German

ein Zettel.

Alternative forms

• zedel (archaic, Early New High German)
• zeddel (regional and archaic)
• ziddel (regional (Thuringian) and archaic)
• zöttel (regional (Bavarian) and archaic)
• zättel (regional (Alemannic) and archaic)
• zettul (archaic, Early New High German and 19th century)
• Zettul m (n)

Noun

Zettel m ‎(genitive Zettels, plural Zettel)

1. small or loose piece of paper

   1635 der schutzengel [...] sträuet etliche zettele nider, darauf schöne sprüch aus heiliger schrift wider die hoffart ("the guardian angel scatters a number of loose pages from above, on which are fine sayings from the holy writ against the sin of pride") Jacob Bidermann, Cenodoxus, p. 71.

2. note, message, letter

   1511 name er sollich zedel der klagen, verprennet sy und sprach ("he [Constantine] took such letters of complaint [against the bishops], burned them, and said [...]"), Albrecht von Eyb, Spiegel der Sitten, Augsburg, 92v. (O 2b).

3. poster, placard, public notice

   1725: ohnerachtet herr d. Pf. meinen zettul vom schwartzen brette hatte abreiszen lassen ("nevertheless Mr. d. Pf. had my poster taken down from the [university's] bulletin board", Chr. Thomasius, Gedanken und Erinnerungen, Marburg, 3, 104;

Declension

Derived terms

References

• “Zettel” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• "Zettel" in: Wolfgang Pfeifer (ed.), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (2nd ed. 1993).

Etymology 2

A technical term in weaving recorded from the later 15th century (in Middle High German in the compound zettelgarn). The noun is derived from the verb zetten "scatter; spread out, arrange" via the suffix -el denoting tools (as in Hebel, Stößel). The verb zetten itself is from a Germanic Proto-Germanic *tadjaną ‎(“to strew, scatter”), whence also English tath "dung".

In German translations of Shakespeare's A Midsumer Night's Dream the name of the weaver Nick Bottom (one of the "rude mechanicals", from bottom "a ball or skein of thread", replaced by a German technical term of weaving following Christoph Martin Wieland, 1762).

Noun

Zettel m ‎(genitive Zettels, plural Zettel)

1. (weaving) warp

   1493 kainen zettel innemen oder wúrken, er hab in dann selbs gezettlet ("[he should] take over or work no warp, unless that he has himself warped it). Urkundenbuch Stuttgart ed. Adolf Rapp, Stuttgart, 1912, p.560.

   1530 wenn ... an einem kleid eines aussatzes maal sein wirt, es sey ... am zettel oder am eintrag ("The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether [...] it be in the warp, or woof [...]") Zürcher Bibel, Leviticus 13:48.

Synonyms

• (warp): Kettfaden, Werft

Derived terms

• zetteln

References

• “Zettel” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

German

Verb

zettel

1. First-person singular present of zetteln.
2. Imperative singular of zetteln.