10

Context

It seems there are two main meanings for the verb kehren. Wiktionary lists two separate etymologies (from two or three separate Old High German ancestor words that look very similar):

  1. to sweep
  2. to turn

Question

Do native speakers consider these two meanings to be connected or related somehow? If so, how?

Or is this considered to be a verb which coincidentally has two wholly separate, unrelated meanings that have (one way or another) converged on a single word in the present day?

Note

Note that I'm not asking so much about historical etymological details, rather whether present-day native german speakers consider the two meanings (to sweep & to turn) to be related or similar in concept or meaning.

As a native English speaker, I would probably say I would consider these two verbs to be mostly, if not entirely unrelated in English. (Whether I'm actually right about that, I don't know, but that's not really what I'm curious about here. I'm curious about common present-day perception.) So I'm curious if German speakers feel the same or differently.

Improve this question
8
  • 7
    The problem about the modern perception could be that "kehren" in the sense of "to turn" is very rarely used without prefix. You'd rather use "umkehren" or so. – Chris Jul 15 '15 at 22:09
  • 6
    Ich kehre ja lieber ein als um. Prost! – Carsten S Jul 15 '15 at 22:31
  • 1
    @Stephie, dabei seid ihr, so leid es mir tut, ja eher für die Kehrwoche bekannt. – Carsten S Jul 15 '15 at 22:37
  • 1
    @CarstenSchultz Klar. Aber in der Kehrwoch' wird die Straße gefegt. Man darf bei der Kehrwoche keine saubere Sprachlogik erwarten, nur eine saubere Straße! (vgl. Atlas, ich komme aus dem blauen Randstreifen...) – Stephie Jul 15 '15 at 22:39
  • 1
    There are many more examples of merges in English. eg light (1. leicht vs 2. Licht). So you can just as well ask do English speakers consider "light" in "light coloured" and "light hearted" somehow related? – Adam Bittlingmayer Feb 7 '16 at 16:16
15

To me: Not related at all. But I have a hunch that this is due to two reasons:

  1. The verb "kehren" (= turn) alone is rarely used. Typically I would expect a prefix, e.g. umkehren, einkehren, abkehren, zukehren, verkehren.... Besides, there are regional preferences: I (from the Southwest) would usually go for "drehen" instead.

  2. Then, you need to consider that "kehren" in the sense of "sweep" is not the predominant expression in the entire German-speaking area. Compare Atlas der Alltagssprache for kehren/fegen: kehren/fegen

I, personally, percieve them as unrelated and I would expect Germans from the northern parts to do so as well, mostly due to 1. above.

Improve this answer
2
  • 4
    What the heck is fürba? – Bartłomiej Zalewski Jul 16 '15 at 10:51
  • 3
    @BarthZalewski Never, ever question Vorarlbergerisch ;) – Jan Jul 22 '15 at 8:19
1

Wenn ich drüber nachdenke, ist die Bewegung des Kehrens ja ein vor und zurück des Besens mit einem Schwung bei jeder Kehre, wie eine Acht, aber im Alltag denkt man nicht drüber nach und sieht keine Gemeinsamkeit, weil man keine Borsten an den Schuhen hat und der Weg durch die Umkehr nicht sauberer wird.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.