Etymologically
Log in

Öffentlichkeit

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 20:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

Öffentlichkeit f (genitive Öffentlichkeit, no plural)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German öffentlich + -keit in the 18th century, as a German replacement for Publizität.[2][3][4] The adjective öffentlich is inherited from Middle High German offenlich, inherited from Old High German offanlīh, a derivative of offen in the sense “lying before the eyes”; the /t/ is a glide that appears from about 1300, and the umlaut from the 15th century.[2][3] That adjective is Middle High German offen, Old High German offan, from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”), the same word as Old Saxon opan, Old English open and Old Norse opinn; it is perhaps formed with a suffix in /n/ from the adverb auf, as “drawn or lifted up”.[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paul gives the first record from Joseph von Sonnenfels in 1765;[7] Adelung entered the word in 1777, and Heynatz still objected to it in 1797.[7] It first meant the quality of being public, of happening openly: A. W. Schlegel counts die Öffentlichkeit of an action among what makes it complete.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

At the beginning of the 19th century Öffentlichkeit became a political catchword in the struggle for public jury trials.[7] Kluge notes that the adjective öffentlich itself took on its political sense, “made accessible to the public”, only late.[2] Goethe still used a plural, Öffentlichkeiten, for public acts and ceremonies.[4] The main modern sense is the public, the people as a whole before whom things become known;[9][5] Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, a loan translation of English public relations, dates from the second half of the 20th century.[9][5]

Timeline

  • 1765 – Joseph von Sonnenfels uses Öffentlichkeit.[7]
  • 1777 – Adelung records the word.[7]
  • 1797 – Heynatz's Antibarbarus objects to it.[7]
  • Early 19th century – A catchword in the debate about public trials.[7]
  • Second half of the 20th century – Öffentlichkeitsarbeit after English public relations.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The public; the people as a whole, before whom something is known or to whom it is open: Die Pläne wurden der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt.[9][1]
  2. The quality of being public, of being open to the public: die Öffentlichkeit der Gerichtsverhandlung.[9]

Word family

  • Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Usage notes

In aller Öffentlichkeit means “in full public view”, and unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit “behind closed doors”, of a trial or meeting.[9] An die Öffentlichkeit treten is to come before the public, for instance with a first book.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 666
  3. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1183
  5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  8. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  9. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag