offenbar German · revision 35622

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=10th century, Old High German glosses|origins=gem-pro *upanaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɔfn̩baːɐ̯/, /ɔfn̩ˈbaːɐ̯/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''offenbar''' (strong nominative masculine singular offenbarer, comparative offenbarer, superlative am offenbarsten)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|offenbære]], [[inh|goh|offanbāri|t=evident, manifest]], a derivative of [[offen]] in the sense “standing before one's eyes”, in which [[m|goh|-bāri]] served only as a suffix from the start.^(Kluge 2011|666)^(EWA|6, 1134) The same formation is [[gml|ōpenbār]] and [[dum|openbare]].^(Kluge 2011|666)^(EWA|6, 1134) Adelung and the Grimms' dictionary saw the suffix as a mere strengthening of the adjective.^(Adelung 1793)^(DWB|13, 1172)

+

+ The adjective is [[m|goh|offan]], from [[gem-pro|*upanaz|t=open]], formed with an n-suffix and ablaut from the base of [[auf]]; it is also [[non|opinn]], [[ang|open]] and [[osx|opan]].^(Kluge 2011|666)^(Köbler AHD) Pfeifer explains it as perhaps “drawn or lifted up”, hence “open”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''offanbāri'' is found from the 10th century in glosses and in Notker's circle, meaning “evident, visible, public”, for Latin ''manifestus'' and ''evidens''.^(EWA|6, 1134) Middle High German ''offenbære'', ''offenbār'' meant open, opened, clear, visible and public.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|6, 1134)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 18th century ''offenbar'' could still mean simply “open” and “public”: of eyes and mouth in Middle German, of the open sea (''die offenbare See'', still in Schiller and Zelter), and of public inns, notaries and sinners in 15th- and 16th-century texts.^(DWB|13, 1172)^(Adelung 1793)^(Paul 2002) Adelung (1798) knew ''offenbar'' “open” only in ''die offenbare See'' and held the sense “known”, as in Luther's Bible, to be largely obsolete.^(Adelung 1793)

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+ The adverb meant “openly, before everyone” in Luther's Bible (Mark 8:32), while since the 18th century Lessing, Kant and Schiller used it for “clearly, evidently”.^(DWB|13, 1173) In the 20th century it also came to mean “apparently”, as it seems.^(Paul 2002) The verb [[offenbaren]] and the noun [[Offenbarung]] go back to Middle High German; the old sense survives in ''Offenbarungseid'' (1800), the oath by which a debtor declares insolvency.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 10th century – Old High German ''offanbāri'' appears in glosses.^(Kluge 2011|666)^(EWA|6, 1134)

+ * 1478 – A Nuremberg police ordinance speaks of ''offenbar'' inns and cooks, that is, public ones.^(DWB|13, 1172)

+ * 16th century – Luther uses the adverb for “openly”.^(DWB|13, 1173)

+ * 18th century – The adverb means “evidently” in Lessing and Kant.^(DWB|13, 1173)

+ * 1800 – First record of ''Offenbarungseid''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 20th century – The adverb also means “apparently”.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|obvious]], [[m|en|evident]], plain to see: ''eine offenbare Täuschung''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|apparently]], seemingly, as it appears: ''Der Laden ist offenbar schon geschlossen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[offenbaren]]

+ * [[Offenbarung]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[offen]]

+ * [[öffentlich]]

+ * [[en|open]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The word is usually stressed on the first syllable, but it may also be stressed on the second;^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Adelung 1793) Adelung already noted the stress on ''-bar'' in emphatic speech.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Adelung 1793)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}