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START / NODE 1128GermanModern German
hetzen
A German weak verb whose modern senses range from driving or hunting quarry, through hurrying, to inciting hostility. The medieval record centers on setting dogs after game and already extends the action to turning people against one another. Comparative sources connect the verb with Old English hettan and Gothic hatjan, but the Old High German bridge and the exact prehistoric formation remain editorially disputed.
“The verb now used for hostile agitation first made hounds pursue quarry. Medieval evidence preserves the physical chase; Early New High German evidence shows the same action transferred to setting people against people.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Germanhetzen
hunt or drive; hurry; incite or stir hostility
↑GO DEEPER
Early New High German · Early New High Germanhetzen / hessen / hittzenhunt with dogs; drive; set people against one another
- SOUND CHANGE
- Regional Early New High German spellings converge on standard hetzen; inflection and pronunciation continue to develop while the lexical stem remains recognizable.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The inherited chase and incitement senses continue, while reflexive and intransitive hurry uses become prominent in modern German.
- SCHOLAR
- Dudenredaktion · Oskar Reichmann et al.
- CONFIDENCE
- established — Modern and Early New High German dictionaries document overlapping action senses without requiring a new lexical origin.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Early New High German into standardized Modern German.
2 CITATIONShetzen — Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, HerkunftMeaning groups 1–3 and Herkunft Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch — hetzenSense groups 1–3 and cited Early New High German records AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 1119 ↗
Documents modern chase, hurry, and hostile-incitement senses under one weak verb.
ORIGINAL ↗Documents historical hunting, pursuit, provocation, and incitement uses.
ORIGINAL ↗THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
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