Parlament

Forms

Parlament n (genitive Parlamentes or Parlaments, plural Parlamente)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German parlament, borrowed from Old French parlement (“speech, discussion”), borrowed in the second half of the 13th century, probably under the influence of Medieval Latin parlamentum (“solemn discussion”), from which it also took its neuter gender.^[2][3][4] The French noun is formed on parler (“to speak”).^[2][5] Kluge traces that verb, through Late Latin paraulāre, to Late Latin parabolō (“to speak”), formed on parabola (“word”), which comes from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison, parable”), used in the Greek Bible for “saying, word”.^[4][6]

The modern sense “representative assembly” was taken over from English parliament, the Anglo-Norman name of the English assembly, from the early 14th century;^[4][2] Kluge therefore calls the political word a loan from English in a Latinised form.^[4][2] Paul and Duden date this sense in German to the end of the 17th century.^[7][5] In France the corresponding institution was the Estates General, while the courts of that name were the highest courts of justice.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German parlament meant “discussion, disputation, assembly”.^[8][2] The first quotation is from Hugo von Trimberg's Renner (about 1300): und lere sie denne ein argument oder ein ander parlament, “and then teach them an argument or another disputation”.^[3][8] Kluge notes that in the general sense “speech” the word remained rare.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From late Middle High German, and more from the 16th century, Parlament named the council of a town, the estates of a country, a court or a legislative body, and, for France, the highest court of a province.^[3][9] Luther and Sebastian Franck use it so, and a chronicle of 1538 says that in 1344 the whole empire came to Frankfurt inns perlament.^[9] The form perlament is recorded in the late 15th and 16th centuries, first in Low German.^[3] Older German also used it for any noisy gathering and even for idle talk.^[9]

The word owes its modern meaning to the English parliament.^[2][10] Pfeifer says it became current for German institutions only with the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848, and Wortgeschichte digital links this widening to the revolution of that year and the elections to the first German national assembly.^[2][10] parlamentarisch is recorded from the end of the 18th century, after English parliamentary.^[2][10] Parlamentarismus (mid-19th century) goes back to French parlementarisme, a mocking word of Napoleon III (1851), which soon lost its edge in German.^[7][2] Hungarian took parlament in 1612, at first for the high court in Paris.^[11]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 13th century – Middle High German parlament is borrowed from Old French.^[2][3]
• c. 1300 – Hugo von Trimberg uses parlament “disputation” in the Renner.^[3]
• Late 15th century – The form perlament appears, first in Low German.^[3]
• 1575 – Fischart's Geschichtklitterung is the first record that Wortgeschichte digital gives.^[10]
• 1612 – Hungarian parlament is first recorded.^[11]
• End of the 17th century – The word takes on the sense “representative assembly” from English.^[7][5]
• End of the 18th century – parlamentarisch appears.^[2][10]
• 1848 – The Frankfurt Parliament makes the word current for German institutions.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. parliament: an elected representative assembly with deliberative and legislative functions.^[12][1]
2. The building in which a parliament meets.^[12][1]

Word family

• Parlamentarier
• parlamentarisch
• Parlamentarismus

Related words

• parlieren
• Parlamentär
• Parabel
• English parliament

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 684
5. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 610
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c 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 Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 207
9. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1463
10. ^ a b c d e f Wortgeschichte digital (2020–), Zentrum für digitale Lexikographie der deutschen Sprache (ZDL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, zdl.org/wb/wortgeschichten
11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
12. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag