historisch German · revision 35522

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1527|origins=grc ἵστωρ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /hɪsˈtoːʁɪʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''historisch''' (strong nominative masculine singular historischer, comparative historischer, superlative am historischsten)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|historicus|t=historical]], borrowed in the early 16th century,^(DFWB)^(Wiktionary DE) from [[grc|ἱστορικός|tr=historikós|t=historical; a historian]], derived from [[m|grc|ἱστορία|tr=historía|t=inquiry, knowledge, history]].^(DFWB)^(Pfeifer 1993) Pfeifer and Wiktionary describe the German adjective as formed after the Latin word with the suffix [[-isch]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Greek noun belongs to [[m|grc|ἵστωρ|tr=hístōr|t=one who knows, a witness]], which is normally connected with [[ine-pro|*weyd-|t=to see, know]].^(Kluge 2011|419)^(Pfeifer 1993) Duden relates it to the verb [[m|grc|οἶδα|tr=oîda|t=I know]],^(Duden 7 2007) while Floyd takes the noun as “judge, arbiter” and connects it with [[m|grc|ἵζω|tr=hízō|t=to sit]].^(Kluge 2011|419)

+

+ The noun [[Historie]] had been borrowed earlier, as [[gmh|histōrje]] in the 13th century, from [[m|la|historia]]; it was gradually replaced by [[Geschichte]], so that only [[Historiker]] and the adjective stayed in common use.^(Kluge 2011|419)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first records, from 1527, come from Reformation writings about the Bible, in which words of Scripture are called ''historisch'' when they only report events: ''ettlich sint gantz historisch'' “some are wholly historical”.^(DFWB) In this theological use, until the later 17th century, it referred to the literal sense of Scripture, as opposed to its allegorical, moral and anagogical senses, and was often used disparagingly in Reformation polemics.^(DFWB) Paul gives 1575, in Fischart, as the first record.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the early 16th century the adjective also meant “having history or past events as its subject, narrating”.^(DFWB) Paul notes that it first applied to events and then to the reports of them: Goethe's Werther calls a letter ''ganz historisch'', which the Grimms' dictionary explains as containing only report and no reflection.^(Paul 2002)^(DWB|10, 1580) Adelung contrasted historical knowledge, merely knowing that something is so, with scientific knowledge.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ In the 19th century the word deepened in step with [[Geschichte]] and [[geschichtlich]]: in the preface to his German grammar (1818) Jacob Grimm calls the study of grammar philosophical, critical or historical.^(Paul 2002) From this use came the ''historisch-kritische Ausgabe'' (critical edition, 1867, for Schiller's works) and the ''historisch-vergleichende Grammatik''.^(Paul 2002) [[Historismus]] appears in Novalis and Friedrich Schlegel around 1797 and became more frequent from the middle of the 19th century.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – Middle High German ''histōrje'' is borrowed from Latin.^(Kluge 2011|419)

+ * 1527 – First record of ''historisch'', in theological writings on the literal sense of Scripture.^(DFWB)

+ * 1575 – Fischart uses the word.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 18th century – The noun ''Historiker'' is formed.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2007)

+ * 1818 – Jacob Grimm calls one kind of grammatical study ''historisch''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1867 – A ''historisch-kritische Ausgabe'' of Schiller's works begins to appear.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Concerning [[m|en|history]] or past events; historical.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Belonging to history as it really happened or is documented, as opposed to legend or later images: ''der historische Faust''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # Important for history; [[m|en|historic]], momentous: ''ein historischer Tag''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Belonging to an earlier period; old: ''eine historische Altstadt''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(dated)'' Factual, reporting the facts only.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(DWB|10, 1580)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|historically]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Historie]]

+ * [[Historiker]]

+ * [[Historismus]]

+ * [[en|history]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Historischer Materialismus'' is the doctrine of Marx and Engels that history is determined by economic conditions, and the ''historisches Präsens'' is the present tense used to narrate past events.^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}