grundbetydningen

Grundbetydningen is a term used in linguistics and lexicography to refer to the core or primary sense of a word. It denotes the most central meaning from which other senses may branch through metaphor, metonymy, or historical change. The concept helps describe how a word can be polysemous, carrying several related meanings, while maintaining a stable core reference.

In dictionary work and semantic analysis, grundbetydningen guides sense division and ordering. Lexicographers often identify the core sense as the first or most frequent use in typical contexts, and then group secondary senses as extensions or shifts of that core. This helps clarify semantic fields, cross-linguistic comparisons, and diachronic development. The concept also supports discussions of denotation (the object or idea a word stands for) and connotation (associative or evaluative overtones), by distinguishing what a word most fundamentally means from its additional implications.

Methods for determining grundbetydningen include corpus analysis, examination of historical dictionaries, and semantic field reasoning. Challenges arise from polysemy, language change over time, regional and stylistic variation, and subjective judgments about what constitutes the “core” meaning.

Example: the English word seal has a grundbetydning as the marine mammal. Other senses such as to close something securely or a stamp derive from metaphorical extensions related to boundary and closure, illustrating how secondary meanings develop from a core concept.