Plan German · revision 35537

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=early 18th century|origins=la planta}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /plaːn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Plan''' ''m'' (genitive Planes or Plans, plural Pläne)^(Wiktionary)

+ The plural was formerly ''Plane'', as in Goethe's ''Werther''; it is now ''Pläne''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|plan|t=ground plan, design]], borrowed at the beginning of the 18th century and long pronounced in the French way.^(Kluge 2011|709)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002) French has had the word since 1553.^(DFWB)

+

+ The origin of the French word is debated.^(Kluge 2011|709)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|633) Kluge, Duden and the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch trace it to [[la|planta|t=sole of the foot]], a plan being properly a ground plan;^(Kluge 2011|709)^(Duden 7 2020|633)^(DFWB) Duden adds that the older French form was [[m|fr|plant]], that the development followed [[it|pianta|t=sole of the foot; ground plan]], and that the word only later merged with the French noun meaning “surface”, from [[m|la|plānus|t=flat]].^(Duden 7 2020|633) Pfeifer instead takes it as a back-formation from [[m|fr|planter|t=to set up; to plant]], from [[m|la|plantō|t=to plant]].^(Pfeifer 1993) Either way it belongs with [[Pflanze]].^(Kluge 2011|709)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest German records are from military language, for the ground plan of a fortification or building (Fäsch 1735, Sturm 1737), sometimes in the Italian form ''plano''; from there the word slowly entered the general language, and dictionaries list it from 1727.^(DFWB) Paul calls the sense “ground plan” a loan meaning taken from French at the beginning of the 18th century.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Because a large ground plan can be a design still to be carried out, the meaning widened in the 18th century to “design for something to be done, intention”.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Wahrig credits Goethe and the other classical writers with establishing this sense.^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Pfeifer dates the verb [[planen]] to the 18th century and Duden to the 19th, and [[planlos]] and [[planvoll]] are also of the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|633) [[Planer]] was only a name, mainly a surname, before the first half of the 20th century.^(Duden 7 2020|633)

+

+ In the sense “binding guideline for the economy over a given period” (mid-20th century) the word follows the meaning that [[ru|план|tr=plan]] had developed;^(Pfeifer 1993) [[Planwirtschaft]] is recorded from 1922.^(Paul 2002) German passed the word on to Czech and Slovak ''plán'',^(LWP) and Latvian ''plā̃ns'' was borrowed from it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1553 – French ''plan'' is recorded.^(DFWB)

+ * Early 18th century – ''Plan'' “ground plan” is borrowed from French.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1735–1737 – Military writers use it for the plan of a fortification.^(DFWB)

+ * Second half of the 18th century – The sense “intention, design” is established.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1922 – ''Planwirtschaft'' “planned economy” is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Mid-20th century – The economic sense after Russian ''plan''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|plan]], intention, project: ''Sie hat große Pläne für den Sommer.''^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A planned way of proceeding, scheme: ''Alles lief nach Plan.''^(Wiktionary)

+ # A drawing or [[m|en|diagram]] of a building or technical part: ''der Plan des Hauses''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A detailed map, as in [[Stadtplan]].^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' An idea, a [[m|en|clue]]: ''Ich habe keinen Plan, wo das ist.''^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[planen]]

+ * [[Planer]]

+ * [[Planung]]

+ * [[planlos]]

+ * [[planvoll]]

+ * [[Planwirtschaft]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[plan]]

+ * [[Pflanze]]

+ * [[Plantage]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An older ''Plan'' “level open ground; meadow; field of combat”, Middle High German ''plān'' (around 1200), from [[la-med|plānum|t=plain]], has a numbered entry of its own in Kluge and Duden.^(Kluge 2011|709)^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020|633) It survives almost only in ''auf den Plan treten'' “to appear on the scene” and ''jemanden auf den Plan rufen'' “to call someone into action”, which originally meant calling someone onto the field of combat;^(Duden 7 2020|633)^(Duden GWDS 1999) Goethe's ''mit dir nur tanzt er auf dem Plan'' uses it for an open-air dance floor.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}