FromMiddle High Germankorper,körper,körpel, fromLatincorpor-, inflected stem ofcorpus.
The word displaced first the predecessor of GermanLeiche,Leichnam (now “corpse”) and later onLeib (now dated, literary, religious). Doublet ofKorpus,Korps. The umlaut remained rare until the 16th century. Its derivation from the-i- in Latincorporis,corpori seems unlikely in such a late borrowing. Probably the dissimilated variantkörpel received the umlaut by analogy with diminutives in-el. SomeCentral German dialects show secondary umlaut before-r- + labial (seeHunsrikKerrper,Kerrver andLuxembourgishKierper), but precisely these dialects make little or no use of this word. See Englishcorpse for more.
Körper m (strong,genitiveKörpers,pluralKörper,diminutiveKörperchen n)