Boden German · revision 35505

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=9th century, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *bʰudʰmḗn}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈboːdn̩/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Boden''' ''m'' (genitive Bodens, plural Böden)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old plural was ''Boden'', without umlaut; the umlauted ''Böden'' appears from the end of the 13th century, and both forms stood side by side in the 15th and 16th centuries.^(DWB2|5, 536) The plural without umlaut survived until the end of the 18th century, and Goethe still wrote ''boden''.^(DWB2|5, 536)^(DWB|2, 210) Until the 17th century the singular was usually ''bodem'', with the older final /m/.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|bodem]], [[inh|goh|bodam]], [[inh|gem-pro|*butmaz|t=bottom]].^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|bodom]], [[ang|botm]], [[ofs|boden]] and [[non|botn]], as are [[nl|bodem]] and [[en|bottom]].^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) Outside Germanic, it is related to [[sa|बुध्न|tr=budhná|t=bottom, ground, root]], [[grc|πυθμήν|tr=puthmḗn|t=bottom of a vessel or of the sea]] and [[la|fundus|t=bottom]], which go back to [[ine-pro|*bʰudʰmḗn|t=bottom]].^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Germanic forms disagree in their dental: the High German word points to a form with /þ/, while Norse and English point to one with /t/, and Pfeifer calls the alternation unexplained.^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 222) Kluge puts it down to different assimilations to the following nasal.^(Kluge 2011|137) Kroonen explains it from an old paradigm in which the /m/ was dissimilated already in the genitive, giving the Sanskrit and Latin forms with /n/, and a Germanic doublet with /tt/ that mixed with the nominative to make several stem variants.^(Kroonen 2013) The forms also vary between an /m/ and an /n/ suffix.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB2|5, 536) The further origin of the root is unclear.^(Kluge 2011|137)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''bodam'' is first found in glosses: ''podum'' translates Latin ''carina'' “keel of a ship” in a gloss of about 820/830, and Köbler dates the oldest gloss record to about 790.^(DWB2|5, 536)^(Köbler AHD) In Old High German it meant “bottom, ground”, also the hull, keel or deck of a ship, and Notker uses it.^(EWA|2, 222)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The senses “ground, soil” and “floor” are recorded from the 11th and 12th centuries.^(DWB2|5, 536) Middle High German ''bodem'' meant the ground, a piece of land, the floor, the bottom of a barrel or vessel, a granary, the hull of a ship and even a raft.^(Köbler MHD)^(Lexer 1872|1, 321)

+

+ The sense “storey”, and then especially “attic”, grew out of the raised floor of boards and is found only in German;^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) Pfeifer dates the attic sense to the 16th century.^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) It survives in [[Dachboden]] and [[Heuboden]], and in southern German ''Boden'' also meant a whole storey.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020) Many fixed phrases use the word figuratively, such as ''auf fruchtbaren Boden fallen'' “to be well received”, from the parable of the sower, and ''Boden gewinnen'' or ''verlieren''.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999) Luther already has ''das schlägt dem Fass den Boden aus'' “that is the last straw”.^(Paul 2002) The Low German form of the same word gave [[Bodden]], a shallow coastal lagoon.^(Duden 7 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 790 – First record of Old High German ''bodam'' in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * c. 820/830 – ''Podum'' glosses Latin ''carina'' “keel”.^(DWB2|5, 536)

+ * 11th–12th century – The senses “ground” and “floor” appear.^(DWB2|5, 536)

+ * Late 13th century – First umlauted plural forms.^(DWB2|5, 536)

+ * 16th century – ''Boden'' names the attic, a sense found only in German.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 17th century – The spelling ''bodem'' gives way to ''boden''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 17th century – ''bodenständig'' is first recorded, meaning “standing on the ground”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|soil|alt=Soil]], earth, land as it is farmed or built on.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The [[m|en|ground]], or the [[m|en|floor]] of a room.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The [[m|en|bottom]] of a container, a body of water or a ship.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|attic]] or [[m|en|loft]], the space under the roof.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A territory or area, as in ''auf deutschem Boden''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A basis or foundation, as in ''auf dem Boden der Tatsachen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bodenlos]]

+ * [[bodenständig]]

+ * [[Dachboden]]

+ * [[Fußboden]]

+ * [[Erdboden]]

+ * [[Heuboden]]

+ * [[Meeresboden]]

+ * [[Nährboden]]

+ * [[Bodensatz]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Bodden]]

+ * [[Fundus]]

+ * [[en|bottom]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Am Boden zerstört sein'' “to be completely exhausted or crushed” comes from wartime reporting, where it first described aircraft destroyed by bombs before they could take off.^(Duden 7 2007) The name of the [[Bodensee]] (Lake Constance) is not from this word but from the royal palace of Bodman on its shore.^(Kluge 2011|137)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}