Baum German · revision 35976

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /baʊ̯m/, [baʊ̯m]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Baum''' ''m'' (genitive Baumes or Baums, plural Bäume, diminutive Bäumchen n or Bäumlein n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|boum]], [[inh|goh|boum]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*baum|t=tree, beam]].^(Kluge 2011|97)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|2, 264) It took the place of the old word for “tree” that survives in [[en|tree]].^(Kluge 2011|97) The same West Germanic word is [[osx|bōm]], [[ang|bēam|t=tree, beam]], [[ofs|bām]] and [[nl|boom]], and English [[m|en|beam]] continues the Old English word.^(Kluge 2011|97)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 264) Beside it stand [[got|𐌱𐌰𐌲𐌼𐍃|tr=bagms]] and [[non|baðmr]], but how these forms are related to the West Germanic one, and so the origin of the word, is disputed and unclear.^(Kluge 2011|97)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 264)

+

+ The traditional explanation, given by Pokorny, starts from [[gem-pro|*bagmaz]] as a “growth” of the root of [[bauen]], [[ine-pro|*bʰew-|t=to grow, become]], and compares [[grc|φῦμα|tr=phûma|t=growth]];^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|97)^(DWB2|4, 327) Kluge finds the sound changes it needs unattested.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|97)^(DWB2|4, 327) Kroonen rejects it because the oldest meaning was “beam” rather than “tree”, and connects the word with [[gem-pro|*bōguz|t=shoulder, upper arm]] (English [[m|en|bough]]), from [[ine-pro|*bʰh₂ǵʰ-mo-]]; in this view an older /g/ became /w/ in West Germanic and /ð/ in Old Norse.^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge considers this source too but sees difficulties in it as well, and Kuiper took the word from a substrate language, a view Pfeifer also allows.^(Kluge 2011|97)^(Pfeifer 1993) Duden calls its further origin unexplained.^(Duden 7 2020|133)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''boum'' is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Köbler AHD) Schützeichel gives the senses “tree, trunk, wood, beam, post” and finds it in the Wessobrunn Prayer, the Muspilli, Tatian, Otfrid and Notker; the EWA adds the beam of the Cross.^(Schützeichel 2012|57)^(EWA|2, 264)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the start the word named both the living tree and a trunk put to some use, as a barrier, a shaft or the beam of a loom, a sense kept in [[Schlagbaum]] (Middle High German ''slahboum''), ''Weberbaum'', ''Mastbaum'' and ''Hebebaum''.^(Duden 7 2020|133)^(Paul 2002) A coffin made of planks was called ''Totenbaum'', and in Swabia and Switzerland ''todabaum'' long named a child's coffin.^(DWB|1, 1188) The umlauted plural ''Bäume'' is already in Luther (''bewme'').^(DWB|1, 1188) [[Baumwolle]] “cotton”, Old High German ''boumwolla'' in a 12th-century manuscript, goes back to Herodotus' report of trees in India that bear wool.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002) The biblical tree of life and tree of knowledge gave fixed phrases, and the French Revolution its ''Freiheitsbaum''.^(FWB)^(Paul 2002) The verb [[bäumen]], now mostly ''sich aufbäumen'', was in Middle High German said of horses rearing;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|133) Duden thinks it was first a hunting word for a bear rising against a tree.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|133) Mathematics and computing use ''Baum'' for a tree graph.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''boum'' appears in glosses.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 12th century – ''boumwolla'' “cotton” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – Luther writes the umlauted plural ''bewme''.^(DWB|1, 1188)

+ * Early 16th century – ''Schlagbaum'' “barrier” is recorded.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 17th century – ''Baumschule'' “tree nursery” appears.^(Duden 7 2020|133)

+ * Late 18th century – ''Freiheitsbaum'' in the French Revolution.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|tree]], a woody plant with a firm [[m|en|trunk]] from which branches grow: ''Vor dem Haus steht ein alter Baum.'' Colloquial ''Bäume ausreißen können'', to feel able to do anything;^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''zwischen Baum und Borke sitzen'', to be in a dilemma.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Short for [[Weihnachtsbaum]], a Christmas tree: ''Wir stellen den Baum erst am Heiligabend auf.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(mathematics, computing)'' A [[m|en|graph]] whose nodes are connected without any closed loop, so that any two are joined by exactly one path.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(nautical)'' A [[m|en|boom]], the horizontal pole at the foot of a sail.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Apfelbaum]]

+ * [[Baumkrone]]

+ * [[Baumkuchen]]

+ * [[Baumschule]]

+ * [[Baumwolle]]

+ * [[baumwollen]]

+ * [[bäumen]]

+ * [[aufbäumen]]

+ * [[Laubbaum]]

+ * [[Nadelbaum]]

+ * [[Schlagbaum]]

+ * [[Stammbaum]]

+ * [[Tannenbaum]]

+ * [[Weihnachtsbaum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|beam]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The phrase ''zwischen Baum und Borke sitzen'' (or ''stecken'') “to be caught between two sides” pictures an axe jammed between the trunk and the bark while a tree is being hewn.^(Duden GWDS 1999) The proverb ''Die Bäume wachsen nicht in den Himmel'' says that every success has its limits.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}