Farbe German · revision 36150

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfarbə/, [ˈfaʁbə], [ˈfaɐ̯bə]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Farbe''' ''f'' (genitive Farbe, plural Farben)^(Wiktionary)

+ Forms with ''b'' appear from the 14th century, become more frequent in the 15th and prevail in the 16th; the short form ''var'' is rare and not found after Middle High German.^(DWB2|9, 136)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|varwe]], [[inh|goh|farawa]], [[inh|gem-pro|*farwō]].^(Kluge 2011|277)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA|3, 62) The same word is [[gml|varwe]], [[dum|varwe]] and [[nl|verf|t=paint]]; the Scandinavian words such as [[sv|färg]] were borrowed from Middle Low German.^(EWA|3, 62) The Speyer fragment of the Gothic Bible has the dative [[got|𐍆𐌰𐍂𐍅𐌰|tr=farwa|t=form, appearance]].^(Kluge 2011|277)^(EWA|3, 62)

+

+ Pfeifer, the revised Grimm and Kroonen take the noun as the feminine of an adjective [[goh|faro|t=coloured]], built with a w-suffix, common in colour words, on the root [[ine-pro|*perḱ-|t=spotted, speckled]], as in [[grc|περκνός|tr=perknós|t=dark-spotted]] and [[sa|पृश्नि|tr=pṛ́śni|t=spotted]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB2|9, 136)^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge instead starts from the Gothic sense “shape” and derives it from a root meaning “to make, shape”, that of [[la|corpus]] (see [[Körper]]); the sense “colour” would then have arisen in compounds such as [[m|goh|rōsenfaro|t=having the look of roses]].^(Kluge 2011|277)^(Duden 7 2020|256) Must instead proposed a borrowing of [[ar|فرو|tr=farw|t=fur, coloured furs]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''far(a)wa'' is first recorded in an 8th-century gloss, and then in Isidor, the Monsee fragments, Otfrid and Notker, meaning colour, appearance, shape, rendering Latin ''color'', ''facies'', ''forma'' and ''tinctura''.^(DWB2|9, 136)^(EWA|3, 62)^(Schützeichel 2012|97) Notker (before 1022) writes of the morning star shining ''in scônero fareuuo'' “in fair colour”.^(DWB2|9, 136)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Already in Old High German the word could mean the colour of the face.^(Paul 2002) In Middle High German it is clearly the visible colour of things, as in ''diu heide ist manger varwe rîch'' “the heath is rich in many colours”.^(DWB2|9, 136) The sense “dye, paint” comes from the colouring substance; the 15th-century Templars' rule speaks of the colours of their dress.^(DWB2|9, 136)

+

+ From the plural of national colours (''Staatsfarben'' in Adelung) came, in the mid-19th century, the colours of a political party, and earlier those of a student fraternity.^(Paul 2002) The card-game sense is behind ''Farbe bekennen'' “to show one's true colours”, literally “to follow suit”.^(Duden 7 2020|256) Goethe's ''Farbenlehre'' (1810) distinguished many kinds of colours.^(Paul 2002) The word was borrowed into Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Hungarian, Ukrainian and other languages as ''farba''.^(Wiktionary)^(DWB|3, 1321)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''farouua'' in a gloss.^(DWB2|9, 136)

+ * Before 1022 – Notker uses ''fareuua''.^(DWB2|9, 136)

+ * 9th century – The verb ''far(a)wen'' “to colour” appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 14th century – Forms with ''b'' appear.^(DWB2|9, 136)

+ * 16th century – ''farbig'' is first recorded; forms with ''b'' prevail.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB2|9, 136)

+ * Mid-19th century – ''Farben'' stands for a political party.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|colour]], the appearance of things that depends on how they reflect light: ''Rot ist ihre Lieblingsfarbe.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # [[m|en|paint]], [[m|en|dye]], a colouring substance: ''Die Farbe an der Tür ist noch nicht trocken.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' The colours of a country, club or party, as its symbol: ''die Farben seines Vereins vertreten''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A [[m|en|suit]] in a game of cards.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' A tincture.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[färben]]

+ * [[farbig]]

+ * [[farblich]]

+ * [[farblos]]

+ * [[Färber]]

+ * [[Schönfärberei]]

+ * [[Farbstoff]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Forelle]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Farbe bekennen'' (colloquial), “to declare one's real opinion”, comes from card games, where it means to play a card of the suit called for.^(Duden 7 2020|256) Of the face, ''die Farbe wechseln'' is to go pale and then red.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}