Roman German · revision 35644

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1641, Harsdörffer|origins=la Rōma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʁoˈmaːn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Roman''' ''m'' (genitive Romanes or Romans, plural Romane)^(Wiktionary)

+ The plural was at first ''Romans'' (1642, Moscherosch) or ''Romainen'' and ''Romanen'' (1682); ''Romane'' is found from 1691 and has been the only form since the early 19th century.^(Paul 2002)^(DFWB)

+ Early variants of the singular are ''Romain'', ''Romayn'' and ''Romän''.^(DFWB)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|roman|t=novel]], from [[fro|romanz]], [[m|fro|romant|t=a story in the vernacular]], borrowed in the first half of the 17th century.^(Kluge 2011|772)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The Old French word first named a text written in the Romance vernacular rather than in Latin, usually a narrative translated or adapted from a Latin original, and it goes back to [[la-vul|*rōmānicē|t=in the Roman manner, in the vernacular]], an adverb formed from [[la|Rōmānicus|t=Roman]], itself from [[m|la|Rōma|t=Rome]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB)^(Duden 7 2020|700) Kluge starts instead from the early Romance adjective [[m|la-vul|*rōmānicus]].^(Kluge 2011|772) Pfeifer notes that the adverb may also have been formed directly from [[m|la|Rōmānus|t=Roman, Latin]], which was the usual word for the language.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ The same loan is [[nl|roman]] and [[sv|roman]].^(Kluge 2011|772) The medieval German adapters of French romances did not take the word over; the German prose romances of the 15th and 16th centuries called themselves [[Historie]].^(DWB|14, 1152)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Harsdörffer in 1641 is the first to use the word, glossing French ''Les Romans'' as love stories written in unbound speech, without the law of rhyme.^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002) A year later Moscherosch complains that a lackey would sooner hold Ovid or ''die Romans'' in his hand than a prayer book.^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first the word named the fashionable, intricate adventure and love stories in prose, often translated from French, as distinct from the old chapbooks.^(Paul 2002)^(DWB|14, 1152) Since many were of poor quality, ''Roman'' acquired a pejorative tone, and Gottsched gives the novel only one of the lowest places among the kinds of poetry.^(Paul 2002) In the 18th century it was gradually recognised as a demanding art form able to portray the newly discovered individuality of the middle class, with Blankenburg's ''Versuch über den Roman'' (1774) as a milestone.^(Paul 2002) Kluge dates the modern sense, a long work of prose fiction, to the 17th century.^(Kluge 2011|772) Many compounds name its kinds: [[Briefroman]], [[Bildungsroman]], [[Schlüsselroman]], [[Entwicklungsroman]].^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Colloquially ''Roman'' also means an overlong account, and a life full of incident can be ''der reinste Roman''.^(Duden GWDS 1999) The derivative ''Romancier'' “novelist” was taken from French in the second half of the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993) The word passed into Hungarian as [[m|hu|román]] “novel”, recorded from 1753.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1641 – Harsdörffer uses ''Les Romans'' and explains it in German.^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1642 – Moscherosch writes the plural ''Romans''.^(Paul 2002)^(DFWB)

+ * 1691 – Stieler's dictionary records ''Roman'', with the plural ''Romane''.^(DWB|14, 1152)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1774 – Blankenburg's ''Versuch über den Roman'' helps establish the genre as an art form.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 2nd half of the 18th century – ''Romancier'' is borrowed from French.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * Early 19th century – ''Romane'' becomes the only plural.^(Paul 2002)^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(without plural)'' The [[m|en|novel]] as a literary genre, long [[m|en|fiction]] in prose that tells the fate of one or more people: ''der Roman des Realismus''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A novel, a single work of this genre: ''Sie liest gerade einen historischen Roman, der in Venedig spielt.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' An overlong, detailed account: ''Statt einer kurzen Antwort schrieb er mir einen ganzen Roman.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Romancier]]

+ * [[Bildungsroman]]

+ * [[Briefroman]]

+ * [[Kriminalroman]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[romanisch]]

+ * [[Romanze]]

+ * [[romantisch]]

+ * [[Rom]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Roman'' with the stress on the first syllable is a male given name, from Latin ''Rōmānus''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}