Partner

Forms

Partner m (genitive Partners, plural Partner, feminine Partnerin)^[1] Older form with umlaut: Pärtner.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English partner, borrowed at the beginning of the 19th century.^[3][4][5] The English word, in use since the 14th century, is a reshaping after part of Middle English parcener (“partaker, joint heir”), from Old French parçonier (“partaker”).^[3][4][6] Pfeifer and Duden derive the French word from parçon (“division, share”), from Latin partītiō (“division”), while Kluge and Wahrig trace it to Medieval Latin partiōnārius (“one who has a share”).^[4][6][3][7] Both go back to partior (“to divide, share”), from pars (“part”).^[3][4] The DFWB and the Grimms' dictionary took the English word for a loan from Low German.^[5][2] The same word is Dutch partner, French partenaire and Swedish partner, and it is related to Partei.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Goethe's Dichtung und Wahrheit (1814): Friederike war sehr erfreut, an mir einen sehr geübten partner zu finden “was very pleased to find in me a well-practised partner”, meaning a dancing partner, and elsewhere a partner assigned by lot in a party game.^[5][2][8]

Semantic evolution

The word became common only in the second half of the 19th century, much of it in light fiction, from Rodenberg in 1863 and Freytag in 1879 to Fontane's Stechlin of 1897.^[5] It was used of partners at games, at dancing and in conversation, of a second in a duel, and in commercial language, and in sport from 1889.^[5][4][2] A form with umlaut, Pärtner, occurs in Rückert.^[2]

In the 20th century the sense “companion, comrade” grew, and compounds multiplied: Lebenspartner is recorded in 1929, Ausgehpartner and Reisepartnerin in 1930, and later Tarifpartner, Sozialpartner and Regierungspartner.^[8][5] The derivative Partnerschaft, first in Goethe after English partnership, now refers above all to a couple's relationship.^[8] Hungarian borrowed the word as Hungarian partner, recorded in 1854.^[9]

Timeline

• 14th century – English partner is in use.^[4]
• 1814 – Goethe uses Partner for a dancing partner in Dichtung und Wahrheit.^[5][8]
• 1854 – Hungarian partner is recorded.^[9]
• 1863 – The word appears in Rodenberg's fiction, the start of its wider use.^[5]
• 1889 – First record in sport.^[5]
• 1929 – First record of Lebenspartner.^[8]
• 1930 – First records of Ausgehpartner and Reisepartnerin.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who does something together with others, a partner in an activity: Sie sucht noch einen Partner für das Tennisdoppel. Also of states and organisations: Bündnispartner.^[10][1]
2. A person who lives with another in a close relationship: Sie lebt seit zehn Jahren mit ihrem Partner zusammen.^[10][11]
3. A fellow actor on stage or in a film.^[10]
4. (sport) An opponent.^[10]
5. A co-owner of a business, an associate: Er wurde Partner in einer Anwaltskanzlei.^[10][12]

Word family

• Partnerin
• Partnerschaft
• Lebenspartner
• Sozialpartner

Related words

• Partei
• English partner

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1480
3. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 686
4. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 619
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
12. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag