Etymologically
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Geschäftsführer

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈʃɛft͡sˌfyːʁɐ/[1]

Forms

Geschäftsführer m (genitive Geschäftsführers, plural Geschäftsführer, feminine Geschäftsführerin)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from German Geschäft (“business”) + -s- + Führer (“leader”).[1][2] The first part is a noun formed from schaffen “to work”,[3] and the second is the agent noun of führen, Middle High German vüeren, Old High German fuoren, from Proto-Germanic *fōrijaną, the causative of fahren.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Campe's dictionary (1807–1811) records Geschäftsführer as one who conducts or manages business for others, an agent or factor, especially for a prince or a state.[5] Paul counts it among the many compounds of Geschäft of the 19th century that Campe lists, beside Geschäftsfreund and Geschäftszimmer.[6]

Semantic evolution

The Grimms' dictionary defines the word as one who conducts another's business, and notes that in commercial law it often stood for a Disponent or Prokurist.[7] Goethe used it for people charged with private or official affairs, such as those he left behind to look after his matters in Weimar.[8] Today it chiefly means the manager of a company, especially of a GmbH, and in politics a parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer is the member of a parliamentary group who handles its organisation and tactics.[9]

Timeline

  • Early 19th century – Campe records Geschäftsführer as an agent who manages business for others.[5]
  • 1820 – Goethe writes of the Geschäftsführer he left in Weimar.[8]
  • 19th century – The Grimms' dictionary notes its use in commercial law.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A managing director, the head of a business, especially of a limited company (GmbH): Die neue Geschäftsführerin stellte sich den Mitarbeitern vor.[9][1]
  2. A person charged with looking after the legal and business interests of someone else, an association or an organisation.[9]
  3. (politics) parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer: the member of a parliamentary group in charge of its organisation and tactics.[9]

Word family

  • Geschäftsführerin
  • Geschäftsführung

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 352
  4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 322
  5. ^ a b Campe, Joachim Heinrich (1807–1811), Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, 5 vols., Braunschweig: Schulbuchhandlung
  6. ^ 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 3826
  8. ^ a b Goethe-Wörterbuch (1978–), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen and Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer
  9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag