Verwaltung

Pronunciation

• /fɛʁˈvaltʊŋ/, [fɛɐ̯ˈvaltʰʊŋ]^[1]

Forms

Verwaltung f (genitive Verwaltung, plural Verwaltungen)^[1]

Etymology

It is a derivation from German verwalten + -ung, recorded since the 15th century.^[2][1][3][4] The verb, Middle High German verwalten “to have in one's power, take care of”, is a prefix derivation of walten, Middle High German walten, Old High German waltan, Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”), an originally reduplicating strong verb also found in Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 (waldan), Old Norse valda and Old English wealdan.^[5][2][6]

Kluge and Pfeifer take the verb as a dental present of a root meaning “to be strong, rule”, the root that without the extension is in Latin valeō (“to be strong”) and Tocharian B walo (“king”).^[5][2] The same extended form is in Lithuanian valdýti (“to rule”) and Old Church Slavonic власти (vlasti, “to rule”), but these may be borrowings from Germanic.^[5][6] Kroonen reconstructs the root as Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- and thinks the dental suffix was added within Germanic.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first records, from the 15th century, Verwaltung meant the office or task of administering, the lawful power entrusted to someone, often over other people's affairs such as estates, property or a guardianship.^[4][3] The earliest quotation in Wortgeschichte digital is from the Württemberg Landesordnung printed in Tübingen in 1552.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Sixteenth-century dictionaries (Alberus 1540, Frisius, Maaler) render it with Latin administratio, curatio, procuratio and gubernatio.^[3] Older writers also used it for the function of an organ of the body or the duty of an office in general.^[3]

With the growth of bureaucracy from the 18th century the word came to be associated above all with the state and its authorities, and in the 19th century it acquired the concrete sense of the administering body or office itself.^[4][2] Compounds such as Selbstverwaltung, Verwaltungsstaat and Verwaltungsapparat reflect this.^[4]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German waltan “to rule” is first recorded.^[5]
• 15th century – First record of Verwaltung.^[3][2]
• 1552 – The Württemberg Landesordnung uses the word.^[4]
• 19th century – Verwaltung comes to mean the administering authority.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. administration, management: the act of administering something: Die Stiftung steht unter städtischer Verwaltung.^[7][1]
2. The administrative office or department of a firm or institution, and the rooms or building that house it: Er arbeitet in der Verwaltung des Krankenhauses.^[7][8]
3. The public administration as a whole: die öffentliche Verwaltung.^[7][8]

Word family

• Selbstverwaltung
• Stadtverwaltung
• Verwaltungsapparat

Related words

• verwalten
• Verwalter
• walten
• Gewalt
• Anwalt

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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. 25, 2105
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 970
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org