Kommission

Forms

Kommission f (genitive Kommission, plural Kommissionen)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin commissio (“order, summons”), a legal and administrative term borrowed in the 15th century.^[2][3][4] The Medieval Latin senses developed from the classical noun for “union, connection”, derived from committō (“to bring together, entrust”), from con- and mittō (“to send”).^[2][4][5] The same word is Dutch commissie, English commission, French commission and Swedish kommission.^[2]

Pfeifer suggests that the sense “committee”, found from the same time, may owe something to the English word, which meant an authorized body from the late 15th century.^[3] The commercial sense follows Italian commissione.^[3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1447 from the Henneberg charters uses the word for a body charged with investigating or arranging a matter.^[6] About 1450 Hermann von Sachsenheim's poem Die Mörin has it as a legal term for an order or summons: “On alle recht und commission” (“without any right or summons”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

As a word of the law courts, Commission meant an order, a command or a summons in the 15th century; it became a common word for “order, task” only in the 17th century, and that sense lasted until the 19th century.^[6][3] In southern Germany it still means an errand or a purchase.^[6]

From the 16th century merchants used it, after the Italian model, for business done on someone else's account: Lorenz Meder's Handelbuch of 1558 describes a German merchant giving his Italian agent a commission to buy coins.^[6][7] The agent who does such business is the Kommissionär, recorded from the 17th century after French commissionnaire.^[3] The sense “committee” remained alongside these and is now the main one, as in Untersuchungskommission.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1447 – First record, for a body charged with investigating a matter.^[6]
• c. 1450 – Hermann von Sachsenheim uses it as a legal term for a summons.^[6]
• 1558 – First record of the commercial sense, in Meder's Handelbuch.^[6]
• 17th century – Kommission “order, task” becomes common;^[6][3] Kommissionär is recorded.^[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A commission or committee: a body officially charged with a particular task: Der Stadtrat hat eine Kommission für den Hochwasserschutz gebildet.^[8][1]
2. A panel of experts: Eine Kommission aus Juristen prüft den Entwurf.^[8][9]
3. (commerce, dated) An order for goods;^[8][10] in Kommission geben, nehmen, to hand over or take goods to be sold on the owner's account.^[8][10]
4. (dated, southern Germany) An errand or purchase.^[8][6]

Word family

• Kommissionär

Related words

• Kommissar
• Mission
• kompromittieren
• English commission

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 517
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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
7. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
10. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag