Pfarrer German · revision 36254

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=derivation|attested=12th century, Old High German glosses|origins=grc παροικία}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * [ˈ(p)fɑʁɐ], [ˈfaʁɐ], [ˈpfɑrɐ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Pfarrer''' ''m'' (genitive Pfarrers, plural Pfarrer, feminine Pfarrerin)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|pharrære]], [[inh|goh|pharrāri]], an agent noun [[af|goh|pharra|-āri|t1=parish]], from [[Pfarre]] “parish”;^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary) Kluge glosses it as “the one belonging to the parish”.^(Kluge 2011|696)

+

+ The origin of the noun for the parish is disputed.^(Kluge 2011|696)^(Pfeifer 1993) Pfeifer and the EWA take it as [[der|la-ecc|parochia|t=diocese; parish]], an older [[m|la-ecc|paroecia]], borrowed into the Church language of southern Germany before the High German consonant shift, which turned its /p/ into /pf/.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|6, 1375) The Latin word was shortened, as [[goh|zol|t=toll]] was from [[la-med|toloneum]], and the short form is found otherwise only in [[gml|parre]] and [[dum|parre]], while the full form gave [[nl|parochie]] and, through Anglo-Norman, [[en|parish]].^(EWA|6, 1375) The Latin word comes from [[grc|παροικία|tr=paroikía|t=a sojourning in a foreign land]], from [[m|grc|πάροικος|tr=pároikos|t=dwelling beside; resident alien]], formed from [[m|grc|παρά|tr=pará|t=beside]] and [[m|grc|οἶκος|tr=oîkos|t=house]]: the early Christians called themselves strangers on earth, their true home being in heaven.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Köbler AHD)

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+ Kluge and Duden doubt the direct borrowing: they suggest a word related to [[Pferch]] and its source [[la-med|parricus|t=enclosure]], perhaps influenced by the Latin word for the parish.^(Kluge 2011|696)^(Duden 7 2007) Duden explains this as the fenced place in which the priest tends the people entrusted to him like sheep.^(Duden 7 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''pharra'' is recorded from the third quarter of the 8th century, meaning “diocese, district of a bishop”.^(EWA|6, 1375)^(Köbler AHD)^(AWB|7, 241) ''pharrāri'' appears only in glosses, in a 12th-century manuscript.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary DE)^(Schützeichel 2012|249)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The parish word moved from the bishop's district to the area, office and church of a priest in Middle High German and early New High German.^(EWA|6, 1375) A ''Pfarrer'' is the clergyman in charge of a parish; in the Protestant church the word is used in the same way as ''Prediger'' or ''Pastor''.^(DWB|13, 1621) Adelung (1793) records ''Pfarrerinn'' for the pastor's wife, ''Herr Pfarrer'' as a respectful form of address in Upper Germany, and notes that the Latin ''Pastor'' was more usual in Upper and Lower Saxony.^(Adelung 1793|3, 711) A proverb quoted by Simrock says that the merriest students make the best pastors.^(DWB|13, 1621)

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+ The word passed into neighbouring languages: Slovene has ''far'' and ''farar'', the Polish of Teschen ''farorz'' and Lower Sorbian ''faraŕ''.^(LWP)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Third quarter of the 8th century – Old High German ''pharra'' “diocese” appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)^(EWA|6, 1375)

+ * 12th century – ''pharrāri'' is recorded in a manuscript of glosses.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ * 1515 – The Eulenspiegel book tells how Eulenspiegel hired himself out to a ''pfarrer''.^(DWB|13, 1621)

+ * 17th century – The noun ''Pfarrei'' appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1793 – Adelung records ''Pfarrerinn'' “the pastor's wife”.^(Adelung 1793|3, 711)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|clergyman]] in charge of a [[m|en|parish]] or congregation of a Christian church; a [[m|en|pastor]] or [[m|en|parish priest]]: ''Der neue Pfarrer predigt zum ersten Mal.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Pfarrerin]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Pfarre]]

+ * [[Pfarrei]]

+ * [[Pfarrherr]]

+ * [[en|parish]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}