Beruf

Forms

Beruf m (genitive Berufes or Berufs, plural Berufe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German beruof (“reputation, repute”), a noun formed from berufen.^[2][3][4] The verb is Middle High German beruofen (“to call together, proclaim”), a prefixed form of rufen;^[5] Beside it stands the weak Old High German biruofen (“to call together”) of the 10th century.^[5]

Kluge explains the modern word from the religious sense of the verb: God's call goes out to people, and the noun was used like New Testament Ancient Greek κλῆσις (klêsis, “calling”) and Latin vocātiō.^[4][6] Luther, following 1 Corinthians 7:20 and the mystics, also used it for a worldly office and station, and this led to the present meaning.^[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before Luther the noun was mainly a word of the law and of public life: in 1416 a Prussian ordinance says that parties keynen berueff haben “have no appeal” except to the lords.^[7] In the 15th century it also meant a summons, a proclamation and a person's reputation.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Luther's Bible has Ein jglicher bleibe in dem ruff, darinnen er beruffen ist (“let every man abide in the calling wherein he was called”), and the mystics and Luther stressed that God also calls people to worldly offices.^[6] From this the 16th century used Beruf for an appointment to an office and for a person's destined task; the sense “occupation by which one earns a living” arose in the 17th century and was fully developed only in the 19th.^[5][4] According to Paul the fading to a mere “activity” had not yet happened by the early 19th century.^[6]

Adelung (1793) gives first the solemn call to an office and God's call to people, and figuratively an inclination or inner urge to do something.^[9] The older meaning survives in phrases such as aus innerem Beruf.^[5] The adjective beruflich appeared in the middle of the 19th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1416 – Beruf means a legal appeal to a higher court.^[7]
• 15th century – Senses “summons, proclamation, reputation”.^[5]
• 16th century – Luther uses it for God's calling and for a worldly office.^[5][6]
• 17th century – The sense “occupation” begins to appear.^[4][5]
• 1793 – Adelung records the call to an office and an inner urge.^[9]
• Mid-19th century – beruflich is formed.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An occupation, usually one that has been learned, by which one earns one's living; a profession or trade: Er arbeitet seit zwanzig Jahren in seinem Beruf.^[2][1]
2. (formal, dated) A vocation, an inner calling.^[2][1]

Word family

• beruflich
• berufstätig
• Berufsschule
• Freiberufler

Related words

• berufen
• Berufung
• rufen

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 112
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ a b Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 4, 1037
8. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
9. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf