Grenze German · revision 35538

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1262, a charter from Thorn|origins=sla-pro *granь}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɡrɛn.t͡sə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Grenze''' ''f'' (genitive Grenze, plural Grenzen)^(Wiktionary)

+ Until the first half of the 19th century it was also spelt ''Gränze''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|grenize]], [[bor|pl|granica|t=boundary mark, border]].^(Kluge 2011|374)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Lexer 1872|1, 1079) Pfeifer names Old Polish as the source and says it was borrowed along the whole length of the Polish–German border region,^(Pfeifer 1993) while Kluge speaks of the Slavic languages in general and Duden of a West Slavic one.^(Kluge 2011|374)^(Duden 7 2020|339) The Slavic word is also [[cs|hranice]] and [[ru|граница|tr=granica]], from [[sla-pro|*granica]], a derivative of [[sla-pro|*granь|t=edge, corner]].^(Wiktionary)^(Kluge 2011|374) Pfeifer and Duden connect that root with [[Granne]] “awn”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|339)

+

+ German passed the word on to [[nl|grens]], [[sv|gräns]] and [[nb|grense]].^(Kluge 2011|374)^(Wiktionary) Kluge thinks it replaced the native [[Mark]] because that word meant a border region rather than a line, and no longer fitted the newer idea of a frontier.^(Kluge 2011|374)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The word was taken over in the lands of the Teutonic Order around the middle of the 13th century: the renewed Kulm charter of 1251 still translates Latin ''termini'' with ''gemerke'', but a Thorn charter of 1262 has ''an unser granizze'' “at our border”.^(DWB|9, 124)^(Köbler MHD) Latin charters of the region used it too, as ''granicia'', from 1283.^(DWB|9, 124)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word was in general use in Upper Saxon by the 14th century and moved west into Low and High German in the 14th and 15th centuries; it appears in a Hanseatic recess of 1437 and reached the West Central German area in the first half of the 16th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|9, 124) Kluge, Wahrig and Pfeifer credit Luther, whose Bible uses only this word, with its acceptance in the standard language.^(Kluge 2011|374)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)^(Pfeifer 1993) By about 1700 it was found everywhere, and older words such as ''Mark'', ''Gemerk'', ''Rain'' and ''Scheide'' became dialectal, changed their meaning or died out.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ From the 16th to the 18th century the plural could mean “territory”, as in ''die Grenzen eines Landes''.^(Paul 2002) From the 18th century the word was used figuratively for a limit or the furthest possibility, often in the plural (''die Grenzen der Tugend'', 1721/22, and Goethe's poem ''Grenzen der Menschheit''); ''grenzenlos'' dates from the first half of the 18th century.^(Paul 2002) The verb [[grenzen]] is recorded from 1336, and around 1900 mathematics and engineering added [[Grenzwert]].^(Paul 2002) The word was borrowed into Hungarian as ''gránic'' (1782).^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1251 – The Kulm charter still uses ''gemerke'' for “boundaries”.^(DWB|9, 124)

+ * 1262 – ''granizze'' in a charter from Thorn.^(DWB|9, 124)^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 1336 – First record of the verb ''grenzen''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 14th century – In general use in Upper Saxon.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1437 – Low German ''grensze'' in a recess of the Hanseatic diet.^(DWB|9, 124)

+ * 16th century – Luther's Bible uses only ''Grenze''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 1700 – Current throughout the German-speaking area.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1721/22 – Figurative ''die Gräntzen der Tugend'' “the limits of virtue”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * c. 1900 – ''Grenzwert'' in mathematics and engineering.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|border]], [[m|en|frontier]] between states: ''Die Grenze zwischen den beiden Ländern verläuft entlang des Flusses.'' ''(colloquial)'' ''über die grüne Grenze gehen'', to cross illegally away from a checkpoint.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|boundary]] between properties or natural areas: ''die Grenze des Gartens''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An imagined dividing line between different areas or things: ''die Grenze zwischen Spiel und Ernst''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|limit]]: ''Ihre Geduld hat Grenzen.''^(Wiktionary)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[begrenzen]]

+ * [[grenzen]]

+ * [[abgrenzen]]

+ * [[ausgrenzen]]

+ * [[eingrenzen]]

+ * [[grenzenlos]]

+ * [[grenzwertig]]

+ * [[Grenzer]]

+ * [[Grenzwert]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Granne]]

+ * [[Mark]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}