Mitarbeiter

Forms

Mitarbeiter m (genitive Mitarbeiters, plural Mitarbeiter, feminine Mitarbeiterin)^[1]

Etymology

It is from German mit + Arbeiter, formed by Luther as a loan translation of the New Testament word Ancient Greek συνεργός (sunergós, “fellow worker”).^[2][3][4] Paul places it in Luther's version of 1 Corinthians 3:9 in the edition of 1546, and compares Medieval Latin collaborator.^[3]

The first part, mit, is the old adverb and preposition, Old High German mit(i), Proto-Germanic *midi (“with”), also found in Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌸 (miþ) and Old English mid; it is probably related to Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “among, with”).^[5][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Luther's Bible the word renders Paul's description of the apostles as God's fellow workers (1 Corinthians 3:9), “one who works together with others on the same task”.^[3][6][2]

Semantic evolution

Kaspar Stieler in 1691 used it to Germanise College “colleague”.^[3] In the 18th and early 19th centuries it was often used of contributors to a periodical or a learned work: Herder speaks of becoming a contributor to the Literaturbriefe, and Goethe of the contributors to a journal.^[7] Adelung defined it as a person who does the same work as another, especially on the same object.^[6] Today it usually means a member of a firm or institution, an employee.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1546 – Luther's Bible uses Mitarbeiter for Greek synergós (1 Corinthians 3:9).^[3]
• 1691 – Stieler records it as a German word for College.^[3]
• 1793 – Adelung records the feminine Mitarbeiterinn.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An employee, a member of the staff of a firm or institution.^[8][1]
2. A contributor to an institution, a newspaper or a learned work: ein freier Mitarbeiter is a freelance.^[8]
3. A collaborator or assistant who works with someone, often in a dependent position.^[8][1]

Word family

• Mitarbeiterin
• mitarbeiten

Related words

• Arbeiter
• mit

Usage notes

With a possessive pronoun (meine Mitarbeiter) the word is used only by a superior, meaning the staff under them.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 627
6. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 2338
8. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag