Winter German · revision 36130

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈvɪntɐ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Winter''' ''m'' (genitive Winters, plural Winter)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|winter]], also [[m|gmh|winder]], [[inh|goh|wintar]], [[inh|gem-pro|*wintruz|t=winter]].^(Kluge 2011|990)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary) Kluge reconstructs [[gem-pro|*went-r-]], probably an r-stem.^(Kluge 2011|990) The same word is [[got|𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃|tr=wintrus]], [[non|vetr]], which also meant “year”, [[ang|winter]], [[ofs|winter]] and [[osx|wintar]].^(Kluge 2011|990)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) In the older Old High German and Old Saxon inflected forms the second vowel is still missing, as in [[m|goh|wintro]] in the Hildebrandslied and [[m|osx|wintro]] in the Heliand.^(DWB|30, 418)

+

+ Its origin is unclear, and none of the proposals is convincing.^(Kluge 2011|990)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Duden 7 2020|936) The Grimms' dictionary, Pfeifer, Wahrig and Duden's dictionary connect it with [[Wasser]], as a nasalised form of the root [[ine-pro|*wed-|t=water, wet]] beside [[la|unda|t=wave]] and [[lt|vanduõ|t=water]], so that winter would be the wet season;^(DWB|30, 418)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)^(Duden GWDS 1999) Kroonen rejects this, since the Latin word goes back to a form without the nasal infix.^(Kroonen 2013) Others compare [[sga|find|t=white]], making it the white season, which Kroonen finds semantically weak.^(Kluge 2011|990)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Mezger linked it with [[goh|winistar|t=left]], from a root meaning “away”, so that winter would be the time turned away from the south;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|936)^(Kluge 2011|990) Kluge does not find this sufficiently supported either.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|936)^(Kluge 2011|990)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''wintar'' is first recorded in glosses of about 765 and is found in the ''Hildebrandslied'', the Benedictine Rule, Tatian, Notker and Williram.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|392) It meant the cold season, and in the older languages also a year counted by its winters.^(Paul 2002)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The old sense “year” was no longer general in Middle High German, but survived in poetry: Johann Christian Günther wrote of someone ''fünfzehn winter'' old.^(Paul 2002) The twin formula ''Sommer und Winter'' stood for the whole year, which the Germanic peoples divided into two halves.^(Paul 2002)^(DWB|30, 418) Poets personified the season and used it for old age and for coldness of feeling: Knigge speaks of the ''winter unsers lebens'' covering our hair with snow.^(Paul 2002) Adelung adds the sense “wintry weather”, as when people say there has been hardly any winter in a mild year.^(Adelung 1793) A [[Wintergarten]] is recorded in 1610.^(Paul 2002) The noun is also a German surname.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * About 765 – First record, in Old High German glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 9th century – ''wintro'' in the ''Hildebrandslied'' and the ''Heliand''.^(DWB|30, 418)

+ * 1610 – ''Wintergarten'' is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|winter]], the coldest season of the year, between autumn and spring: ''Im Winter fahren wir in die Berge.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # The cold weather of this season: ''Dieses Jahr hatten wir kaum Winter.''^(Adelung 1793)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Wintergarten]]

+ * [[überwintern]]

+ * [[winterlich]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Sommer]]

+ * [[en|winter]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Nuklearer Winter'' “nuclear winter” is the possible cooling of the atmosphere after a war fought with nuclear weapons.^(Duden GWDS 1999) The phrase ''Winter wie Sommer'' means all the year round.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}