Etymologically
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Stadtrat

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Pronunciation

  • [ˈʃtatˌʁaːt][1]

Forms

Stadtrat m (genitive Stadtrates or Stadtrats, plural Stadträte)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from German Stadt + Rat, “town” and “council”.[1][2] The compound already existed in Middle High German as statrāt (“town council, meeting of the town council”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German statrāt meant both the town council and a meeting of it.[3] The Grimms' dictionary distinguishes three uses: the act of holding council for the good of the town, the body that holds such deliberations, and a single member of that body.[4]

Semantic evolution

Early modern dictionaries record the word for the town's governing body: Stieler (1691) glosses it with Latin magistratus oppidanus and senatus civium is the gloss in Frisch.[4] Schiller and Freytag use it for the councils of late medieval towns, and Brentano for an individual councillor.[4] In modern German it is both the elected representative body and executive organ of a town and the title of one of its members.[5]

Timeline

  • Middle High German – statrāt “town council” is recorded.[3]
  • 1691 – Stieler's dictionary lists stadtraht for the town magistracy and for a single councillor.[4]
  • 1702 – Kramer's German–Italian dictionary renders it as senato cittadino.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The town or city council, the elected representative body and highest executive organ of a town.[5][1]
  2. A councillor, a member of a town council (feminine Stadträtin).[5][1]

Word family

  • Stadträtin

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ 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. 17, 491
  5. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag