von

Cimbrian

Etymology 1

From Middle High German von, from Old High German fon (“from”), from Proto-Germanic *afanē, *fanē, *funē. Cognate with German von.

Preposition

von

1. (Sette Comuni, + dative) from, of

   Von bannont khèmmatar? ― Where do you come from?

   Von béeme piisto? ― Whose are you? (literally, “Of whom are you?”)

   'S gaplèttarakh von dennàndarn tüut nia bóol.

   Other people's stuff is never good.

   (literally, “The stuff of others never does well.”)

Alternative forms

• vo, bon

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Contraction

von

1. von + in, from the, of the

References

• “bon” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Friulian

Etymology

Probably ultimately from a derivative of Latin avus, or a related term, possibly a diminutive. Compare Italian avo, avolo. Cf. also archaic Romanian bun (“grandfather”) (modern bunic), Calabrian Sicilian and Piedmontese bona (“grandmother”).

Noun

von m (plural vons)

1. grandfather

   Synonym: nono

Related terms

• ave
• basavon

German

Etymology

From Middle High German von (“from”), from Old High German fon, fona (“from”), from Proto-Germanic *afanē, *fanē, *funē (“from”), compound of *afa (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“from, off”)) + *ana (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on”)). Cognate with Old Saxon fana, fan (“from”), Dutch van (“from; of”), Old Frisian fon (“from”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔn/,

• audio

  (file)

Preposition

von (+ dative)

1. from

   Ich fahre von Köln nach Hamburg.

   I'm travelling from Cologne to Hamburg.

   Ich hab’s von meiner Schwester gehört.

   I heard it from my sister.

2. of, belonging to (often replacing genitive; see usage note below)

   das Auto meines Vaters = das Auto von meinem Vater ― my father’s car / the car of my father

3. by (with passive voice)

   Synonym: durch

   Das Hotel wird von der Firma bezahlt.

   The hotel is paid for by the company.

4. about, of (a topic)

   Er hat von seiner Jugend erzählt.

   He told about his youth.

   • 1796, Abraham Sahlstedt, Schwedische Grammatik nach dem Sprachgebrauch unserer Zeiten, Lübeck & Leipzig, page 259:

     Von dem Nomine Substantivo, oder dem Hauptworte.

     About the substantive noun, or the . (headline)

5. on, with (a resource)

   Von welchem Geld soll ich als Arbeitsloser in Urlaub fahren?

   Being unemployed, on what money should I go on holidays?

   Man kann nicht nur von Luft und Liebe leben.

   You can’t live on air and love alone. (proverb)

Usage notes

• (from): English “from” is generally expressed by means of von, but aus is often used with words for settlements and territories (like Land, Stadt, Dorf, as well as geographical names). One uses von when both the places “from which” and “to which” are given: Dieser Zug fährt von Köln nach Hamburg. – “This train goes from Cologne to Hamburg.” If the further direction is not given, aus is the normal choice: Dieser Zug kommt aus Köln. – “This train is coming from Cologne.” The phrase: Dieser Zug kommt von Köln is not wrong but has a colloquial ring to it.
• (of): The preposition von is used to replace possessive and partitive genitives, sometimes also prepositions that govern the genitive. Such replacement can be obligatory, optional, or restricted to the colloquial register:

It is obligatory if the genitive cannot be expressed grammatically, which is the case with common nouns not preceded by any declinable articles, determiners, or adjectives: die Rechte von Kindern (“children’s rights”); der Geschmack von Käse (“the taste of cheese”). This is also true of most singular, demonstrative pronouns and often true of all personal pronouns: der Geschmack von diesem (“the taste of this”); ein Freund von mir (“a friend of mine”); *ein Freund meiner is archaic in modern German.

