sinken German · revision 35620

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=gem-pro *sinkwaną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈzɪŋkən/, [ˈzɪŋkŋ̍]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sinken''' (class 3 strong, third-person singular present sinkt, past tense sank, past participle gesunken, past subjunctive sänke, auxiliary sein)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|sinken]], [[inh|goh|sinkan]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*sinkwan]], [[inh|gem-pro|*sinkwaną|t=to sink]], a strong verb.^(Kluge 2011|850)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|7, 1255) The same verb is [[got|𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐌵𐌰𐌽|tr=sigqan]], [[non|søkkva]], [[ang|sincan]], [[ofs|sinka]] and [[osx|sinkan]], continued in [[nl|zinken]], [[en|sink]] and [[sv|sjunka]].^(Kluge 2011|850)^(Pfeifer 1993) Its causative is [[senken]].^(Duden 7 2020|784)

+

+ There is no certain comparison outside Germanic.^(Kluge 2011|850)^(Duden GWDS 1999) Kluge, Pfeifer and Duden consider [[xcl|անկանիմ|tr=ankanim|t=I fall]] and [[grc|ἑάφθη|tr=heáphthē|t=fell, sank]] in Homer, both ambiguous in form and uncertain in meaning, and Kluge adds [[lt|sèkti|t=to sink, fall, run dry]] as a possible variant.^(Kluge 2011|850)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|784) On this basis Pfeifer sets up a root [[ine-pro|*sengʷ-|t=to fall, sink]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''sinkan'' is recorded from the end of the 8th century in glosses, then in the Tatian and in Notker, meaning to sink or settle, for Latin ''mergere'', ''sidere'' and ''submergere''.^(EWA|7, 1255)^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|282) A gloss uses it of a ship's crowd going down in the water.^(AWB|8, 688)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Middle High German ''sinken'' meant to sink, go under and disappear, and in mining it was also used transitively, to drive a shaft downward.^(EWA|7, 1255)^(Lexer 1872) Early on the verb was used for tired bodies (''vor slafe sunken si aber hin'', 14th century), and Luther's Psalms let warriors' hands sink.^(Paul 2002) Later it was used of falling leaves, of fire that sinks to embers, of mercury in a thermometer, and figuratively of cities sinking into the dust in Schiller.^(Paul 2002) From the falling of levels comes the modern use for prices, values and numbers.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ The prefixed [[versinken]], [[goh|firsinkan]] (about 900), was already used figuratively in Middle High German for becoming absorbed in something.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|784) The old plural preterite long survived in New High German and produced a singular ''sunk'', which replaced ''sank'' in several dialects;^(DWB|16, 1097)^(Adelung 1793) Adelung (1798) still noted ''ich sunk'' in common speech.^(DWB|16, 1097)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 8th century – Old High German ''sinkan'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)^(EWA|7, 1255)

+ * c. 900 – First record of ''firsinkan'' “to go under”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 1200–1210 – Middle High German ''sinken'' in Wolfram's ''Parzival''.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 14th century – Used of sinking down from sleep.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1798 – Adelung records the colloquial preterite ''ich sunk''.^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|sink]], move slowly downward: ''Der Ballon sinkt langsam.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To come down to a place by sinking: ''Die Blätter sinken zu Boden.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Of a ship: to go to the bottom, [[m|en|founder]]: ''Das Frachtschiff sank in einem Sturm.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To sink into soft ground: ''im Schlamm sinken''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # To fall or drop slowly from an upright position, to slump: ''Erschöpft sank sie auf das Sofa.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Of water levels: to go down, [[m|en|fall]]: ''Der Fluss ist um einen Meter gesunken.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Of prices, values, numbers: to fall, drop, [[m|en|decline]]: ''Die Temperaturen sinken unter null.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[versinken]]

+ * [[Senke]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sinkend]]

+ * [[Sinkflug]]

+ * [[senken]]

+ * [[sacken]]

+ * [[seicht]]

+ * [[en|sink]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Den Kopf sinken lassen'' and ''die Hände sinken lassen'' (“to let one's hands drop”, to give up) are old phrases: Adelung lists both.^(Adelung 1793)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}