Tat German · revision 35633

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=765, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *dʰeh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /taːt/, [tʰäːtʰ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Tat''' ''f'' (genitive Tat, plural Taten)^(Wiktionary)

+ The older spelling was ''That''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|tāt]], [[inh|goh|tāt]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*dādi]], [[inh|gem-pro|*dēdiz|t=deed]].^(Kluge 2011|908)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|dād]], [[got|𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃|tr=gadēþs]], [[non|dáð]], [[ang|dǣd]] and [[ofs|dēd]], continued in [[nl|daad]], [[en|deed]] and [[sv|dåd]].^(Kluge 2011|908)^(Pfeifer 1993) It is an abstract noun in [[m|ine-pro|*-tis]] to the verb [[tun]], with a different ablaut grade.^(Kluge 2011|908)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ It continues [[ine-pro|*dʰéh₁tis|t=putting, placing]], from the root [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|t=to put, place, do]].^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993) Close relatives outside Germanic are [[lt|dėtis|alt=dė́tis|t=load, freight]] and [[cu|благодѣть|tr=blagodětĭ|t=grace, benefaction]], and the form with the reduced vowel is continued in [[grc|θέσις|tr=thésis|t=placing; proposition]] and [[la|conditiō|t=founding, creation]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''tāt'' is recorded from 765 in glosses, and is frequent in the Benedictine Rule, the ''Muspilli'', the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker; besides “deed, act” it meant “doing, working”, “event”, “reality” and even “thing, being”.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|329) Old Saxon ''dād'' appears in the ''Heliand''.^(Kluge 2011|908)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As the opposite of ''Wort'' “word”, ''Tat'' “deed” is already Old High German, and Middle High German joined it with [[Rat]] in ''mit Rat und Tat'' “with advice and help”.^(Paul 2002) Two lines of Goethe's ''Faust'' have become proverbial: ''Am Anfang war die Tat'' (“In the beginning was the deed”) and ''Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, / Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn!'' (“Enough words have been exchanged, now let me see deeds at last”).^(Paul 2002) The adverbial ''in der Tat'' “indeed” dates from the 16th century.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ The sense “crime” is old too: the Early New High German dictionary has it, and Maaler (1561) gives ''ein Thaat vertuschen'' “to hush up a deed”; from it come ''auf frischer Tat'' “in the act” (Hans Sachs) and compounds of law such as ''Tatbestand'' and ''Tatverdacht''.^(FWB)^(Paul 2002) ''Täter'' existed only in compounds such as ''übeltæter'' in Middle High German and stands alone from the 15th century.^(Duden 7 2020)^(Pfeifer 1993) ''Tatsache'' was coined in 1756 by the theologian Spalding after English ''matter of fact'', itself a rendering of Latin ''rēs factī''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 765 – Old High German ''tāt'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 15th century – ''Täter'' “perpetrator” is first used as a word of its own.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)

+ * 16th century – First record of ''in der Tat'' “indeed”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1561 – Maaler records the sense “crime”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1756 – Spalding coins ''Tatsache'' after English ''matter of fact''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something someone does or has done, a [[m|en|deed]], an [[m|en|act]]: ''eine mutige Tat'', ''einen Plan in die Tat umsetzen'' “to put a plan into action”, ''ein Mann der Tat'' “a man of action”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An offence, a [[m|en|crime]]: ''Der Angeklagte hat die Tat gestanden.'' ''jemanden auf frischer Tat ertappen'', to catch someone in the act.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''in der Tat'', [[m|en|indeed]], really: ''Das ist in der Tat ein Problem.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Täter]]

+ * [[tätig]]

+ * [[tätlich]]

+ * [[Tatsache]]

+ * [[tatsächlich]]

+ * [[Tatkraft]]

+ * [[Missetat]]

+ * [[Wohltat]]

+ * [[Untat]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tun]]

+ * [[These]]

+ * [[en|deed]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}