Etymologically
Log in

Engagement

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

Pronunciation

  • /ãɡaʒ(ə)ˈmãː/[1]

Forms

Engagement n (genitive Engagements, plural Engagements)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French engagement (“pledging, commitment”), a noun of engager (“to bind, pledge”), properly “to take into one's pay”, which was formed from gage (“pledge, wages”) with the prefix en-.[2][3] Kluge dates the borrowing to the 17th century, and the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch to the middle of that century.[2][4] The verb engagieren came into German at the same time, with the ending -ieren given to foreign verbs.[3][5] The sense “political or military commitment” was taken again from English engagement, with an English pronunciation.[2] The same French word was borrowed as Dutch engagement, Swedish engagemang and Norwegian Bokmål engasjement.[2] Gage “fee, salary” is the French base word.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The revised Grimms' dictionary has an isolated early record of 1656 in a letter of the Elector Palatine Charles Louis, in the general sense “binding obligation”: daß ewer churfl. durchl. daß engagement mit mir bereüwen solten (that Your Electoral Highness should regret the engagement with me).[6][4] A glossary of 1695 renders it Dienstannehmung, “taking into service”.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense “obligation, tie” the word narrowed to engagement in service: in 1733 it is used of recruiting soldiers; from the late 18th century it was used above all of an actor's or singer's contract with a theatre.[4][6] Goethe writes in 1795 of a man who had to look for an Engagement to please his wife, who hoped for applause on the stage.[6] Pfeifer dates the theatrical sense to the early 19th century.[3] From the late 18th century it could also mean an invitation to dance, now dated.[4] From the later 19th century, in business, it meant a financial commitment or investment.[4][7]

The sense now most common, personal commitment to a cause out of conviction, dates from the middle of the 20th century.[3] It follows the participle engagiert, which from the middle of the 19th century meant “personally involved”; from it the reflexive sich engagieren “to commit oneself” developed at the beginning of the 20th century.[3]

Timeline

  • Mid-17th century – Borrowed from French.[4][2]
  • 1656 – Isolated record in the sense “binding obligation”.[6]
  • 1733 – Used of the engagement of soldiers.[6]
  • Late 18th century – An actor's or singer's contract;[4] Goethe uses it in 1795.[6]
  • Later 19th century – A financial commitment in business.[4]
  • Mid-20th century – “Personal commitment to a cause”.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Personal commitment to a cause, from conviction or a sense of obligation: ihr Engagement für den Tierschutz.[7][1]
  2. A professional engagement or contract, especially of an actor, singer or artiste: Der Tenor bekam ein Engagement in Hamburg.[7][1]
  3. (dated) An invitation to dance.[7][8]
  4. (stock exchange) An obligation to take and pay for securities bought, or to deliver those sold, on a fixed date.[7][8]
  5. (fencing) Contact between the blades.[7]

Word family

  • engagieren
  • engagiert

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 246
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f g h i Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ a b c d e f 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. 8, 1318
  7. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag