Etymologically
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Interview

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɪntɐˌvjuː/[1]

Forms

Interview n (genitive Interviews, plural Interviews)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English interview, adopted about 1870 from the language of American journalists.[2][3][4] The English noun is an anglicised form of French entrevue (“meeting”), a noun derived from entrevoir (“to see each other briefly, meet”), from voir (“to see”), ultimately Latin videō (“to see”) with inter (“between”).[4][2][5] The sense “questioning by a reporter” developed in American English with the methods of journalism;[2][6] Paul dates it there to 1869.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The German Fremdwörterbuch calls it a young, properly American journalists' word that was naturalised about 1870.[3] In 1875 Gutzkow wrote that he had not travelled as an Interviewer like a pushy correspondent of the New York Herald.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The meaning remained the journalistic conversation, usually with a well-known person and meant for publication; it was later extended to the social sciences, as a means of gathering data, and to medicine and psychology.[6][7][8] The verb interviewen is dated by Paul to 1865, while the German Fremdwörterbuch quotes it from 1886.[6][3] Hungarian borrowed the word as interjú in 1880.[9]

Timeline

  • 1869 – The journalistic sense is recorded in English.[6]
  • c. 1870 – The word is adopted into German.[2][3]
  • 1875 – Gutzkow uses Interviewer.[3]
  • 1880 – Hungarian interjú.[9]
  • 1886 – interviewt in Katscher and Stinde.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An interview by a reporter of the press, radio or television, usually with a well-known person: Der Trainer gab nach dem Spiel ein kurzes Interview.[8][1]
  2. (sociology) Systematic questioning of selected people for statistical purposes.[8][7]
  3. (psychology, medicine) Methodical questioning of a patient for diagnosis.[8]

Word family

  • interviewen
  • Interviewer

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 449
  5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 397
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de