Alter German · revision 35640

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=late 8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *h₂el-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈaltər/, [ˈʔaltɐ], [ˈʔaltər]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Alter''' ''n'' (genitive Alters, plural Alter)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|alter]], [[inh|goh|altar]], [[inh|gem-pro|*aldrą|t=life, lifetime, age]].^(Kluge 2011|36)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|1, 173) The same word is [[osx|aldar]], [[ang|ealdor]], [[ofs|alder]] and [[non|aldr]], continued in [[sv|ålder]] and [[is|aldur]];^(Kluge 2011|36)^(Kroonen 2013)^(EWA|1, 173) Gothic has it only in the adjective [[got|𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍂𐍃|tr=framaldrs|t=aged]].^(Kluge 2011|36)^(Kroonen 2013)^(EWA|1, 173) Old High German also has a form with grammatical change, [[m|goh|aldar]], in phrases meaning “ever” and “never”.^(EWA|1, 173)

+

+ It is probably a noun with the instrumental suffix [[ine-pro|*-trom]] from the root of the verb [[gem-pro|*alaną|t=to grow, nourish]], parallel to the adjective [[alt]].^(Kluge 2011|36)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Pfeifer 1993) Pfeifer and the EWA reconstruct [[ine-pro|*al-tro-]] from the root [[ine-pro|*h₂el-|t=to grow, nourish]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|1, 173) Outside Germanic, Kluge and Kroonen compare [[sga|altram|t=nurture, fosterage]] and [[m|sga|comaltar|t=joint fosterage]].^(Kluge 2011|36)^(Kroonen 2013) The meaning would then have gone from growing up, the stages of youth, to the stages of life in general, and only later to old age as opposed to youth.^(Kluge 2011|36)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''altar'' is recorded from the end of the 8th century in the glosses, and then in the Benedictine Rule, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “age, lifetime, age of the world, eternity”.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|33)^(EWA|1, 173) Phrases such as ''io in altere'' meant “ever” and ''zi altere'' “for ever”.^(Schützeichel 2012|33)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German ''alter'' meant mankind or the world, an age of the world, olden times, a stage of life, and old age.^(Lexer 1872|1, 44)^(Köbler MHD) Early New High German used it for the stages into which a human life was divided (usually four, or seven after Hippocrates), for old age, for long wear of an object, and for a past epoch.^(FWB)^(Adelung 1793|1, 238) The sense “age of the world, era” has become rare on its own and lives on in compounds such as [[Zeitalter]], [[Mittelalter]] and ''Weltalter'' and in ''von alters her'' “from time immemorial”.^(DWB|1, 268)^(Duden 7 2014|114)^(Pfeifer 1993) Today the word mostly means the number of years someone has lived and old age as the opposite of youth.^(Duden 7 2014|114)^(Kluge 2011|36)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * End of the 8th century – Old High German ''altar'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 830 – Old Saxon ''aldar'' appears in the ''Heliand''.^(EWA|1, 173)

+ * 15th century – The verb ''altern'' “to grow old” appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 1500 – ''Altertum'' “antiquity, ancient times” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * End of the 18th century – ''altertümlich'' “old-fashioned, archaic” appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Old [[m|en|age]]; the last stage of life: ''Im Alter zog sie zu ihrer Tochter.'' ''Alter schützt vor Torheit nicht.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Long existence of a thing: ''Das Papier ist vom Alter vergilbt.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Age, the number of years someone or something has lived or existed; a stage of life: ''Im Alter von zehn Jahren lernte er schwimmen.'' ''Sie ist in meinem Alter.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(chiefly in compounds)'' An [[m|en|epoch]], an age of history: [[Mittelalter]], [[Zeitalter]].^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Altertum]]

+ * [[altern]]

+ * [[altertümlich]]

+ * [[Zeitalter]]

+ * [[Mittelalter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[alt]]

+ * [[Eltern]]

+ * [[Welt]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Related to it is the nominalised adjective ''der Alte'' (indefinite ''ein Alter''): an old man, colloquially a father, husband or boss, and in youth slang the form of address ''Alter!'' “dude, mate”.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE) In medieval chess ''der Alte'' was the bishop, a name that arose from Arabic ''al-fīl'' “the elephant” by association with ''alt''.^(DWB2|2, 585)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}