plündern

From Middle High German plundern, plunderen, from Middle Low German plunderen, plünderen, plünren, from Middle Low German plunder, plonder (“robbery, plunder", originally "thing, stuff”), related to Middle Low German plunde, plünde (“junk, stuff, rags, old clothes”), of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, which according to Gijsseling, is therefore too late to be considered a substrate word.^[1] Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries.

Compare Middle Low German plundich (“raggedy, tattered, shabby”). Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, and (by borrowing from Early Modern German) English plunder. Related also to German Plunder (“stuff”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈplʏn.dɐn/

• Audio:

  (file)

plündern (weak, third-person singular present plündert, past tense plünderte, past participle geplündert, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive or intransitive) to loot; to plunder; to pillage; to raid (to steal large amounts (from), especially in a state of war or catastrophe)
2. (colloquial, transitive) to take or buy a lot from (e.g. a refrigerator, a shop)

• Plunder
• Plünderer
• Plünderung

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