Kind German · revision 35746

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German|origins=ine-pro *ǵenh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kɪnt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Kind''' ''n'' (genitive Kindes or Kinds, plural Kinder, diminutive Kindchen n or Kindlein n or Kindelein n or Kinderl n)^(Wiktionary)

+ The plural was originally the same as the singular, as it still is in some dialects;^(Paul 2002) Goethe wrote ''drei arme Kind'' “three poor children”.^(Paul 2002)

+ The Middle High German form ''kint'' was still usual in writing around and after 1500.^(DWB|11, 707)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|kint]], [[inh|goh|kind]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*kind]], [[inh|gem-pro|*kinþą|t=child]].^(Kluge 2011|491)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) Kluge and Pfeifer take [[osx|kind]] and [[ofs|kind]] to be early borrowings from High German.^(Kluge 2011|491)^(Pfeifer 1993) Gothic, Old Norse and Old English used other words for a child: the Grimms point to [[non|barn]] and [[ang|cild]], the ancestor of [[en|child]].^(DWB|11, 707)

+

+ It was originally a participle meaning “born, begotten”, from the root [[ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-|t=to beget, give birth]];^(Kluge 2011|491)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|433)^(Kroonen 2013) Kroonen reconstructs it as [[ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-to-]].^(Kluge 2011|491)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|433)^(Kroonen 2013) The same root is in [[sa|जात|tr=jātá|t=born]], [[la|nātus|t=born]] (older [[m|la|gnātus]]), [[m|la|gignō|t=to beget]], [[m|la|genus|t=descent, kind]] and [[grc|γίγνομαι|tr=gígnomai|t=I am born, become]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|491) Formed from it with other suffixes are [[non|kind|t=race, kin]] and [[ang|cynd|t=nature, kind]], the source of [[en|kind]], and [[König]] belongs to the same family.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|433)

+

+ Kluge notes that the stressed full grade of the root is unexpected; the form one would expect may survive in the rare poetic [[m|non|kundr|t=son, kinsman]].^(Kluge 2011|491) Pfeifer rejects the old idea that the roots for begetting, for knowing and for [[Knie]] “knee” were once one, an idea built on kneeling birth and on the father acknowledging a child by setting it on his knee.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''kind'' is recorded from the 8th century, in the ''Hildebrandslied'', Isidor, the Benedictine Rule, Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and the glosses.^(EWA|5, 515)^(Schützeichel 2012|175) It meant a child, a male child or son, a descendant, but also a young man, a boy, a pupil and the young of an animal.^(EWA|5, 515)^(Köbler AHD)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Middle High German ''kint'' could also mean a youth or a girl, a young noble, a page or a servant.^(Köbler MHD) In Early New High German legal texts it meant an heir or descendant whatever the age, and in religious use a follower of a faith.^(FWB) Paul notes that the word is still used as an affectionate name for grown girls, and in the plural as a familiar form of address; images such as ''Kind Gottes'' and ''Kind des Lichts'' come from the Bible.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ The adjective [[kindisch]] at first only referred to age; its negative sense “childish, silly” developed slowly, and Lessing and the young Goethe still used it neutrally.^(Paul 2002) [[Kinderstube]] first meant a school (15th century), then the children's room, and since the end of the 19th century good manners.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|433) Friedrich Fröbel coined [[Kindergarten]] in 1840 for his school for small children.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) [[Wunderkind]] was taken into English as ''wonder child'' (1896) and into Hebrew.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''kind'' is first recorded.^(EWA|5, 515)^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 15th century – ''Kinderstube'' is first recorded, in the sense “school”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1616 – Henisch records ''das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1691 – Stieler records ''von Kindesbeinen an'' “from childhood”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1840 – Fröbel names his institution ''Kindergarten''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1871 – ''Kinderhort'' is formed after ''Kindergarten''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1896 – English ''wonder child'' after German ''Wunderkind''.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|baby]] or small child, also one not yet born: ''Sie erwartet im Herbst ein Kind.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|child]], a person who has not yet reached [[m|en|puberty]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A son or daughter, someone's [[m|en|offspring]], whatever the age; in compounds also the young of an animal.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A form of address, mostly in the plural: ''Kinder, jetzt wird gegessen!''^(Wiktionary DE)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Kindheit]]

+ * [[kindisch]]

+ * [[kindlich]]

+ * [[Kinderei]]

+ * [[Kindbett]]

+ * [[Kindergarten]]

+ * [[Kinderhort]]

+ * [[Kinderstube]]

+ * [[Kindeskind]]

+ * [[Kindskopf]]

+ * [[Christkind]]

+ * [[Einzelkind]]

+ * [[Stiefkind]]

+ * [[Wunderkind]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[König]]

+ * [[Genus]]

+ * [[en|kind]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten'' “to throw out the baby with the bathwater”, to reject the good together with the bad, is recorded by Henisch in 1616.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999) In compounds the forms ''Kind-'', ''Kinds-'' or ''Kindes-'' and ''Kinder-'' are used;^(Paul 2002) Paul notes that northern German often prefers ''Kinder-'' where southern German has ''Kinds-'', as in ''Kindermädchen'' beside ''Kindsmagd''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}