Abschluss

Forms

Abschluss m (genitive Abschlusses, plural Abschlüsse)^[1] Until the spelling reform of 1996 the word was written Abschluß.^[1]

Etymology

It is the noun of the verb abschließen, analysable as from German ab- + Schluss.^[1][2] The verb has a Middle Low German counterpart afsluten, and appears in High German in the 16th century, but became common only in the 18th.^[2] Schluss is the abstract noun of schließen (Middle High German sliezen, Old High German sliozan), which Kluge compares, without its initial /s/, with Latin claudō (“to close”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paul dates Abschluß to 1727, used in the senses of the verb “to bring to an end, especially an account or a contract” and “to end, round off”.^[2] Adelung defines it as the ending or settling of a matter, especially of an account, a business deal or a contract.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Campe gives the same senses, and notes that the noun is used only figuratively, not for the act of locking something.^[5] Goethe used it often, especially in zum Abschluss kommen and zum Abschluss bringen, and sometimes moved it close to “completion, rounding off”, setting it beside Vollendung.^[6]

The modern language added a concrete sense, a seal or closure, and the part that finishes something off, such as the border of a dress.^[7] Commerce uses it for the closing of the accounts and for a business deal, sport for a shot at goal that ends a move, and everyday speech for a final examination or the qualification it gives.^[7] Polish borrowed it as abszlus “closing of accounts” (1847), a word now obsolete.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 1727 – First record of Abschluß.^[2]
• 1793 – Adelung records it for the settling of accounts and contracts.^[4]
• 1847 – Polish abszlus “closing of accounts” is recorded.^[8]
• 1996 – The spelling reform replaces Abschluß with Abschluss.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seal or closure: ein wasserdichter Abschluss.^[7]
2. A finishing part or border, as on a garment or a wall.^[7]
3. (no plural) End, conclusion: nach Abschluss der Bauarbeiten.^[7][1]
4. (business) The closing of the accounts, the balance sheet with the profit and loss account.^[7]
5. (ball games) A shot at goal that ends a move.^[7]
6. (colloquial) A final examination, or the qualification it gives, as from a school or university: Sie hat einen Abschluss in Chemie.^[7][1]
7. (no plural) The concluding of an agreement: beim Abschluss des Abkommens.^[7]
8. (commerce) A business deal.^[7]
9. A wage agreement, short for Tarifabschluss.^[7]

Word family

• Abschlussprüfung
• Abschlussarbeit
• Abschlussfeier
• Abschlussbericht
• Tarifabschluss

Related words

• Anschluss
• Aufschluss
• Ausschluss
• Beschluss
• Einschluss
• Zusammenschluss
• Verschluss
• abschließen
• Schluss
• schließen

Usage notes

Zum Abschluss kommen is to come to an end, and etwas zum Abschluss bringen to finish something.^[7][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
3. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 811
4. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
5. ^ Campe, Joachim Heinrich (1807–1811), Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, 5 vols., Braunschweig: Schulbuchhandlung
6. ^ Goethe-Wörterbuch (1978–), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen and Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de