Dolch

See also: dolch

German

Etymology

Uncertain. First attested in the mid-15th century in Upper German texts as Dolch, then also Dollich, Tolch. At first mostly with weak declension (dem Dolchen). The formerly held assumption of a Slavic origin has been abandoned (older Czech tulich is instead a German borrowing).

The word is now mostly derived ultimately from Latin dolo (“pike, dagger”),[1] but the origin of the velar remains unclear.[2][3] It may be due to conflation with a descendant of Proto-West Germanic *dalk, *dolk (“pin, needle, clasp”), which is entirely unattested in Continental West Germanic, only being found in Old English dalc, dolc (“brooch, buckle, clasp”)). Another theory[4] links it to Middle French dollequin (ca. 1400), from Old French dolequin, itself likely from Middle Dutch *dollekijn, a diminutive of Middle Dutch dolle (“dagger”, mid-14th c.), likely from the Latin.[5] Compare early Dutch dolleken, dolck, dolch (modern Dutch dolk).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /dɔlç/, [dɔlç], [-ʎç], [-ltç], (southern also) [-lx]
  • Audio(file)

Noun

Dolch m (strong, genitive Dolches or Dolchs, plural Dolche)

  1. dagger

Declension
Declension of Dolch [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Dolch die Dolche
genitive eines des Dolches, Dolchs der Dolche
dative einem dem Dolch, Dolche1 den Dolchen
accusative einen den Dolch die Dolche

1Now rare, see notes.

Hypernyms

Derived terms
  • Dolchheft
  • Dolchklinge
  • Dolchspitze
  • Dolchstoss
  • Ehrendolch
  • Horndolch
  • Jadedolch
  • Jagddolch
  • Kampfdolch
  • Ritualdolch
  • Stahldolch
  • Zierdolch

Descendants
  • → Middle Low German: dolk, dollich (16th c.)
    • Low German: Dolk, Dolch
    • → Saterland Frisian: Dolk
    • → Danish: dolk
    • → Swedish: dolk
    • → Norwegian: dolk
  • → Dutch: dolk (16th c.)
  • → Czech: tulich

References
  1. “Dolo”, in: Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898, Harper & Brothers
  2. “Dolch”, in: Wolfgang Pfeifer et al., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 1993, published at www.dwds.de
  3. “Dolch”, in: Kluge/Seebold, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 24th ed., 2002, de Gruyter
  4. “Dolch”, in: Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, 2nd ed., 1965-2018, published at www.dwds.de
  5. van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “dolk1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Further reading
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