Herbst German · revision 35551

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=3rd quarter of the 8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *kerp-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /hɛʁpst/, [hɛʁpst], [hɛɐ̯pst]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Herbst''' ''m'' (genitive Herbstes or Herbsts, plural Herbste)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|herbest]], [[inh|goh|herbist]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*harbist]], [[inh|gem-pro|*harbistaz|t=harvest; autumn]], which probably first meant “harvest”.^(Kluge 2011|411)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|4, 964) The same word is [[osx|herƀist]], [[ofs|herfst]] and [[ang|hærfest]], the source of [[en|harvest]]; [[non|haust]] and [[sv|höst]] go back to a variant with another suffix vowel according to Pfeifer and the EWA.^(Kluge 2011|411)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|4, 964) Kroonen instead explains the Norse form as a distortion after the middle vowel was lost, and derives the noun from a verb [[gem-pro|*harbijaną|t=to pluck]].^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Kluge connects it with [[ine-pro|*kerp-|t=to harvest, pluck]] in [[la|carpō|t=to pluck]], [[grc|καρπίζομαι|tr=karpízomai|t=to reap]] beside [[m|grc|καρπός|tr=karpós|t=fruit]], and [[lt|kirpti|alt=kir̃pti|t=to cut]], and in words for “sickle”: [[sga|corrán]], [[ru|черп|tr=čerp]] and [[m|grc|κρώπιον|tr=krṓpion]].^(Kluge 2011|411) Kroonen adds [[hit|karpiyezi|t=to lift, pluck]].^(Kroonen 2013) Pfeifer also cites [[sa|कृपाण|tr=kṛpāṇa|t=sword]] and [[cu|чрьпати|tr=črĭpati|t=to scoop]], and takes the root as an extension of [[ine-pro|*(s)ker-|t=to cut]], as in [[scheren]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|367)

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+ Pfeifer and Duden explain the ending as the suffix of belonging also in [[Dienst]] and [[Ernst]], so that the word meant “time of fruits” or “time of plucking”; alternatively it may be a superlative used as a noun, [[m|ine-pro|*karpistos-]] “the time best for plucking”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|367)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''herbist'' is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, and in Notker, meaning “autumn, harvest time”.^(Köbler AHD)^(EWA|4, 964) A vocabulary lists it among the four seasons, ''lenzin sumar herpist uuintar'' for Latin ''ver aestas autumnus hiemis''.^(AWB|4, 966)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Paul takes the gathering of the crops as the first sense; in wine regions the word still means the grape harvest, measured as ''Vollherbst'' or ''Dreiviertelherbst''.^(Paul 2002) It then named the season of that work, roughly September and October, sometimes November, and finally the astronomical season between [[Sommer]] and [[Winter]].^(Paul 2002) In popular reckoning these months themselves were called ''der erst herbst'', ''der ander herbst'' and so on.^(DWB|10, 1066) In Early New High German the autumn was also the date on which dues and interest fell due and courts sat.^(FWB)

+

+ Figuratively, ''der Herbst des Lebens'' is old age, as in Lessing.^(Paul 2002) Derivatives include ''herbsten'' “to gather the grapes” (Middle High German ''herbesten''), [[herbstlich]] (16th century) and ''Herbstling'', which in the 17th century meant an autumn apple or an animal born in autumn, and in the 18th century came to mean a mushroom.^(Duden 7 2020|367)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German ''herbist'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 1270 – Middle High German ''herbest'' appears in documents.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 1281 – A Bavarian document is dated ''in dem herpst''.^(Lexer 1872|1, 1253)

+ * 1495 – ''herbst'' is recorded in the sense “harvest, vintage”.^(Lexer 1872|1, 1253)

+ * 16th century – First record of ''herbstlich''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|367)

+ * 18th century – ''Herbstling'' comes to mean a mushroom.^(Duden 7 2020|367)

+ * 1977 – The terrorist crisis gives rise to the phrase ''der Deutsche Herbst''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|autumn]], [[m|en|fall]]: the season between summer and winter, the time of harvest and of falling leaves: ''Im Herbst fahren wir an den Bodensee.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(regional)'' The grape [[m|en|harvest]] or the fruit harvest: ''Die Winzer sind mitten im Herbst.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[herbstlich]]

+ * [[herbsten]]

+ * [[Herbstzeitlose]]

+ * [[Herbstmonat]]

+ * [[Herbstling]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scheren]]

+ * [[en|harvest]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ein heißer Herbst'' is an autumn of political conflict after a quiet summer, and ''der Deutsche Herbst'' refers to the autumn of 1977.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Der Herbst des Lebens'' is a poetic phrase for old age.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}