von

See also: vón, vốn, vőn, Vón, vȯņ, вон, and вонь

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• van, va (Ripuarian, now chiefly non-central dialects; van also southeastern Eifel; va also Siegerland)
• voan, vun (western Eifel; vun also Kölsch)

Etymology

From Middle High German von(e), from Old High German fon(a). See German von for more.

The form with -o- is native, if at all, only in southeastern transitionary dialects with Rhine Franconian. Otherwise it was spread along the Rhine and Moselle into areas with original Middle High German van. This spread was likely reinforced by Standard German influence, but the /o/ (instead of /ɔ/) speaks for a chiefly dialect-based development. Kölsch vun is from von by pre-nasal raising, but the same form in western Eifel (also Luxembourgish vun) reflects the native outcome of Middle High German -a- in open syllable (cf. Bunn < bane).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fon/

Preposition

von (+ dative) (much of Moselle Franconian; central Ripuarian)

1. of, from

   Dat hätt ich ävver net von dir jedaach!

   I really wouldn’t have expected this of you!

   Dat hann ich noch von mengem aale Lährer.

   I still have this from my old teacher.

2. of, 's

   Die rähtse Dür von mengem Wage es enjeblötsch.

   The right door of my car has become dented.

Derived terms

• vom

Cimbrian

Etymology 1

From Middle High German von(e), from Old High German fon(a) (“from”). See German von for more.

Preposition

von

1. (Sette Comuni, + dative) from, of

   Von bannont khèmmatar? ― Where do you come from?

   Von béeme piisto? ― Whose are you? (literally, “Of whom are you?”)

   'S gaplèttarakh von dennàndarn tüut nia bóol.

   Other people's stuff is never good.

   (literally, “The stuff of others never does well.”)

Alternative forms

• vo, bon

Derived terms

• ausonthiin von
• vomme
• von bassame
• von dèmme
• vóndar
• vònname
• vònnara

Etymology 2

Contraction

von

1. contraction of von +‎ in, literally “from the, of the”

References

• “bon” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Friulian

Etymology

Probably ultimately from a derivative of Latin avus, or a related term, possibly a diminutive. Compare Italian avo, avolo. Cf. also archaic Romanian bun (“grandfather”) (modern bunic), Calabrian Sicilian and Piedmontese bona (“grandmother”).

Noun

von m (plural vons)

1. grandfather

   Synonym: nono

Related terms

• ave
• basavon

German

Alternative forms

• v. (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle High German von(e) (“from”), from Old High German fon(a), alongside rarer northern fan(a). It is uncertain whether the High German o-vocalism continues an original Proto-Germanic *funē, comparable with Sanskrit पुनः- (punaḥ-), or whether it is an atonic alteration of Proto-West Germanic *fanā. In the latter case, possibly from Proto-Germanic *afa + *ana (equivalent to German ab + an). Cognate with Old Dutch fan (modern van), Old Saxon fan(a) (Low German van), Old Frisian fon, fan, all “from”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔn/, [fɔn]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Preposition

von [with dative]

1. from

   Ich fahre von Köln nach Hamburg.

   I’m travelling from Cologne to Hamburg.

   Ich hab’s von meiner Schwester gehört.

   I heard it from my sister.

2. of, belonging to (often replacing genitive; see usage note below)

   das Auto meines Vaters = das Auto von meinem Vater ― my father’s car / the car of my father

3. by (with passive voice)

   Synonym: durch

   Das Hotel wird von der Firma bezahlt.

   The hotel is paid for by the company.

4. about, of (a topic)

   Er hat von seiner Jugend erzählt.

   He told about his youth.

   • 1796, Abraham Sahlstedt, Schwedische Grammatik nach dem Sprachgebrauch unserer Zeiten, Lübeck & Leipzig, page 259:

     Von dem Nomine Substantivo, oder dem Hauptworte.

     About the substantive noun, or the [alternative term]. (headline)

5. on, with (a resource)

   Von welchem Geld soll ich als Arbeitsloser in Urlaub fahren?

   Being unemployed, on what money should I go on holidays?

