Zum Zusammenspiel von Beleginterpretation und Bedeutungshypothese(n) im Frühneuhochdeutschen Wörterbuch (FWB) – Beobachtungen anhand des Artikels schwarz

Using the article schwarz (‘black’) as an example, this paper examines the interrelationship between Early New High German citations and the microstructure of the Early New High German Dictionary (FWB). After an outline of the composition of the article schwarz , selected citations illustrating different meanings of schwarz in relation to colour qualities are shown in combination with the microstructure of the FWB and its particular positions of information, such as phrases, synonymous meanings, syntagms and word formations. Subsequently, citations are presented in which the use of the word schwarz in relation to skin colour is “charged” with (often derogatory) aesthetic, social, moral and religious values. The concluding discussion suggests possible research questions concerning the meanings of schwarz , based on the specific synchronic perspective of the FWB, which does not aim at linear developments, but at semantic and communicative workings in Early New High German texts.