Wettbewerb

Forms

Wettbewerb m (genitive Wettbewerbes or Wettbewerbs, plural Wettbewerbe)^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from German Wette (“bet, wager”) + bewerben (“to compete for”), formed in the 19th century as a German replacement for Konkurrenz, after French concurrence.^[2][3][4][5] Older formations of the same kind are the verbs wettwerben and mitbewerben.^[2]

The first part is Middle High German wette, Old High German wetti (“pledge”), Proto-Germanic *wadją (“pledge, surety”), also found in Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌹 (wadi, “pledge”), Old Norse veð and Old English wedd.^[6][7] Outside Germanic it matches Latin vas (“surety, bail”) and Lithuanian vadúoti (“to redeem a pledge”).^[6][5] The word first meant a pledge or stake and then a wager, and as the first part of compounds such as Wettlauf, Wettkampf and Wettstreit it came to mean a contest.^[6][4] The second part belongs to the verb “to compete for”, from werben, whose oldest sense was “to turn, move about”.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms' dictionary records Wettbewerb as a new word of the 19th century for competition, which spread quickly in public life as a catchword of liberal economic and social theory, especially in freier Wettbewerb “free competition”.^[2] Its earliest quotations come from Bismarck, of the rivalry between Prussia, Austria and the middle states for public opinion, and in Gustav Freytag, of free competition in trade.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the late 19th century freier Wettbewerb was a slogan of liberal economic life, quoted from Fontane, and after 1945 it became a mark of the Marktwirtschaft.^[3] In the newest language, the Grimms' dictionary notes, the word spread to other fields and often took the place of Wetteifer, Wettkampf and Wettstreit, and Paul names art and architecture, where a Wettbewerb is a contest for the best design.^[2][3] The legal term unlauterer Wettbewerb “unfair competition” names business methods that the courts do not allow.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 19th century – Wettbewerb is formed as a German word for Konkurrenz.^[2][4]
• 1886 – Gustav Freytag writes that no human activity needs free competition as much as trade.^[2]
• Late 19th century – freier Wettbewerb becomes a catchword of liberal economics.^[3]
• 1898 – A Leipzig newspaper speaks of unlauterer Wettbewerb.^[2]
• After 1945 – The word becomes a mark of the market economy.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A competition or contest in which several people try to give the best performance and win, with a set task: Der Chor gewann einen Wettbewerb in Wien.^[9][1]
2. (economics) Competition between businesses for market share and profit; Konkurrenz: Zwischen den Fluggesellschaften herrscht scharfer Wettbewerb.^[9]

Word family

• Wettbewerber

Related words

• Wette
• bewerben
• werben
• Konkurrenz

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 29, 663
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 931
5. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 984
7. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 982
9. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag