Etymologically
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Polizei

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Pronunciation

  • [ˌpo.liˈt͡saɪ̯][1]

Forms

Polizei f (genitive Polizei, plural Polizeien)[1] Early New High German wrote policy, polizey and policey; the Alemannic policy keeps the older long /iː/ that became the diphthong of Polizei.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin policia (“state administration”), from Late Latin polītīa, from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “citizenship, administration, constitution”), from πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”), from πόλις (pólis, “city, state”).[4][3][1] Pfeifer also names Italian polizia (“city administration, public order”) as a possible source.[3] Wahrig points out that Politik, from the same Greek root, came through French, while this word was taken directly from Latin.[5] The same word is Dutch politie, English police and French police.[4]

The sources differ on the date of borrowing: Kluge and Wiktionary's German edition give the 14th century, Pfeifer, Duden and the Grimms' dictionary the 15th, and Paul's first record is from Nuremberg in 1464.[4][6][3][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1464 a Nuremberg text speaks of pollitzey und regirung, and Albrecht von Eyb (1472/73) of strengthening pollicey und regimentz: the word meant good order in the community, government and administration.[8] From the 15th to the 17th century it covered government, administration and the supervision of morals in state and town, together with the ordinances that regulated them, and even the state itself.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Compounds such as Polizeiordnung (16th century), originally “public order”, came to mean “order kept by the police”.[4][8] The modern sense developed in the 18th century, when judicial and police matters were separated and special officials were appointed, as the Policey-Inspector in Prussia (1717); Justi made Policey-Wissenschaft an academic subject in 1756.[8] The word then passed by metonymy from the administration of the state to its executive organ, the police force (around 1800).[4][3]

The individual officer was at first a Polizeidiener (1741), then a Polizeisoldat or, after English policeman, Polizeimann, until Polizist (1843) prevailed beside Schutzmann.[8] Polizeistaat became a hostile catchword in the 1830s.[8] Slang names followed in the 19th century, among them Polyp and Polente (1856), which Pfeifer explains as a cant alteration influenced by Yiddish paltin “castle, palace”.[8][3] Clipped compounds such as Kripo, Schupo and Gestapo (1933) belong to the 20th century.[8][3] The German word was borrowed into Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Romanian, and Czech has policajt “policeman”.[1][9]

Timeline

  • 1464 – pollitzey “good order, government” is recorded in Nuremberg.[8]
  • 16th century – Polizeiordnung is recorded.[8]
  • 1717 – A Policey-Inspector is appointed in Prussia.[8]
  • 1756 – Justi writes of Policey-Wissenschaft.[8]
  • Around 1800 – Polizei names the police force.[3]
  • 1830s – Polizeistaat becomes a catchword.[8]
  • 1843 – Polizist is recorded.[8]
  • 1856 – The slang form Bolente is recorded.[8]
  • 1933 – Gestapo is formed.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The police, the state or municipal institution that maintains public order and security, by force if necessary.[10][1]
  2. (collective) Police officers: Die Polizei sperrte die Brücke.[10][11]
  3. A police station or office: Anzeige bei der Polizei erstatten.[10][11]
  4. (obsolete) The administration of a state.[10][2]

Word family

  • Polizist
  • Polizistin
  • polizeilich
  • Polente
  • Politesse
  • Kriminalpolizei
  • Schutzpolizei
  • Polizeistaat

Usage notes

Die Polizei, dein Freund und Helfer is a set saying, and dümmer, als die Polizei erlaubt “stupider than the police allow” is a jocular way of calling someone very stupid.[10] A separate, obsolete Polizei “politeness, good manners”, recorded in 1694, goes back to Medieval Latin policia “smoothness, elegance”, from Latin polire.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1981
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 714
  5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  6. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 639
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ 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. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag