to be in good spirits”.^(Paul 2002)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A girl or young person, said fondly or with pity: ''ein armes Ding''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' ''ein Ding drehen'': to commit a [[m|en|crime]] or pull off a trick.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

+ # ''(historical)'' The Germanic [[m|en|assembly]], usually spelled [[Thing]].^(Wiktionary)^(Duden 7 2014|223)

+ # ''(slang)'' The [[m|en|penis]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dinglich]]

+ * [[Dings]]

+ * [[Dingsda]]

+ * [[Unding]]

+ * [[Dingens]]

+ * [[Dingsbums]]

+ * [[Dinggedicht]]

+ * [[dingen]]

+ * [[dingfest]]

+ * [[allerdings]]

+ * [[bedingen]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Thing]]

+ * [[verteidigen]]

+ * [[Dienstag]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Aller guten Dinge sind drei'' (“all good things come in threes”) is said to justify doing something a third time.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Mit rechten Dingen zugehen'' “to happen in a natural way, without trickery” is recorded from the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}