Etymologically
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Geschäft

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈʃɛft/, [ɡəˈʃɛːft], /ɡeˈʃɛft/[1]
  • Germany: [ɡəˈʃeːft][1]
  • Austria: [ɡ̥e-][1]

Forms

Geschäft n (genitive Geschäftes or Geschäfts, plural Geschäfte, diminutive Geschäftchen n or Geschäftlein n)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German geschefte, also gescheft and gescheffede, an abstract noun formed from the weak verb schaffen “to work, do”.[2][3][4] Kluge sees two formations behind it, which merged: a ti-abstract meaning “creation, creature”, as in Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌺𐌰𐍆𐍄𐍃 (gaskafts), Old English gesceaft and Old High German giscaft, and a derivative in -ida.[2] Wiktionary derives it directly from the Old High German noun and Proto-West Germanic *gaskafti (“creation”).[1]

The weak verb is scaffōn (“to arrange, order”), from *skapōn, beside the strong skepfen (“to create”).[5][1] Kluge notes that the strong and weak verb often cannot be told apart.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German gescheffede and geschefte are recorded from the 12th century, meaning “occupation, work, matter”, and also “order, command”, “last will” and “agreement, contract”.[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Pfeifer explains the word as meaning properly “what is to be done”, a task or activity.[3] The older sense “creation, creature” was still used by Luther: die gescheffte deiner hende “the works of thy hands” (Psalm 92:5).[7] In Upper German it meant a command and a last will, the latter already in the Schwabenspiegel.[8]

Only in New High German did Geschäft become an important word of trade.[4] Paul traces its use for public affairs in the 18th century (Staatsgeschäfte), for the practice of a profession and of trade since Early New High German, and in the 19th century for a business deal, the profit made by it and the firm itself; the sense “shop” followed in the later 19th century.[9][3] Since the 18th century it has also been a euphemism for relieving oneself.[9] Derivatives include geschäftig (early 14th century), geschäftlich (15th century according to Pfeifer, the 16th according to Duden), Geschäftsträger (18th century, after French chargé d'affaires) and Geschäftsmann (about 1800, a loan translation of homme d'affaires).[3][4][9]

The word was borrowed into Hungarian as seft (1832), and into Polish (geszeft, 1880) and Russian with the sense “shady deal, swindle”.[10]

Timeline

  • 12th century – Middle High German gescheffede, geschefte.[2]
  • Early 14th century – First record of geschäftig.[3]
  • 15th century – First record of geschäftlich.[3]
  • 18th century – Geschäftsträger renders French chargé d'affaires.[3][4]
  • c. 1800 – Geschäftsmann as a loan translation of homme d'affaires.[4]
  • 1819 – Geschäftsordnung as a parliamentary term.[9]
  • 1832 – Hungarian seft is first recorded.[10]
  • Later 19th century – The sense “shop” appears.[9][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A deal, commercial transaction: Geschäft ist Geschäft “business is business”.[11][1]
  2. Business, trade, sales: Das Geschäft läuft schlecht.[11][1]
  3. profit from a deal: ein gutes Geschäft machen.[11][12]
  4. A firm, company.[11][1]
  5. A shop, store.[11][1]
  6. A task, matter to be dealt with.[11][12]
  7. (colloquial, euphemistic) The act of relieving oneself.[12][9]

Word family

  • geschäftig
  • Geschäftigkeit
  • geschäftlich
  • Geschäftsmann
  • Geschäftsträger
  • Geschäftsordnung
  • Geschäftsführer
  • Gschaftlhuber
  • Fachgeschäft

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 352
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 792
  6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 3814
  8. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 2, 602
  9. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  11. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  12. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org