beschäftigen

Forms

beschäftigen (third-person singular present beschäftigt, past tense beschäftigte, past participle beschäftigt, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is a verb formed with the prefix be- from the adjective Middle High German scheftec (“active, busy”), also scheftic, which belongs to schaffen in the sense “to work”.^[2][3][4] The Duden dictionaries name the Central German form of that adjective, “busy, active, diligent”.^[5][6] Pfeifer and the revised Grimms' dictionary think it was formed under the influence of Middle Low German bescheftich (“busy, industrious”) and of the rare bescheften (“to be busy, to occupy oneself”).^[3][7] The same derivative of that verb with a /t/ is found in Geschäft.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge, Pfeifer and Paul date the verb to the first half of the 17th century, first in the reflexive sense “to occupy oneself with something”.^[2][3][8] The revised Grimms' dictionary has an earlier example in a letter of Primus Truber of 1564, which excuses the gentlemen beim crabatischen druck beschäftigten (busy with the Croatian printing).^[7] The simple Middle High German bescheften is recorded about 1220.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From “to be busy with something” the verb came to mean, in the 18th century, “to give someone something to do”.^[3] Adelung called it a word of the more refined style.^[10] The sense “to employ” in a trade or factory follows: the Grimms' dictionary gives the example of a factory that employs a hundred workers.^[11][8] The negative unbeschäftigt came to mean “unemployed” in working life.^[8] The noun Beschäftigung is first recorded in 1749, in Lessing's Der Freigeist.^[8] Kant spoke of beschäftigter Müßiggang (busy idleness).^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – Middle High German bescheften “to be busy”.^[9]
• 1564 – Early record in a letter of Primus Truber.^[7]
• First half of the 17th century – The reflexive verb comes into general use.^[3][8]
• 1685 – Abraham a Sancta Clara writes of Martha, too busy with the ladle.^[7]
• 1749 – First record of Beschäftigung, in Lessing.^[8]
• 18th century – The transitive sense “to give someone something to do”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive, with mit) To occupy oneself with something, devote one's time to it: Sie beschäftigt sich gern mit alten Landkarten.^[6][1]
2. (reflexive) To deal with a question or problem, think it over for some time: Der Ausschuss wird sich mit der Beschwerde beschäftigen.^[6][1]
3. To preoccupy, keep someone's mind busy: Diese Frage beschäftigt mich seit Wochen.^[6]
4. To employ, have as staff: Die Firma beschäftigt zweihundert Leute.^[6][1]
5. To keep someone busy, give someone something to do: die Gäste mit Spielen beschäftigen.^[6]

Word family

• Beschäftigung
• beschäftigt
• unbeschäftigt

Related words

• schaffen
• Geschäft
• geschäftig

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 113
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 142
6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b c d Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 4, 1051
8. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
11. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1544