Etymologically
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Konzern

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Pronunciation

  • /kɔnˈt͡sɛʁn/[1]

Forms

Konzern m (genitive Konzernes or Konzerns, plural Konzerne)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English concern (“business, firm; interest”), a noun from the English verb meaning “to relate to, affect”.[2][3][4] The verb comes through French concerner (“to concern”) from Medieval Latin concernō (“to regard, have to do with”), a compound of Latin con- and cernō (“to sift, distinguish”).[2][4] Pfeifer allows that English took it directly from Late Latin, where it meant “to mix”, and Duden explains the Medieval Latin verb as originally “to mix different things together”.[3][4] Before it meant a business, the English noun meant an affair, a relation or a business connection.[3][5] The same word is Dutch concern, Swedish koncern and Norwegian konsern.[2] Other German words of the same Latin verb are Dezernent, Dekret, diskret and Sekret.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer dates the borrowing to the beginning of the 20th century, and Paul notes that the Duden spelling dictionary first listed the word in 1915.[3][6] From the first it meant a grouping of companies under central management.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a term of economics and law, for companies joined by shared capital or management into one economic unit while each remains legally independent.[3][5] Compounds such as Konzernleitung, Konzernspitze and Konzerntochter are common.[6] French borrowed the German word as konzern in 1924.[7]

Timeline

  • Early 20th century – Konzern is borrowed from English.[3][6]
  • 1915 – The Duden dictionary lists the word.[6]
  • 1924 – French takes it over as konzern.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (economics) A group of companies that form one economic unit under joint management while each keeps its legal independence; a corporation: Der Konzern hat Werke in zwölf Ländern.[5][1]

Word family

  • Konzernchef
  • Konzernleitung
  • Dezernent
  • Dekret
  • diskret
  • Krise
  • English concern

References

  1. ^ a b c 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. 530
  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, p. 467
  5. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ a b c d e 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 Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de