Hintergrund German · revision 35860

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1775, Adelung}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * [ˈhɪntɐˌɡʁʊnt]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Hintergrund''' ''m'' (genitive Hintergrundes or Hintergrunds, plural Hintergründe)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|de|hinter|Grund|t1=behind, rear|t2=ground]], first used in the later 18th century of painting and the stage.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary DE)^(Paul 2002) Wiktionary suggests that English [[m|en|background]] may have played a part.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The first part is [[gmh|hinder]], [[goh|hintar]], [[gem-pro|*hinder|t=behind]], also found in [[got|𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍂|tr=hindar]] and [[ang|hinder]].^(Kluge 2011|417)^(Pfeifer 1993) Kluge takes it to be the accusative neuter of an old comparative or contrastive formation in [[ine-pro|*-tero-]], with the superlatives [[got|𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃|tr=hindumists|t=hindmost, last]] and [[ang|hindema]] beside it, built on a pronominal stem.^(Kluge 2011|417)^(EWA|4, 1045) The second part is [[gmh|grunt]], [[goh|grunt]], [[gem-pro|*grunduz|t=ground, bottom]], as in [[got|𐌲𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌿𐍃|tr=grunduwaddjus|t=foundation wall]], [[non|grunnr]] and [[ang|grund]].^(Kluge 2011|378) Kluge regards its further origin as unexplained, while Duden connects it with a root meaning “to grind”.^(Kluge 2011|378)^(Duden 7 2020|343)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Adelung's dictionary (1775) records ''Hintergrund'' as the rear part of a painting, on which everything is painted while the figures must seem to stand apart from it, and as the back of a stage, in contrast to the [[Vordergrund]].^(Adelung 1793)^(Paul 2002) The Grimms' dictionary quotes Schiller's stage direction “in the middle of the background a large glass door” from ''Fiesko''.^(DWB|10, 1503)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the stage the word passed into ordinary speech in fixed phrases such as ''in den Hintergrund treten'' “to recede into the background” and ''etwas in den Hintergrund stellen''.^(DWB|10, 1503) Goethe wrote that the ancient languages had been pushed ''in den Hintergrund'', and Schiller's Don Karlos asks who knows what slumbers ''in der Zeiten Hintergrunde'' “in the background of the times”.^(DWB|10, 1503)^(Paul 2002)

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+ In the 20th century it came to mean the basic but less prominent circumstances of something, both in the singular, as the background of a novel, and in the plural, as ''politische Hintergründe''.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) The adjective [[hintergründig]] “of hidden meaning, hard to see through” appears around 1920 and spread from the middle of the century.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) Modern German has many compounds, among them [[Migrationshintergrund]] “migrant background”.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – The Old High German superlative ''hintarōsto'' is recorded; the preposition ''hintar'' follows in the 9th century.^(Kluge 2011|417)

+ * 1775 – Adelung records ''Hintergrund'' in painting and of the stage.^(Paul 2002)^(Adelung 1793)

+ * Later 18th century – The word passes into ordinary speech in phrases such as ''in den Hintergrund treten''.^(DWB|10, 1503)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 20th century – First use for the circumstances behind an event, often in the plural.^(Paul 2002)

+ * c. 1920 – First record of the adjective ''hintergründig''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|background]], the rear part of a field of view, of a picture or of a stage, against which things stand out: ''Im Hintergrund des Fotos sieht man die Berge.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In phrases: ''in den Hintergrund treten'' or ''geraten'', to lose importance;^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''jemanden in den Hintergrund drängen'', to push someone aside;^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''im Hintergrund bleiben'', to stay out of the public eye.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Something that accompanies what one perceives at its edge: ''der akustische Hintergrund'', the background noise.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # The less obvious [[m|en|circumstance|alt=circumstances]] and conditions of an event or situation; its [[m|en|context]]: ''Der Film hat einen historischen Hintergrund.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Hidden connections that explain something, mostly in the plural: ''die Hintergründe des Anschlags''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A person's training, experience or origins: ''ein solider wissenschaftlicher Hintergrund''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hintergründig]]

+ * [[Hintergrundgeräusch]]

+ * [[Hintergrundstrahlung]]

+ * [[Migrationshintergrund]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hinter]]

+ * [[Grund]]

+ * [[Vordergrund]]

+ * [[Hintern]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}