offiziell German · revision 35136

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1792, Goethe|origins=la officium}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˌɔfiˈtsjɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''offiziell''' (strong nominative masculine singular offizieller, comparative offizieller, superlative am offiziellsten)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|officiel|t=official]], borrowed at the end of the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(DFWB) The French word goes back to [[la-lat|officiālis|t=belonging to duty or office]], from [[la|officium|t=duty, office]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(Duden GWDS 1999) Kluge explains the Latin noun as “the doing of work”, from [[m|la|opus|t=work]] and [[m|la|faciō|t=to do]].^(Kluge 2011|666)

+

+ Kluge and Pfeifer say that French took the adjective, in its political use, from [[en|official]].^(Kluge 2011|666)^(Pfeifer 1993) The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, however, notes that the English word in this sense is recorded only from the 1830s, later than the French and German words.^(DFWB) The Latin adjective appears directly in German only in compounds such as [[Offizialverteidiger]].^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Goethe's account of the 1792 campaign in France, which speaks of an ''officielle Erklärung'' of the French government about the [[m|en|assignat|alt=assignats]].^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002) Lichtenberg wrote of ''die zuverlässige, officielle Nachricht'' in 1798.^(DFWB)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the early 19th century it was common in politics and the press, for news from government sources, as in Görres (1819).^(DFWB) Börne remarked in 1823 that the philosophers and statesmen of his time had, like the French official paper, a small ''offiziell'' part and a very large unofficial one.^(DFWB) From “official” it came to mean “formal”, and its opposite [[inoffiziell]] was entered in the Duden of 1915.^(Paul 2002) Used as a noun, ''die Offiziellen'' are officials, for example the functionaries at a sports event.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1792 – Goethe writes of an ''officielle Erklärung'' (published 1822).^(DFWB)

+ * 1798 – Lichtenberg and Iffland use the word.^(DFWB)

+ * 1823 – Börne contrasts the ''offiziell'' and unofficial parts of a life.^(DFWB)

+ * 1915 – ''inoffiziell'' is entered in the Duden.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # On [[m|en|official]] business, in an official capacity: ''der offizielle Besuch der Ministerin in Warschau''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Issued or confirmed by an [[Behörde|alt=authority]] and therefore reliable: ''eine offizielle Mitteilung des Ministeriums''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|formal]], [[m|en|ceremonious]]: ''ein offizieller Empfang im Rathaus''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[inoffiziell]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[offiziös]]

+ * [[Offizier]]

+ * [[Offizial]]

+ * [[en|official]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}