   Man kann nicht nur von Luft und Liebe leben.

   You can’t live on air and love alone. (proverb)

Usage notes

• (from): English “from” is generally expressed by means of von, but aus is often used with words for settlements and territories (like Land, Stadt, Dorf, as well as geographical names). One uses von when both the places “from which” and “to which” are given: Dieser Zug fährt von Köln nach Hamburg. – “This train goes from Cologne to Hamburg.” If the further direction is not given, aus is the normal choice: Dieser Zug kommt aus Köln. – “This train is coming from Cologne.” The phrase: Dieser Zug kommt von Köln is not wrong but has a colloquial ring to it.
• (of): The preposition von is used to replace possessive and partitive genitives, sometimes also prepositions that govern the genitive. Such replacement can be obligatory, optional, or restricted to the colloquial register:

It is obligatory if the genitive cannot be expressed grammatically, which is the case with common nouns not preceded by any declinable articles, determiners, or adjectives: die Rechte von Kindern (“children’s rights”); der Geschmack von Käse (“the taste of cheese”). This is also true of most singular, demonstrative pronouns and often true of all personal pronouns: der Geschmack von diesem (“the taste of this”); ein Freund von mir (“a friend of mine”); *ein Freund meiner is archaic in modern German.

The replacement is optional in cases such as the following:

1.) with those pronouns that do have an applicable genitive form, chiefly plurals: die Arbeit vieler = die Arbeit von vielen (“the work of many”);

2.) with fixed genitive pronoun expressions such as unser aller or ihrer beider, for example: für unser aller Zukunft = für die Zukunft von uns allen (“for the future of us all”), or when selbst follows the personal pronoun in the sense of oneself: ein Teil meiner selbst = ein Teil von mir (selbst) (“a part of myself”);

3.) with the numeral genitives zweier and dreier (see the Declension sections of zwei and drei);

4.) with proper nouns, particularly geographical names: die Kirchen Roms = die Kirchen von Rom (“the churches of Rome”);

5.) with common nouns preceded only by an adjective: die Rechte kleiner Kinder = die Rechte von kleinen Kindern (“small children’s rights”).

The replacement is colloquial in most other cases. Any possessive or partitive genitive can, per se, be replaced with a von-phrase, which is normal in speech, and virtually obligatory in colloquial speech. In formal writing, however, it is generally considered incorrect and unusual. This is one of the gravest grammatical differences between colloquial and literary German.

• In older usage, Latin nouns often occurred in the ablative case after von. This is now obsolete, Latin case inflections never being used in contemporary German (except the genitives of a few personal names).

Inflection

Pronominal adverbs of von

preposition	von
+ wo-	wovon
+ da-	davon
+ hier-	hiervon

Derived terms

• vom
• wovon
• davon
• hiervon
• voneinander

See also

• -s

Further reading

• “von” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883), “von”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvon]
• Hyphenation: von
• Rhymes: -on

Etymology 1

Of unknown origin.

Verb

von

2. (transitive) to pull, draw, attract

   Synonym: húz

   Félrevonta a barátját. ― He/she drew/pulled his/her friend aside.

   Magához vonta a lányt. ― He drew/pulled the girl closer to himself.

   Magára vonta a tanára figyelmét. ― He drew/attracted his teacher’s attention.

3. (transitive) to cover, envelop, enclose, encircle, surround

   Synonyms: fed, befed, beborít

   Csokoládéval vonta be a felszínét. ― She covered its surface with chocolate.

   Élőláncot vontak az épület köré. ― They formed a human chain around the building. (literally, “they enclosed the building with…”)

   A varázsló pajzsot vont maga köré. ― The wizard surrounded himself with a shield.

Usage notes

Many terms formed with von are rendered in English with -tract, e.g. elvon (“to abstract”), összevon (“to contract”), levon (“to detract”), elvon (“to distract”), kivon (“to extract, subtract”), and visszavon (“to retract”).

