Amt German · revision 35138

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 765, Old High German glosses|origins=xtg ambactus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /amt/, [amt], [ampt]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Amt''' ''n'' (genitive Amtes or Amts, plural Ämter)^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle High German shortened the word: the /h/ was lost before /t/ in the unstressed syllable, giving ''ambet'', and the loss of the vowel then gave ''ambt'', ''ampt'' and ''amt''.^(DWB2|2, 662) A second line of forms went through /mm/, as in ''ammet''.^(DWB2|2, 662)

+ The full form ''ambacht'' lasted in Alsace, on the Upper Rhine and in West Central German into Early New High German.^(DWB2|2, 662) The spellings ''Ambt'' and ''Ampt'' gave way to ''Amt'' in the 18th century.^(DWB2|2, 662)

+ The plural was at first ''ambet'' or ''ampte''; the plural in ''-er'', usually with umlaut (''Ämter''), arose in Middle High German.^(DWB2|2, 662) Luther still used ''ampt'' as a plural.^(DWB|1, 280)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|ambahte]], [[inh|goh|ambahti|t=service, office]], [[inh|gem-pro|*ambahtiją|t=service]].^(Kluge 2011|41)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|ambaht]], [[ang|ambiht]], [[non|embætti]] and [[got|𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌱𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌹|tr=andbahti]], whose first syllable was remade after the prefix [[m|got|𐌰𐌽𐌳-|tr=and-]];^(Kluge 2011|41)^(DWB2|2, 662) it continues in [[nl|ambt]], [[sv|ämbete]] and [[is|embætti]].^(Kluge 2011|41)

+

+ The neuter noun was formed from a masculine [[gem-pro|*ambahtaz|t=servant, follower]], found in [[goh|ambaht|t=servant, official]] and [[got|𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌱𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃|tr=andbahts|t=servant]], with the feminine [[m|non|ambátt|t=bondwoman]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|1, 195)^(Kroonen 2013) That masculine is an early loan from Celtic, from the word that Caesar and other Latin writers record as [[xtg|ambactus|t=vassal, servant]], from [[cel-pro|*ambaxtos|t=servant]].^(Kluge 2011|41)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary) Its parts correspond to [[la|ambi-|t=around]] and [[m|la|āctus]], the past participle of [[m|la|agō|t=to drive, do]];^(Kluge 2011|41)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB2|2, 662) the same Celtic word may survive in [[cy|amaeth|t=farmer]].^(Kluge 2011|41)^(Kroonen 2013) Pfeifer and Duden read the servant as “one sent around”,^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) while Kluge and the revised Grimm dictionary take him to be “one who stays around his lord”, a follower.^(Kluge 2011|41)^(DWB2|2, 662)

+

+ Unlike [[gem-pro|*rīks|t=ruler]], also taken from Celtic, the word entered Germanic after the Germanic sound shifts.^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary) Kluge counts it with [[Reich]] among the most important early Celtic loans.^(Kluge 2011|41) From Germanic, by way of Romance, came [[it|ambasciata]] and [[fr|ambassade|t=embassy]], the family of [[Ambassadeur]].^(EWA|1, 195)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The neuter ''ambaht'' is first recorded in glosses of about 765, and then in the Old High German Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “task, service, office, dignity”.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|34) The masculine ''ambaht'' “servant, official” appears in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century and in the Tatian.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|34)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German ''ambet'' meant service, office, profession, divine service and [[m|en|mass]], knighthood (''schildes ambet'') and the district under an [[Amtmann]].^(Lexer 1872|1, 48)^(Köbler MHD) Paul describes the original sense as any service that a lord gave a subordinate to perform; as the private relations of the Middle Ages gave way to the state, the word was restricted to an official position in the state, a community, the church or a school.^(Paul 2002) Earlier it could also mean a craft or trade, as in Gotthelf.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ By metonymy it came to name the district under an official, the authority itself and finally its building, as in [[Standesamt]] and [[Zollamt]];^(Paul 2002) in the district sense Danish took it from Middle Low German.^(Paul 2002) The telephone exchange was once called ''das Amt'', hence ''das Fräulein vom Amt'', the operator.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999) The old masculine “servant” survived only in ''Amtmann'', which took its place,^(Paul 2002) and in Swiss ''Ammann'', a shortening of Middle High German ''ambetman''.^(Pfeifer 1993) German ''Amt'' was borrowed into Czech and Slovak as ''amt''.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 765 – Old High German ''ambaht'' “service, office” appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 10th century – Shortened spellings such as ''ampht'' appear in glosses.^(DWB2|2, 662)

+ * 12th century – The form ''ambet'' is written in a gloss.^(DWB2|2, 662)

+ * 1583 – Last traces of the masculine “servant” in Early New High German.^(DWB2|2, 662)

+ * 18th century – The spellings ''ambt'' and ''ampt'' are replaced by ''amt''.^(DWB2|2, 662)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An official [[m|en|post]] or position in the state, a municipality or the church, with set duties: ''Sie kandidiert für das Amt der Oberbürgermeisterin.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|task]] or duty that someone has taken on: ''Er übernahm das Amt, die Gäste vom Bahnhof abzuholen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A public [[m|en|authority]], [[m|en|agency]] or department: ''das Amt für Umweltschutz'';^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) ''das Auswärtige Amt'', the German Foreign Office.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The building or rooms in which such an authority is housed.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(dated)'' The telephone [[m|en|exchange]]; an outside line.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # In some German states, an association of municipalities; historically, and still in Switzerland, an administrative district.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Catholic Church)'' A sung [[m|en|mass]], also in [[Hochamt]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[amtlich]]

+ * [[amtieren]]

+ * [[Amtmann]]

+ * [[Ammann]]

+ * [[Beamter]]

+ * [[Hochamt]]

+ * [[Standesamt]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Reich]]

+ * [[Ambassadeur]]

+ * [[goh|ambaht]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''In Amt und Würden'', often ironic, describes someone in a secure, established position, and ''von Amts wegen'' means “by order of the authorities” or “in an official capacity”.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Seines Amtes walten'' (elevated) is to do what one's task requires.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}