Verfahren German · revision 35612

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1701|origins=ine-pro *per-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * [fɛɐ̯ˈfaːʁən]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Verfahren''' ''n'' (genitive Verfahrens, plural Verfahren)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the infinitive of [[verfahren]] “to proceed, deal with” used as a noun, and took the place of the older [[Verfahrung]] (16th century).^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|25, 291)^(Duden 7 2020|897) Middle High German already had a noun [[m|gmh|vervarn]], but only in the sense “going astray”.^(DWB|25, 291)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ The verb is [[m|gmh|vervarn]], [[goh|firfaran]], [[gem-pro|*frafaraną]], formed with the prefix [[ver-]] on [[fahren]].^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993) The same formation is [[osx|farfaran]], [[gml|vorvāren]], [[dum|vervāren]] and [[ang|forfaran]].^(Pfeifer 1993) It first meant “to pass by, go away, perish, die” and “to go the wrong way”.^(Duden 7 2020|897)^(Pfeifer 1993) The sense “to proceed, act in a certain way” appeared first in Middle Low German legal language, transferred from the spatial sense “to go forward”, as with [[vorgehen]].^(Kluge 2011|951)^(Duden 7 2020|897) Köbler traces [[m|goh|faran]] to the root [[ine-pro|*per-|t=to lead across]].^(Köbler AHD)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The noun is first recorded in 1701, in a collection of documents of the Holy Roman Empire, of a ''solcherlei Verfahren'' that ought to be stopped: the way someone proceeds.^(DWB|25, 291)^(Paul 2002) Pfeifer dates both the general sense “way of carrying something out” and the legal sense to about 1700.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 18th century ''Verfahren'' is common in the sense of conduct or way of acting, in Lessing, Herder and Goethe.^(DWB|25, 291) Paul finds the legal sense “proceedings in a court” in Wieland.^(Paul 2002) In modern German it is above all a method or process in technology and science, and in law the series of steps by which a case is dealt with.^(Duden GWDS 1999) The participle ''verfahren'' “muddled, hopeless”, as in ''eine verfahrene Lage'', is a separate development of the 19th century from the sense “to lose one's way”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|897)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 9th century – Old High German ''firfaran'' “to go away, perish” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – ''verfahren'' takes on the sense “to proceed, act”, and the noun ''Verfahrung'' appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1701 – First record of the noun ''Verfahren''.^(DWB|25, 291)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 18th century – Wieland uses it of court proceedings.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|procedure]], [[m|en|method]] or [[m|en|process]]: the way something is carried out: ''ein neues Verfahren zur Reinigung von Abwasser''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(law)'' [[m|en|proceedings]]: the series of legal acts by which a case is dealt with: ''Gegen den Bürgermeister wurde ein Verfahren eröffnet.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Gerichtsverfahren]]

+ * [[Strafverfahren]]

+ * [[Ermittlungsverfahren]]

+ * [[Asylverfahren]]

+ * [[Verfahrenstechnik]]

+ * [[Verfahrensweise]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[verfahren]]

+ * [[fahren]]

+ * [[vorgehen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}