Conjugation

Conjugation of von

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
indica­tive	indica­tive	pre­sent	indef.	vonok	vonsz	von	vonunk	vontok	vonnak
			def.	vonom	vonod	vonja	vonjuk	vonjátok	vonják
			2nd obj	vonlak
		past	indef.	vontam	vontál	vont	vontunk	vontatok	vontak
			def.	vontam	vontad	vonta	vontuk	vontátok	vonták
			2nd obj	vontalak
		future		Future is expressed with a present-tense verb with a completion-marking prefix and/or a time adverb, or—more explicitly—with the infinitive plus the conjugated auxiliary verb fog, e.g. vonni fog.
archaic preterite		indef.	vonék	vonál	vona	vonánk	vonátok	vonának
		def.	vonám	vonád	voná	vonánk	vonátok	vonák
		2nd obj	vonálak
archaic past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala (volt), e.g. von vala, vont vala/volt.
archaic future	indef.	vonandok	vonandasz	vonand	vonandunk	vonandotok	vonandanak
	def.	vonandom	vonandod	vonandja	vonandjuk	vonandjátok	vonandják
	2nd obj	vonandalak
condi­tional	pre­sent	indef.	vonnék	vonnál	vonna	vonnánk	vonnátok	vonnának
		def.	vonnám	vonnád	vonná	vonnánk (or vonnók)	vonnátok	vonnák
		2nd obj	vonnálak
	past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. vont volna
sub­junc­tive	sub­junc­tive	pre­sent	indef.	vonjak	vonj or vonjál	vonjon	vonjunk	vonjatok	vonjanak
			def.	vonjam	vond or vonjad	vonja	vonjuk	vonjátok	vonják
			2nd obj	vonjalak
(archaic) past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. vont légyen
infinitive	vonni		vonnom	vonnod	vonnia	vonnunk	vonnotok	vonniuk
other forms	verbal noun		present part.	past part.	future part.	adverbial participle		causative
	vonás		vonó	vont	vonandó	vonva (vonván)		vonat (or vontat)
The archaic passive conjugation had the same -(t)at/-(t)et suffix as the causative, followed by -ik in the 3rd-person singular (and the concomitant changes in conditional and subjunctive mostly in the 1st- and 3rd-person singular like with other traditional -ik verbs).

Potential conjugation of von

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
indica­tive	indica­tive	pre­sent	indef.	vonhatok	vonhatsz	vonhat	vonhatunk	vonhattok	vonhatnak
			def.	vonhatom	vonhatod	vonhatja	vonhatjuk	vonhatjátok	vonhatják
			2nd obj	vonhatlak
		past	indef.	vonhattam	vonhattál	vonhatott	vonhattunk	vonhattatok	vonhattak
			def.	vonhattam	vonhattad	vonhatta	vonhattuk	vonhattátok	vonhatták
			2nd obj	vonhattalak
archaic preterite		indef.	vonhaték	vonhatál	vonhata	vonhatánk	vonhatátok	vonhatának
		def.	vonhatám	vonhatád	vonhatá	vonhatánk	vonhatátok	vonhaták
		2nd obj	vonhatálak
archaic past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala (volt), e.g. vonhat vala, vonhatott vala/volt.
archaic future	indef.	vonhatandok or vonandhatok	vonhatandasz or vonandhatsz	vonhatand or vonandhat	vonhatandunk or vonandhatunk	vonhatandotok or vonandhattok	vonhatandanak or vonandhatnak
	def.	vonhatandom or vonandhatom	vonhatandod or vonandhatod	vonhatandja or vonandhatja	vonhatandjuk or vonandhatjuk	vonhatandjátok or vonandhatjátok	vonhatandják or vonandhatják
	2nd obj	vonhatandalak or vonandhatlak
condi­tional	pre­sent	indef.	vonhatnék	vonhatnál	vonhatna	vonhatnánk	vonhatnátok	vonhatnának
		def.	vonhatnám	vonhatnád	vonhatná	vonhatnánk (or vonhatnók)	vonhatnátok	vonhatnák
		2nd obj	vonhatnálak
	past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. vonhatott volna
sub­junc­tive	sub­junc­tive	pre­sent	indef.	vonhassak	vonhass or vonhassál	vonhasson	vonhassunk	vonhassatok	vonhassanak
			def.	vonhassam	vonhasd or vonhassad	vonhassa	vonhassuk	vonhassátok	vonhassák
			2nd obj	vonhassalak
(archaic) past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. vonhatott légyen
infinitive	(vonhatni)		(vonhatnom)	(vonhatnod)	(vonhatnia)	(vonhatnunk)	(vonhatnotok)	(vonhatniuk)
other forms	positive adjective			negative adjective		adverbial participle
	vonható			vonhatatlan		(vonhatva / vonhatván)

