Fehler German · revision 35775

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1470|origins=la fallō}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfeːlɐ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Fehler''' ''m'' (genitive Fehlers, plural Fehler)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a noun formed in the 16th century [[af|de|fehlen|-er|t1=to miss, fail]]; it has the shape of an agent noun, but names the action, and was first used of a shot that misses its mark.^(Kluge 2011|284)^(Pfeifer 1993) The verb is [[gmh|vælen]], borrowed in the 13th century from [[fro|faillir|t=to miss, be mistaken]], which goes back to [[la|fallō|t=to deceive]].^(Kluge 2011|284)^(Duden 7 2020|261)^(Paul 2002) In Middle High German it was a word of the tournament, used when the lance missed its target, and it soon also meant to be wrong, to fail and to be lacking, as the French verb did.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|261) The same French verb gave [[nl|falen]] and [[en|fail]], and its noun gave [[m|en|fault]] and [[fr|faute]].^(Kluge 2011|284)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The oldest uses are in the phrase ''einen Fehler schießen'' “to shoot a miss”, from shooting with the bow and not hitting: the preacher Geiler von Kaysersberg says of foolish people that they have shot a miss, and the Grimms' dictionary takes the word from this phrase.^(DWB|3, 1427) The revised Grimm dictionary has a Swiss record of 1470 for an offence against a rule, in Frickart's account of the dispute over the Bernese lords' rights.^(DWB2|9, 251) The Duden dictionary dates the first sense, “a shot that missed”, to about 1500.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Beside the missed shot, the word early named a blank in a lottery, the opposite of ''Treffer'' “hit, winning ticket”, a use still found in Gellert and Goethe.^(DWB|3, 1427) From the 16th century on it meant a wrong act or an offence against a rule, and in the 17th century a moral fault, as in a 1639 instruction that a son or daughter who commits a punishable ''Fehler'' should be strictly punished.^(DWB2|9, 251) The Grimms also list bodily defects, mistakes in reading, writing, counting and printing, as in the compounds [[Druckfehler]] and [[Rechenfehler]], flaws in a wall and faults of the mind and character.^(DWB|3, 1427) Today the word covers anything that departs from what is right, a wrong decision, and a bad quality or a flaw in a manufactured article.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ The word passed into some neighbouring languages: Slovene has ''faler'' and ''falinga'', and the Polish dialect of Cieszyn ''feler''.^(LWP)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – The verb ''vælen'', the base of the noun, is borrowed from Old French.^(Kluge 2011|284)

+ * 1470 – A Swiss record uses ''faͤler'' for an offence against a rule.^(DWB2|9, 251)

+ * About 1500 – First use in the sense “a shot that missed”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ * 16th century – Kluge dates the noun to this century.^(Kluge 2011|284)

+ * 1669 – Grimmelshausen's ''Simplicissimus'' speaks of the ''Fehler'' a man commits against God.^(DWB2|9, 251)

+ * 1782 – Adelung calls a Low German plural in ''-s'' a ''Fehler'' in High German.^(DWB2|9, 251)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something that is [[m|en|wrong]] or departs from what is correct; a [[m|en|mistake]] or [[m|en|error]]: ''Im Brief standen drei Fehler.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(sports)'' A [[m|en|fault]] or foul, as given by the referee.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A wrong decision or step; a [[m|en|blunder]]: ''Es war ein Fehler, so früh abzureisen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A bad quality or failing in a person, a [[m|en|defect]]: ''Sein größter Fehler ist die Ungeduld.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A [[m|en|flaw]] in a manufactured article: ''Diese Tassen haben kleine Fehler und sind billiger.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Druckfehler]]

+ * [[Rechenfehler]]

+ * [[Schreibfehler]]

+ * [[fehlerhaft]]

+ * [[fehlerlos]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fehlen]]

+ * [[Fehl]]

+ * [[verfehlen]]

+ * [[falsch]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}