Impromptu

"Impromptu" or stirrups

Impromptu is an outdated term for a rider's stirrup . The word is now only used in the idiom “impromptu” and in compound words such as impromptu task, impromptu draft, impromptu comedy, impromptu speech, impromptu play, impromptu theater and impromptu translation.

Linguistic aspects

The word "impromptu" breaks down into the components "steg" and "hoop". The original meaning of the first element ( Old High German  stīgan = to rise) can still be seen in the related word "Steg" = narrow, elevated transition. Behind the second element ( ahd.  Reif = rope, rope) hides an old expression that is still used in " Reeperbahn " = manufacturing facility for ropes, "Reepschnur" = thin rope, "Fallreep" = rope ladder and English "rope" = rope alive is.

An "impromptu" is originally a rope sling that was used to ascend. "Impromptu" literally means: without getting off the horse, in a figurative sense: without thinking long, unprepared, extemporated , improvised . "Impromptu" was also the name of a component of the medieval crossbow that simplified the loading process: a stirrup-like metal bracket at the front end of the weapon, in which the shooter put one foot and thus had his hands free to tension the string.

Since the origin of the word is largely unknown, "impromptu" - matching the similar idioms "from the stand" and "out of thin air" - is often spelled and spoken incorrectly, "straight up".

Impromptu tasks and drafts

Extemporal from 1879

The story: Johann Matthias Gesner , the rector of the Thomas School in Leipzig , is said to have introduced the impromptu task in its still practiced form in the 1730s under the Latin name scriptum extemporale = transcription from the impromptu. He had his students translate a German dictation into Latin immediately, without prior notice or preparation, i.e. extemporale = impromptu . At that time, however, it was more a question of an exercise, as Gesner did without censoring and only corrected and improved the work with the students to improve expression. Later, the extemporal, abbreviated Ex , became a synonym for class work and, unannounced, was used and graded for performance measurements feared by students (see document on the right).

Regarding the current situation: In Bavarian secondary schools , unsuspected written work is called "impromptu tasks". According to the school regulations for high schools in Bavaria from January 23, 2007, impromptu tasks are part of the small written performance certificates. They are not announced and relate to a maximum of two immediately preceding lessons; they should also refer to the basic results and contents of the previous competence development. The processing time should not exceed twenty minutes. The word "Extemporale" ("Ex" for short) has the same meaning. Outside Bavaria, other names are used. In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, a written work that does not have to be announced, that relates to two immediately preceding lessons and that can last up to fifteen minutes, in the upper level up to thirty minutes, is called "Homework Review" ("HÜ" for short) ) or "Brief Review" ("KÜ" for short).

→ See also: Class work , written proof of performance in school

In architecture studies , shorter design tasks are often called “impromptu drafts”.

Web links

Wiktionary: Impromptu  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• etymology

Individual evidence

1. ^ Origin of the word according to Duden Vol. 7, Dictionary of Origin of the German Language, Mannheim 1997; Friedrich Kluge: Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, Berlin 1975; " Steg ", " Reif " and " Stegreif " on www.dwds.de, as of June 18, 2020.
2. ↑ Friedrich Kluge in his Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, Berlin 1975, p. 743, describes the meaning in a very similar way: "like a rider who does something without dismounting".
3. ↑ See and compare: Otto Kaemmel , Geschichte des Leipziger Schulwesens, Wiesbaden 1909, Springer, p. 331; Andreas Schmidt, Der Extemporale-Erlass 1911, in: Markus Tauschek (editor), Cultures of Competition, Volume 10 of the Kiel Studies on Folklore and Cultural History, published by the University of Kiel, Münster 2013, Waxmann, p. 289.
4. ↑ Compare school regulations for high schools in Bavaria (Gymnasialschulordnung - GSO) of January 23, 2007 (GVBl p. 68, BayRS 2235-1-1-1-UK), last amended by ordinance of July 8, 2011 (GVBl. P. 586), § 55, as of June 18, 2020.
5. ↑ Compare the website of the State Parents Association of High Schools in Bavaria e. V., as of October 31, 2011.
6. ↑ Compare the website of the Bertha-von-Suttner-Gymnasium Andernach, as of October 31, 2011.