Derived terms

• vonaglik
• vonakodik
• vonal
• vonat
• vonás
• vonít
• vonogat
• vonó
• vonsz (archaic) → vonszol
• vontat
• vonul
• vonz
• vonyít

(With verbal prefixes):

• bevon
• belevon
• elvon
• felvon
• félrevon
• kivon
• levon
• megvon
• összevon
• visszavon

Expressions

• felelősségre von
• gyököt von
• kérdőre von
• kétségbe von
• maga után von
• magával von
• vállat von

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Korean 원 (won, also 圓 in hanja), from Sinitic 圓／圆 (yuán, “circle” > “round coin”).

Noun

von

2. won (currency)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	von	vonok
accusative	vont	vonokat
dative	vonnak	vonoknak
instrumental	vonnal	vonokkal
causal-final	vonért	vonokért
translative	vonná	vonokká
terminative	vonig	vonokig
essive-formal	vonként	vonokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	vonban	vonokban
superessive	vonon	vonokon
adessive	vonnál	vonoknál
illative	vonba	vonokba
sublative	vonra	vonokra
allative	vonhoz	vonokhoz
elative	vonból	vonokból
delative	vonról	vonokról
ablative	vontól	vonoktól
non-attributive possessive – singular	voné	vonoké
non-attributive possessive – plural	vonéi	vonokéi

Possessive forms of von

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	vonom	vonjaim
2nd person sing.	vonod	vonjaid
3rd person sing.	vonja	vonjai
1st person plural	vonunk	vonjaink
2nd person plural	vonotok	vonjaitok
3rd person plural	vonjuk	vonjaik

Further reading

• von in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ván, from Proto-Germanic *wēniz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔːn/
• Rhymes: -ɔːn

Noun

von f (genitive singular vonar, nominative plural vonir)

1. hope
2. expectation

Declension

Declension of von (feminine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	von	vonin	vonir	vonirnar
accusative	von	vonina	vonir	vonirnar
dative	von	voninni	vonum	vonunum
genitive	vonar	vonarinnar	vona	vonanna

Derived terms

• á dauða mínum átti ég von
• eiga von á (“to expect”)
• ekki nema von (“no wonder!”)
• til vonar og vara (“as a precaution”)
• von bráðar (“soon”)
• vonbrigði (“disappointment”)
• vongóður (“hopeful”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse ván, vón, ón, from Proto-Germanic *wēniz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋuːn/

Noun

von f (definite singular vona, indefinite plural voner, definite plural vonene)

1. hope
2. expectation
3. likelihood, eventuality
4. something that is showing promise
5. (fishing) a place where one hopes to make a good catch

Synonyms

• (hope): håp

Etymology 2

From the Old Norse preposition án (“without”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋuːn/

Adjective

von (singular and plural von)

1. (rare) which one can make do without

Etymology 3

From German von. Doublet of van. The noun is derived from the preposition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔnː/

Preposition

von

1. Used in German surnames.

   Synonyms: av, de, di, of, van

Noun

von m (definite singular vonen, indefinite plural vonar, definite plural vonane)

1. (rare) a person with the preposition von in their name

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

von

1. imperative of vone

References

• “von” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vъnъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vɔn]

Adverb

von

1. out, outwards

Further reading

• “von”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from German von.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔn/
• Rhymes: -fɔn

Preposition

von

1. of; only used in surnames of nobility

   Synonyms: af, de

   Carl von Linné

   Carl Linnaeus

Anagrams

• nov

Vlax Romani

Pronoun

von

1. they