Wunsch German · revision 35751

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *wenh₁-}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vʊnʃ/, [vʊnʃ], [vʊntʃ]^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''Wunsch''' ''m'' (genitive Wunsches or Wunschs, plural Wünsche, diminutive Wünschlein n)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|wunsch]], [[inh|goh|wunsc]], [[inh|gem-pro|*wunskaz|t=wish]].^(Kluge 2011|996)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) Kluge and Pfeifer set up a Germanic masculine [[m|gem-pro|*wunska-]] and a feminine [[m|gem-pro|*wunskō]], also in [[non|ósk]], [[ang|wūsc]], [[gml|wunsch]] and [[dum|wonsc]].^(Kluge 2011|996)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Orel 2003) In Old Norse and Old English the /n/ was lost with lengthening of the vowel.^(Pfeifer 1993) [[nl|wens]] has another vowel grade, and [[en|wish]] continues the Old English verb [[m|ang|wȳscan]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|30, 2014)

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+ The verb [[wünschen]] is derived from the noun, although the noun itself seems to rest on a verb formed with the suffix “-sk-”, as in a Sanskrit verb meaning “desires, wishes”.^(Kluge 2011|996)^(Pfeifer 1993) The Grimms' dictionary weighs both possibilities: the noun formed from the verb, or the noun formed from a lost present and the verb from the noun.^(DWB|30, 2014) It belongs to the root [[ine-pro|*wenh₁-|t=to strive for, wish, love]], also in [[la|venus|t=love, charm]] and in German [[gewinnen]], [[Wahn]], [[wohnen]] and [[Wonne]].^(Kluge 2011|996)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|940)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''wunsc'' is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses from 765 and in the Benediktinerregel, meaning “wish, will”.^(Kluge 2011|996)^(Köbler AHD) Schützeichel finds it also in Notker, and in the phrase ''wunsc chindo'' “adoption as children”.^(Schützeichel 2012|400)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old and Middle High German ''wunsch'' meant above all the sum of everything perfect and extraordinary, almost an objective power, and Middle High German personified it as the creator and giver of all perfection and blessing: ''si hât wunsches gewalt'' “she has the power of the Wish”.^(Paul 2002)^(Lexer 1872|3, 997) The subjective sense of striving and longing grew beside it, as in ''nach Wunsch'' and Luther's ''meines hertzen wundsch'' (Romans 10:1).^(Paul 2002) In folk belief wishing had magic power, as in the Grimms' ''Froschkönig'': ''In den alten Zeiten, wo das Wünschen noch geholfen hat''.^(Paul 2002)

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+ From the second half of the 18th century it came to mean the idea of something one longs for personally, with phrases such as ''auf jemandes Wunsch'' and formulas of greeting.^(Paul 2002) The [[Wünschelrute]] “divining rod” is recorded from 1532.^(Paul 2002)

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+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * c. 1150 – Middle High German ''wunsch'' in the ''Speculum ecclesiae''.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 1532 – First record of ''Wünschelrute''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1559 – A soldier to whom Saint Peter grants three wishes: ''drey wünsch''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Second half of the 18th century – The modern sense of a personal wish becomes established.^(Paul 2002)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|wish]] or [[m|en|desire]], something one hopes for rather than works for: ''Ihr größter Wunsch ist eine Reise nach Island.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # That which one wishes, the object of a wish; in the plural, good wishes: ''mit den besten Wünschen''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)^(Adelung 1793)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[wünschen]]

+ * [[Glückwunsch]]

+ * [[Wünschelrute]]

+ * [[Wunschdenken]]

+ * [[Wunschtraum]]

+ * [[Wunschzettel]]

+ * [[Kinderwunsch]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gewinnen]]

+ * [[Wahn]]

+ * [[wohnen]]

+ * [[Wonne]]

+ * [[en|wish]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ein frommer Wunsch'' “a pious wish”, a hope that will hardly come true, renders Latin ''pia desideria'', the title of a book by Hermann Hugo (1588–1639), and is mostly ironic.^(Paul 2002) ''Nach Wunsch'' means “as one wished”.^(Adelung 1793)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}