Subject (colloquial)

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In colloquial language, subject is understood to mean a person , deviating from the elevated meaning of the subject, which is used in philosophy, as a knowing self endowed with consciousness . This positive meaning is often used colloquially in a derogatory secondary sense, i.e. in the sense of "bad person" or even in the phrase "depraved subject".

etymology

The foreign word was borrowed in the 16th century from the Latin subiectum 'sentence object', 'basic concept'. In the Latin language, however , subiectus also means something like 'submissive', 'humble' in an adjectival sense. This results in the derogatory connotation in sociological terms, as it was still used in absolutist France. The subject was the subject . From this is derived in the German language, the notion of subjection = "submission". Since the French Revolution , the subject has been given the role of a free and self-confident citizen in the sense of an individual active in social relationships , see also subjectivity .

Synonyms and antonyms

According to the etymological differentiation into a negative and positive, i.e. H. The dictionary of German vocabulary distinguishes between sociological and revaluating meaning . a. the following negative synonyms : "villain, malefactor, gallows bird, bad fellow, bad fellow, common person" etc. in relation to the antonyms : "gentleman, nobleman, nobleman, man of right grist and grain, knight without fear or blame, good Christian, role model ”But also here a rather negative evaluation in the sense of“ model boy, virtue brush, virtue boy ”.

literature

  • Martin Rudolf Vogel: Social forms of subjectivity. Historical requirements and theoretical concepts . Campus, Frankfurt / Main [u. a.] 1983, ISBN 3-593-33174-8 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Günther Drosdowski: Etymology. Dictionary of origin of the German language . The history of German words and foreign words from their origins to the present (=  Duden in 10 volumes . Volume 7 ). 2nd completely revised and expanded edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim 1997, ISBN 3-411-20907-0 , p. 726 .
  2. ^ A b Karl-Heinz Hillmann : Dictionary of Sociology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 410). 4th, revised and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-41004-4 , p. 849 (State subject ).
  3. ↑ Jacqueline Picoche: Dictionnaire étymologique du Français . Robert, Paris 1979, ISBN 2-85036-013-9 , pp. 366, paragraph A 7 .
  4. ^ Richard von Kienle: Fremdwort Lexikon . Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich, p. 433 .
  5. ^ Hugo Wehrle, Hans Eggers : German vocabulary . Ernst Klett, Stuttgart 1961, chap. 948 f. "Man of Honor and Villain", p. 320 f .