Chef German · revision 35170

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1616, Wallhausen's Kriegsmanual|origins=la caput}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * [ʃɛf]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Chef''' ''m'' (genitive Chefs, plural Chefs, feminine Chefin or Cheffin)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|chef|t=head, chief, leader]], borrowed at the beginning of the 17th century.^(Kluge 2011|171)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The French word goes back through [[fro|chief]] and [[la-vul|*capus]] to [[la|caput|t=head; leading person]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Duden gives the intermediate form as Gallo-Romance [[m|la-vul|*capum]].^(Duden 7 2014|202)

+

+ The same French word was taken as [[nl|chef]] and [[sv|chef]], and English has it twice, in the older borrowing [[en|chief]] and in the later [[m|en|chef]].^(Kluge 2011|171) From the Latin noun also come, through Italian, French or Latin itself, [[Kapitän]], [[Kapital]], [[Kapitel]] and [[Kadett]], while the native Germanic relative is [[Haupt]].^(Kluge 2011|171)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is from 1616, in Wallhausen's military manual, where ''Cheff'' is glossed “the head”.^(DWB2|5, 1110)^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002) The word first belonged to the army, meaning the commander of a regiment or of a whole force.^(DFWB)^(DWB2|5, 1110)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 17th and 18th centuries ''Chef'' was often used in French phrases such as ''General en chef'' “commander-in-chief”, and it remained in military titles like ''Chef des Generalstabes''.^(DFWB) From the early 18th century it spread to law, commerce and administration, meaning the head of an office, a firm or a board, and it replaced the older word ''Prinzipal''.^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002)^(DWB2|5, 1110) Pfeifer dates this general sense to the first half of the 18th century; the Grimms' revised dictionary has it from 1713, of a court that had been “without a chief” for ten years.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB2|5, 1110)

+

+ Knigge mocked “the chief of a department” who did not want to work, or could not.^(Paul 2002) Today the simple word is rather colloquial, while compounds such as [[Chefredakteur]] (1879) and [[Chefarzt]] (1912) are standard.^(Paul 2002) In colloquial speech ''Chef'' is also a casual way of addressing a stranger.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007) The French compound ''Chef-d'œuvre'' “masterpiece” was used from 1719, and now survives only in cookery.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1616 – First record, ''Cheff'', in a military manual.^(DWB2|5, 1110)^(DFWB)

+ * 1633 – The plural ''chefs'' is recorded.^(DFWB)

+ * 1713 – ''Chef'' is used of the head of a court of law.^(DWB2|5, 1110)

+ * 1719 – ''Chef-d'œuvre'' “masterpiece” appears in German.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1879 – ''Chefredakteur'' “editor-in-chief” is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1912 – ''Chefarzt'' “senior consultant” is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|head]] of an organization, firm or department; a [[m|en|boss]], a superior: ''Die neue Chefin der Bibliothek stellt sich morgen vor.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007)

+ # A [[m|en|leader]] of a group, especially of a gang: ''der Chef einer Schmugglerbande''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007)

+ # ''(slang)'' A casual form of address to a man one does not know: ''Hallo, Chef, ist hier noch frei?''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Chefin]]

+ * [[Chefarzt]]

+ * [[Chefredakteur]]

+ * [[Küchenchef]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Haupt]]

+ * [[Kapitän]]

+ * [[Kapital]]

+ * [[Kapitel]]

+ * [[en|chief]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Chef im Ring sein'' is said in boxing of the fighter who dominates the bout, and colloquially of anyone who calls the tune.^(Duden GWDS 1999) In Austria the word is pronounced with a long vowel, /ʃeːf/.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden Fremdwörterbuch 2007) Unlike English ''chef'', it does not mean a cook; that is ''Koch'' or ''Küchenchef''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}