Präsident

Forms

Präsident m (genitive Präsidenten, plural Präsidenten, feminine Präsidentin)^[1] The older spelling was president.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French président, from Latin praesidēns (“presiding, commanding”), the present participle of praesideō (“to preside, lead, command”), used as a noun.^[3][4][5] That verb is formed from prae- (“before”) and sedeō (“to sit”), so that it first meant “to sit in front”.^[3][4][6] Kluge dates the borrowing to the 16th century;^[3][6] Wahrig derives the word directly from the Latin.^[3][6] The same word is Dutch president, English president and Swedish president.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the 16th century for the chair of a body such as an assembly or a court, and for a governor or administrator.^[7][4] The Grimms' dictionary quotes it from Sebastian Franck's world chronicle, who describes the four chambers of the Paris parlement, each with its president.^[2] It also quotes Roth's dictionary of 1571.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “head of state of a republic” is added in the modern dictionaries to the older senses “chair of a meeting” and “head of an important public body or institution”.^[4][5] The verb präsidieren was borrowed in the 16th century from French présider, and Präsidium in the 19th century from Latin praesidium.^[4][8] German Präsident was borrowed into Polish as prezydent.^[1]

Timeline

• 16th century – The word is borrowed from French;^[3][4] präsidieren also appears.^[3][4]
• 1571 – Roth's dictionary records president.^[2]
• 19th century – Präsidium is borrowed.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The president, head of state of a republic.^[5][1]
2. The chairman or head of an association, organization or institution: der Präsident des Fußballvereins.^[5][1]
3. The elected head of a university.^[5]

Word family

• Präsidentin
• präsidieren
• Präsidium
• Bundespräsident
• Ministerpräsident

Related words

• Residenz
• English president

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, 2073
3. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 720
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
8. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag