Betrieb

Forms

Betrieb m (genitive Betriebes or Betriebs, plural Betriebe)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Low German bedrīf (“activity, pursuit”), which reached High German about 1600 and was adapted there to Trieb.^[2][3] Like the verb betreiben, from bedrīven, it came into the standard language from Low German and Dutch.^[3][2] Wiktionary calls the noun a calque of the Middle Low German word and notes that its vowel is a monophthong as in Low German, where a native form would have the diphthong of treiben; compare Dutch bedrijf.^[1] The Grimms' revised dictionary allows either a loan from Middle Low German or a derivation from the verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records, from about 1600, mean “instigation, prompting” and “purposeful activity”: Lupold von Wedel's house book writes of a king's brother acting auf betrieb der treulosen mutter “at the instigation of his faithless mother”.^[4] Kluge describes the first sense as simply “operating, working, activity”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Adelung records Betrieb as the noun of betreiben: the grazing of a wood or field with cattle, the carrying on of a business with the diligence it needs, and in some dialects “prompting”.^[5] The phrase auf Betrieb von “at the instance of” lasted into the 19th century: Bismarck still writes auf betrieb der conservativen partei in 1898.^[4]

Paul finds the word used only as a noun of action until the end of the 19th century, as in der Betrieb des Bergwerks and the phrases in Betrieb setzen and außer Betrieb.^[6] Towards 1900 it took on the concrete sense “business, firm, plant”, and colloquially “bustle, lively activity”.^[2][6][3] In 1899 the economist Liefmann explained that a factory, a craftsman's workshop or a shop was a Betrieb, and a ruling of the Reichsgericht in 1926 called it a community of employers and workers.^[6] Betriebsam “industrious” was still praise before the First World War, but now often means “overbusy”.^[6] Hungarian üzem (1862) is a calque of the German word, and the East German VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb) “state-owned enterprise” passed into English.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – Betrieb appears in High German in the sense “instigation”.^[4][2]
• 2nd half of the 18th century – betriebsam and Betriebsamkeit are recorded.^[2]
• 1793 – Adelung lists the senses “grazing with cattle” and “carrying on of a business”.^[5]
• 1862 – Hungarian üzem is formed after the German word.^[7]
• End of the 19th century – The senses “firm, plant” and “bustle” develop.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A business or enterprise that produces goods or provides services; a plant or works: Der Betrieb beschäftigt zweihundert Menschen.^[8][1]
2. The staff of such a business.^[8]
3. The operation or running of a machine, plant or service: Die Rolltreppe ist außer Betrieb.^[8][1]
4. (rare) The operating of something, as in running a vehicle.^[8]
5. (colloquial) bustle, lively activity, heavy traffic: Am Samstag ist in der Innenstadt viel Betrieb.^[8][9]
6. (archaic) Effort, instigation, as in Lessing.^[8]

Word family

• betriebsam
• Betriebsamkeit
• betrieblich
• Betriebsrat
• betriebsblind
• Betriebsklima

Related words

• betreiben
• treiben
• Trieb

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 116
4. ^ a b c d 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. 5, 1
5. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 944
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 Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
8. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org