Datum German · revision 35670

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1259, Latin dating formula in a German charter|origins=la dō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈdaːtʊm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Datum''' ''n'' (genitive Datums, plural Daten)^(Wiktionary)

+ The word long kept Latin endings: the Latin ablative survives in ''dato'', as in ''bis dato'' “until now”, a phrase of the chancery language recorded from 1601.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ Early forms also include ''Data'' and ''Date'' as feminines, after Latin ''data'' and French ''date''.^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|datum|t=given; issued]], the neuter past participle of [[m|la|dō|t=to give]] used as a noun.^(Kluge 2011|182)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The Latin verb also meant “to issue, write out” a document, and since antiquity its participle had opened the clause of a letter or charter that named the place and day of issue.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2014|210)^(DFWB) German charters took over the formula, first in Latin from the 13th century and then followed by a German date, and the participle was gradually detached from it and became an independent noun meaning the date itself.^(Kluge 2011|182)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ The same word is [[nl|datum]] and [[sv|datum]], while [[en|date]] and [[fr|date]] continue the feminine form of the participle.^(Kluge 2011|182)^(DFWB) The Latin verb is related to [[grc|δίδωμι|tr=dídōmi|t=to give]].^(Duden 7 2014|210) German has borrowed several other words of the same family, among them [[Mandat]], [[Tradition]], [[Edition]] and [[Dativ]].^(Kluge 2011|182)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Latin formula is first found in German charters in 1259 (''datum anno domini'' … “given in the year of the Lord …”), and in 1291 it introduces a German date: ''datum Matrei am 2 december''.^(DFWB)^(DWB2|6, 383) The noun ''Datum'', meaning the issue of a document and then its date, follows in the late 13th and 14th centuries;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) Paul finds a plural ''die daten'' with German inflection in 1352.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By the end of the 17th century the Latin formula word had given way to German translations such as ''gegeben'' and ''geschehen'', while the noun lived on.^(DWB2|6, 383) Adelung (1793) knows it only as the day and year written on a document or letter.^(Adelung 1793|1, 1416) In the 16th century it was also used for a person's aim or hope, mostly a worldly one, in the phrase ''sein Datum auf etwas setzen'', common in Luther, Hans Sachs and the proverb collections;^(DWB|2, 828)^(Adelung 1793|1, 1416)^(FWB) Adelung counts it among the lowest registers.^(DWB|2, 828)^(Adelung 1793|1, 1416)^(FWB)

+

+ A second line of use goes back to the Latin noun ''datum'' “something given”: from the 17th and especially the 18th century the language of science used it, mostly in the plural ''Data'', for given quantities in mathematics and then for facts gained from observation.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The German plural ''Daten'' gained ground from the early 19th century and won out in the 20th.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) From the 1950s, after English ''data'', ''Daten'' came to mean information stored and processed by computers, and it formed many compounds: [[Datenverarbeitung]] (1956, after English ''data processing''), [[Datenbank]] (1967, after ''data bank''), [[Datenschutz]] and ''Datei'' (1968, formed on the model of [[Kartei]]).^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2014|210)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1259 – The Latin dating formula ''datum'' appears in a German charter.^(DFWB)^(DWB2|6, 383)

+ * 1291 – ''Datum'' introduces a German date (''datum Matrei am 2 december'').^(DFWB)

+ * 1352 – A plural ''die daten'' with German inflection is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 16th century – The verb ''datieren'' is formed, after French ''dater''.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2014|210)

+ * 1601 – ''bis dato'' “until now” is recorded in the chancery language.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Early 19th century – The German plural ''Daten'' begins to replace ''Data'' for “given facts”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1956 – ''elektronische Datenverarbeitung'' is recorded, after English ''data processing''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|date]]: the day of the calendar, usually with month and year: ''Welches Datum haben wir heute?'' ''Der Brief trägt kein Datum.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A point in time, the date of an event: ''ein wichtiges Datum der Stadtgeschichte''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(chiefly in the plural Daten)'' A given fact or quantity, a [[m|en|datum]]; in the plural, [[m|en|data]], information obtained by measurement or observation and processed by computers.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Duden 7 2014|210)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[datieren]]

+ * [[Daten]]

+ * [[dato]]

+ * [[Datei]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Mandat]]

+ * [[Dativ]]

+ * [[Tradition]]

+ * [[en|date]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural ''Daten'' serves both senses, but in practice it usually means “data”; for calendar dates one often says ''Termine'' or uses the singular.^(Wiktionary)^(Duden 7 2014|210) The Latin form ''datum'' “written, issued” (abbreviated ''dat.'') is found in old letters and charters.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}