Grad German · revision 35967

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1000, Notker|origins=la gradior}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɡʁaːt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Grad''' ''m'' (genitive Grades or Grads, plural Grade or Grad)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|grāt]], [[inh|goh|grād|t=step, rank]], [[bor|la|gradus|t=step, stage, degree, rank]], borrowed about 1000, a noun of [[m|la|gradior|t=to step, walk]].^(Kluge 2011|369)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The Latin verb goes back to [[ine-pro|*gʰredʰ-|t=to step]].^(Köbler AHD) Until the 18th century the word was sometimes used with Latin endings, especially in technical language.^(DFWB) Kluge names the academic degree as the first sense taken over, but Pfeifer, Paul and the DFWB show “step, stair” and “rank” first, the academic sense only from the 15th or 17th century.^(Kluge 2011|369)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)^(DFWB) The same word is [[nl|graad]], [[en|grade]], [[fr|grade]] and [[sv|grad]].^(Kluge 2011|369)

+

+ Besides the usual plural, Middle High German also had umlauted plurals such as [[m|gmh|græte]], which are often hard to tell from those of [[m|gmh|grēde|t=stairs]].^(DWB|8, 1660)^(FWB)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Notker (about 1000) uses ''grād'' in the sense “rank”.^(Schützeichel 2012|131)^(Köbler AHD) A text of 1022 renders the fifteen steps up to the Temple, Latin ''quindecim gradibus'', as ''fivnfzehen graten''.^(DFWB) Köbler gives the Old High German senses as “degree, step, rank, stair”.^(Köbler AHD)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The concrete sense “step, stair” lasted until the early 17th century, now and then into the 18th, in phrases such as the lowest step of the altar.^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002) As a measure and a rank of things the word is found from Middle High German on.^(Pfeifer 1993) It came to mean the 360th part of a circle in the 14th century according to Paul, the 16th according to Pfeifer, and was applied to the earth's circles of latitude and longitude by 1567.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Paul dates the degree of kinship to 1410 and the academic degree to 1416, while Pfeifer puts the latter in the 17th century;^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Goethe's Faust speaks of ''ein Mann von vielen Graden''.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)

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+ From the 16th century it was used as a quantity of abstract things, as in ''Grad der Wahrscheinlichkeit'', and since the 18th century in the phrase ''in hohem Grade'' “to a high degree”.^(Paul 2002) In mathematics it meant the power of an equation from 1694, in physics a degree of temperature from the early 19th century, and in printing the size of type from 1884.^(Paul 2002) The Latin phrase ''Gradus ad Parnassum'', after the title of Paul Aler's book of 1683, has been used since the mid-18th century.^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – Notker uses Old High German ''grād'' “rank”.^(Schützeichel 2012|131)

+ * 14th century – First record of the sense “360th part of a circle”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1410 – ''Grad'' is used for the degree of kinship.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1416 – First record of the academic degree.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1567 – ''Grad'' is applied to latitude and longitude.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1694 – ''Grad'' means the power of an equation.^(Paul 2002)

+ * Early 19th century – First record as a unit of temperature.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1884 – Printers use ''Grad'' for ''Schriftgrad''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|degree]] or measure of how strongly a quality or state is present; extent: ''ein hoher Grad an Genauigkeit'';^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''Verwandte zweiten Grades'';^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''in hohem Grade'', extremely.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|rank]]: ''den akademischen Grad eines Magisters erwerben''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' The highest [[m|en|power]] of the unknown in an equation: ''eine Gleichung dritten Grades''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A unit on an evenly divided scale, especially of [[m|en|temperature]]: ''Das Wasser im See hat nur 18 Grad.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A unit of plane [[m|en|angle]], the 90th part of a right angle: ''ein Winkel von 45 Grad''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(geography, astronomy)'' A degree of [[m|en|latitude]] or longitude: ''Die Stadt liegt auf dem achtundvierzigsten Grad nördlicher Breite.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[graduell]]

+ * [[gradieren]]

+ * [[graduieren]]

+ * [[Gradmesser]]

+ * [[hochgradig]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[degradieren]]

+ * [[Aggression]]

+ * [[Kongress]]

+ * [[progressiv]]

+ * [[la|gradus]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ After a number the plural is usually uninflected (''30 Grad''), as with other units of measure.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(DWB|8, 1660) ''Sich um hundertachtzig Grad drehen'' is to change to the opposite point of view.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}