Erpressung (f) means ‛extortion; blackmail’ [8, p. 155]. Erpressung ist die
Beschädigung des Vermögens eines anderen durch Nötigung dieses oder eines anderen
Menschen in der Absicht, sich oder einen Dritten zu Unrecht zu bereichern [9, p. 126].
‛Extortion is damaging another person’s property through coercion to unlawfully
enrich oneself or enrich a third person’. According to the etymological dictionary of
the German language, this word is derived from the verb pressen meaning ‛to press, to
compress’; the Middle High German for the word is pressen, the Old High German is
pressōn, the Latin is pressare [10, p. 629]. Let us turn to the semantics of the said word.
Pressing or squeezing is usually done in the direction from top to bottom. We will try
to restore the semantic foundation of the word Erpressung (f). We believe that that
foundation has the sense of the ‘top’. Initially, вер was aspirated. Later, вер was
transformed into верх. In this word, the strengthening of в into п took place: верх →
перх. Then, apparently, there was a process of palatalization of x: перх → перш (cf.
the Ukrainian перший) or перх → перс. The establishment of the consonant harmony
by sonority led to the following: перс became прес//pres. The word is motivated by
the meanings of ‘top’, ‘sky’. In this case, we observe a manifestation of the relationship
of the meanings of ‘sky’//‘darkness’ and ‘many’//‘strength’.
Consequently, the meaning of ‘top’, ‘strength’ is the semantic foundation of the
German word erpressen, i. e. ‘to extort; to blackmail’. The semantic correction caused
by the loss of the symbolic foundation, determined the narrowing of the functions
framework of the word.
Gesetz (n) means ‛law’ [8, p. 201]. Gesetz ist im materiellen Sinn jede abstrakte
und generelle Regelung (die meisten formellen Gesetze, die Rechtsverordnungen, die
Satzungen) und im formellen Sinn jeder vom Parlament im besonderen
Gesetzgebungsverfahren verabschiedete Beschluss [9, p. 176]. ‛Law is in the material
sense any abstract or general rule (most formal laws, legal regulations, statutes) and in
the formal sense any decision made by the parliament during the legislative process.’
Let us examine the entry of the etymological dictionary: Gesetz < setzen means ‛to
nominate, to define, to prescribe’; the Middle High German gesetze means
‛nomination’ [10, p. 272]. The verb setzen correlates with the Middle High German
setzen, the Old High German sezzen, the Gothic satjan, the English to set, the Swedish
sätta meaning ‛sitzen machen’, ‛to seat’, which is kindred to the Old Indian sādayati
and the Russian садить. The ancient meaning of this verb is ‛to define, to prescribe’,
since the 14
th
century it has in fact been ‛Recht setzen’, ‛to establish the right’, hence
Gesetz and Satzung [10, p. 764]. In his study, V. V. Levitskiy points to the restored
German form of *setjan meaning ‛to sit’, the Old Slavic *sĕdĕti, and cites the Indo-
European roots *sed- /sēd- /sod- /sōd [13, p. 446]. In the word Gesetz, ge is a prefix:
the Middle High German ge-, gi-, the Gothic ga-, the English ge-, the Old Norse g-,
and has the meaning of ‛together’, ‛with’ [10, p. 251]. Ge- = ‘together’, ‘beside’, ‘to’
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