hergeben

based on: geben

hat hergegeben

gab her

Meanings

to hand over, to yield

(In the sense of giving up something that you were holding. Mostly used for small, tangible objects and there's a notion of parting with something "beloved".)

to give, to yield

(In the context of an object's "performance". Not always idiomatic, so you need some sprachgefühl for it.)

to stoop to

("sich+Acc hergeben zu/für" - pretty rare, and normally used in a negative context.)

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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)

hergeben

Meanings

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