The replacement is optional in cases such as the following:

1.) with those pronouns that do have an applicable genitive form, chiefly plurals: die Arbeit vieler = die Arbeit von vielen (“the work of many”);

2.) with fixed genitive pronoun expressions such as unser aller or ihrer beider, for example: für unser aller Zukunft = für die Zukunft von uns allen (“for the future of us all”), or when selbst follows the personal pronoun in the sense of oneself: ein Teil meiner selbst = ein Teil von mir (selbst) (“a part of myself”);

3.) with the numeral genitives zweier and dreier (see the Declension sections of zwei and drei);

4.) with proper nouns, particularly geographical names: die Kirchen Roms = die Kirchen von Rom (“the churches of Rome”);

5.) with common nouns preceded only by an adjective: die Rechte kleiner Kinder = die Rechte von kleinen Kindern (“small children’s rights”).

The replacement is colloquial in most other cases. Any possessive or partitive genitive can, per se, be replaced with a von-phrase, which is normal in speech, and virtually obligatory in colloquial speech. In formal writing, however, it is generally considered incorrect and unusual. This is one of the gravest grammatical differences between colloquial and literary German.

• In older usage, Latin nouns often occurred in the ablative case after von. This is now obsolete, Latin case inflections never being used in contemporary German (except the genitives of a few personal names).

Derived terms

• vom

See also

• -s

Further reading

• “von” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “von”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: von
• Rhymes: -on

Etymology 1

Of unknown origin.

Verb

von

2. (transitive) to pull, draw, attract

   Synonym: húz

   Félrevonta a barátját. ― He/she drew/pulled his/her friend aside.

   Magához vonta a lányt. ― He drew/pulled her closer to himself.

   Magára vonta a tanára figyelmét. ― He drew/attracted his teacher’s attention.

3. (transitive) to cover, envelop, enclose, encircle, surround

   Synonyms: fed, befed, beborít

   Csokoládéval vonta be a felszínét. ― She covered its surface with chocolate.

   Élőláncot vontak az épület köré. ― They formed a human chain around the building. (literally, “they enclosed the building with…”)

   A varázsló pajzsot vont maga köré. ― The wizard surrounded himself with a shield.

Usage notes

Many terms formed with von are rendered in English with -tract, e.g. elvon (“to abstract”), összevon (“to contract”), levon (“to detract”), elvon (“to distract”), kivon (“to extract, subtract”), and visszavon (“to retract”).

Conjugation

Derived terms

(With verbal prefixes):

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Korean 원 (won, also 圓 in hanja), from Sinitic 圓／圆 (yuán, “circle” > “round coin”).

Noun

von

2. won (currency)

Declension

References

Further reading

• von in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ván, from Proto-Germanic *wēniz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔːn/
• Rhymes: -ɔːn

Noun

von f (genitive singular vonar, nominative plural vonir)

1. hope
2. expectation

Declension

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse ván, vón, ón, from Proto-Germanic *wēniz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋuːn/

Noun

von f (definite singular vona, indefinite plural voner, definite plural vonene)

1. hope
2. expectation
3. likelyhood, eventuality
4. something that is showing promise
5. (fishing) a place where one hopes to make a good catch

Synonyms

• (hope): håp

Etymology 2

From the Old Norse preposition án (“without”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋuːn/

Adjective

von (singular and plural von)

1. (rare) which one can make do without

Etymology 3

From German von. Doublet of van. The noun is derived from the preposition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔnː/

Preposition

von

1. Used in German surnames.

   Synonyms: av, de, di, of, van

Noun

von m (definite singular vonen, indefinite plural vonar, definite plural vonane)

1. (rare) a person with the preposition von in their name

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

von

1. imperative of vone

References

• “von” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vъnъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Adverb

von

1. out, outwards

Further reading

• “von”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from German von.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔn/
• Rhymes: -fɔn

Preposition

von

1. of; only used in surnames of nobility

   Synonyms: af, de

   Carl von Linné

   Carl Linnaeus

Anagrams

• nov

Vlax Romani

Pronoun

von

1. they