Etymologically
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Wirtschaft

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈvɪʁtʃaft/[1]

Forms

Wirtschaft f (genitive Wirtschaft, plural Wirtschaften)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wirtschaft, inherited from Old High German wirtscaft, formed from German Wirt + -schaft, and so originally meant whatever belongs to the activity of a Wirt, who could be both the master of a house and a host or innkeeper.[2][3][4] This double sense of the base explains the later development both to “economy” and to “inn”.[2]

The word is confined to German and Dutch: the same formation is Old Saxon werdskepi (“hospitality, feast”), Middle Low German wertschap, Middle Dutch wertscap and Dutch waardschap (“visit, feast”).[3][4][5] The Grimms' dictionary takes the Scandinavian Danish vertskab and Swedish värdskap as borrowings of the Middle Low German noun.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wirtscaft is recorded in glosses of the 10th century and in Notker, meaning “hospitality, entertainment of guests, meal, feast”.[6][7][3] In Middle High German wirtschaft was the activity of a householder, host or innkeeper, and also a meal, a banquet or a festivity.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

To the old senses “hospitality, meal” were added “inn, tavern” in the 16th century and “household, management of a house or farm” in the 17th.[3][4] From the household the word widened to the whole of the institutions and activities that provide people with goods and services, and in the 19th century it became the usual term of economics.[4][3] Pfeifer traces the sense “the handling of economic means” back to the 15th century, and the ironic “disorder, mess” to the 18th.[3]

The adjective wirtschaftlich has its present meaning “economic; thrifty” from the first half of the 18th century.[4] German Wirtschaft was borrowed into Hungarian as vircsaft (1635) and into Czech as virčaft, both in the sense of disorderly management or a mess.[9]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Old High German wirtscaft in glosses and in Notker.[6][2]
  • 15th century – first uses in the sense “handling of economic means”.[3]
  • 16th century – Wirtschaft comes to mean an inn.[3][4]
  • 1635 – Hungarian vircsaft, borrowed from German, is recorded.[9]
  • 17th century – the sense “household, housekeeping” appears.[3][4]
  • 18th century – the colloquial sense “disorder” is recorded.[3]
  • 19th century – Wirtschaft becomes the usual word for the economy.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The economy: the institutions and activities concerned with the production and consumption of goods: Die Wirtschaft des Landes wächst wieder.[10][1]
  2. Short for Gastwirtschaft: an inn or pub: Nach der Wanderung kehrten wir in eine Wirtschaft ein.[10][1]
  3. Short for Landwirtschaft: a (small) farm.[10]
  4. A household, housekeeping: jemandem die Wirtschaft führen.[10]
  5. The management of economic means, economic activity.[10]
  6. (colloquial) A mess, disorder.[1][3]
  7. (colloquial) Short for Wirtschaftswissenschaft: economics as a subject.[1]

Word family

  • wirtschaften
  • wirtschaftlich
  • erwirtschaften
  • bewirtschaften
  • Gastwirtschaft
  • Landwirtschaft
  • Hauswirtschaft
  • Marktwirtschaft
  • Planwirtschaft
  • Wirtschaftswunder
  • Wirtschaftsflüchtling
  • Wirtschaftskrise
  • Wirtschaftsminister
  • Wirtschaftswissenschaft
  • Wirtschaftszweig
  • Wirt
  • bewirten

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 992
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 f g Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 936
  5. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 661
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 394
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b 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