Etymologically
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Firma

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Pronunciation

  • Germany: /fɪrma/, [ˈfɪʁ.mä], [ˈfɪɐ̯.mä][1]

Forms

Firma f (genitive Firma, plural Firmen)[1] The plural is Firmen, rarely Firmas.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian firma (“binding signature”), borrowed in the early 18th century.[3][4][2][5] The Italian noun belongs to firmare (“to sign, to ratify by signature”), from Latin firmō (“to make firm, confirm”), which by the 6th century also meant “to validate by signature”, from firmus (“firm, strong”).[3][2][6] It is related to firm and to English firm.[3][1]

Kluge explains it from the history of trade: medieval companies were groups of persons whose name changed when a partner died, and when firms arose that outlived their members, the legally binding signature came to stand for the firm itself.[5] Kluge thinks this happened first in Spain, passing to England, Germany and the Netherlands, while Italian kept the sense “signature”.[5] Pfeifer also takes the German development to follow the English noun, itself apparently from Spanish, while Duden has the Italian word itself come to name the business.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1705, in the sense “the name or signature of a merchant”: was für einer firma ich fidiren solle “which firm (signature) I should trust”.[7] A merchants' dictionary of 1733 defines it as the handwritten signature, “now and then the business itself”, and Firma geben as “to give power to sign”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Through the 18th century the sense moved from the signature to the registered trade name and then to the business itself.[3][8][2] Goethe, writing as a lawyer in 1774, still uses it for the binding signature or trade name of a house.[5] Figuratively, unter der Firma of someone meant “under the name or banner of”, common in the 19th century, as in Goethe's unter seiner Firma.[7][8] Kluge notes rival Italian terms used in German too: ditta (Latin dicta) and ragione, which gave the Ragionenbuch “commercial register”.[5]

Hungarian took firma in 1794 for a shop sign, and Romanian firmă and Turkish firma come from German.[9][1]

Timeline

  • 1705 – First record, “name or signature of a merchant”.[7]
  • 1733 – Defined as a merchant's signature and occasionally the business.[2]
  • 1774 – Goethe uses it for the trade name of a house.[5]
  • 1794 – Hungarian firma “shop sign”.[9]
  • 1869 – It appears in the trade law of the North German Confederation.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A company, a commercial or industrial business: bei einer Firma in Köln arbeiten.[10][1]
  2. (economics, law) The registered trade name of a business, abbreviated Fa.[10][1]
  3. (colloquial, derogatory) A crew, a lot: das ist ja eine feine Firma![10][11]
  • firm
  • firmieren

Usage notes

The jocular colloquial die Firma dankt means “no, thank you”.[10] In East German slang die Firma was the state security service.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 296
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ 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. 9, 529
  8. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag