Etymologically
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komplett

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Pronunciation

  • /kɔmˈplɛt/[1]

Forms

komplett (strong nominative masculine singular kompletter, not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French complet, borrowed in the 17th century.[2][3][4] The French adjective goes back to Latin complētus (“full, complete”), the participle used as an adjective of compleō (“to fill up”).[2][3][5] The same loan is Dutch compleet, English complete and Swedish komplett.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word was first used in the army: in 1638 Mengering's Soldatenteufel complains of officers who pass off their regiments and companies as voll vnd complet, “full and complete”.[4]

Semantic evolution

Soon it was used by printers and musicians, of a complete set of parts or a complete year of a journal (Kuhnau 1700, Lessing 1750), and in general use, of persons from the end of the 18th century, and also as an adverb.[4] komplettieren “to complete” is recorded from the 17th century, after French compléter, and Komplet “a dress with a matching coat or jacket”, from French complet “a man's suit”, from the 20th century.[3][2] In colloquial German komplett is used as an emphatic “utterly”, and in Austria it means “full” of a tram or a course.[6][7] Hungarian borrowed it in 1814, in the sense “of sound mind”.[8]

Timeline

  • 1638 – First record, of complete military units.[4]
  • 17th century – komplettieren is first recorded.[3]
  • 1700 – Used of a complete set of musical parts.[4]
  • Late 18th century – Applied to persons.[4]
  • 1814 – Hungarian borrows komplett.[8]
  • 20th century – Komplet “dress with a matching coat” is borrowed.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. complete, with all its parts: Die Sammlung ist jetzt komplett.[6][1]
  2. entire, as a whole; all present: Das Haus wird komplett renoviert.[6]
  3. (colloquial) Utterly, totally: Das ist kompletter Unsinn.[6][7]
  4. (Austria) Full, with no seats left: Der Bus war komplett.[6][7]

Word family

  • komplettieren
  • Komplet
  • Plenum
  • Komplement

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 519
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 459
  6. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  7. ^ a b c Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de