die Abgabe

(noun)

Meanings

1.
the emission, the discharge
(Very technical term for a device or process that emits something. )
2.
the fee, the toll, the due
(Used for all kinds of fees that are not taxes. Think health insurance in Germany, for example. The money is taken straight from your salary and that's not a "Steuer (tax)" but an "Abgabe". )
3.
the handing in, the handing over
(The act of handing something in or over. Quite common in the context of the "due by" date for homework.)

Word Family tap to show/hide

Root: *ghabh-

The core idea of this root was:

grabbing, taking

The meaning of geben and to give comes from the idea of grabbing something to hand it to someone, but the family is more diverse than that.
It’s also the origin of the families of habit and hibit, which both come from the Latin verb habere, which meant to hold. That’s also where able is from, which evolved from the word habilitate.

And also part of the family are due, duty and debt. They all go back to a Latin verb debere, which was about the idea of having to give someone something, and which is nothing other than a combination of de- with … habere again.
Here’s a list of the most important English relatives:

  • debt (having to give)
  • duty (having to give)
  • due (having to give)
  • able (capable of “holding”)
  • habit (something you “hold”)
  • inhabit (holding a place and living there)
  • inhibit (holding in)
  • exhibit (holding outward)
  • prohibit (holding/taking away)
  • to give
  • gift
  • forgive (give away)
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