See also: Antun

German edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

an- +‎ tun

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈʔanˌtuːn/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: an‧tun

Verb edit

antun (irregular, third-person singular present tut an, past tense tat an, past participle angetan, past subjunctive täte an, auxiliary haben)

  1. to do something to someone
    • 1930–1943, Robert Musil, “Die große Sitzung”, in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften [The Man Without Qualities], book 1, Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag, published 1957:
      Inzwischen hatte Diotima ihre bildhafte Ruhe wiedergefunden, eröffnete nach einigen Augenblicken die Sitzung und bat Se. Erlaucht, ihrem Hause die Ehre anzutun, darin den Vorsitz zu übernehmen.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes edit

It often implies the casting of harm, as in general the object is often a kind of ill. “Ich habe ihm nichts angetan.” “Er wird sich etwas antun.” Though as the quoted example shows, this does not need to be so. Also, in a more recent idiomatic and rather colloquial sense deriving from this bewitchment sense used with expletive object (es) it means mere appeal, enthusement. “Das Lied hat es ihm angetan.” And this usage is not only recent. In his poem “Der Rattenfänger” from around 1790, Goethe says of the ratcatcher:

In keinem Städtchen langt er an, Wo er’s nicht mancher angetan.

That is, "in no town does he arrive where he has not captivated many [a maiden]."

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

  • antun” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • antun” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • antun” in Duden online
  • antun” in OpenThesaurus.de