Post German · revision 36281

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1494|origins=la pōnō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pɔst/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Post''' ''f'' (genitive Post, plural (rare) Posten)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|posta|t=relay station]], taken over together with the institution at the end of the 15th century.^(Kluge 2011|717)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The Italian word meant a fixed place, the station where riders and horses were changed on the routes of the early postal service.^(Kluge 2011|717)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) It goes back to [[la|posita|t=placed, fixed]], the feminine of [[m|la|positus]], the past participle of [[m|la|pōnō|t=to put, place]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DFWB) The Duden dictionaries see behind it the Late Latin phrase [[m|la-lat|posita statio]] or [[m|la-lat|posita mansio]], a fixed stopping place, and the Duden dictionary and the Grimms' dictionary also reckon with the influence of [[fr|poste]].^(Duden 7 2020)^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(DWB|13, 2017)

+

+ The same word is [[nl|post]], [[en|post]], [[sv|post]] and [[is|póstur]].^(Kluge 2011|717) [[Posten]] goes back to the same Latin participle.^(Duden 7 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Early New High German ''Post'' meant the public conveyance for letters and travellers, with its couriers, carriages and horses (1494); in the 16th century it also came to mean the post station and a message or piece of news.^(Pfeifer 1993) The ''Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch'' has its first record from 1495, and ''Postmeister'' is recorded already in 1489.^(DFWB)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first institutions of this kind were set up in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Pope and by smaller princes to carry news and letters quickly by mounted messengers, along routes divided into stations kept by a postmaster.^(Duden 7 2020) Transferred from the station to the whole service, the word reached France at the end of the 15th century and Germany at about the same time.^(Duden 7 2020)^(DWB|13, 2017) In 1516 Franz von Taxis, at the request of Emperor Maximilian I, set up the first regular postal connection, between Vienna and Brussels.^(DWB|13, 2017) As the service developed, so did the present meaning.^(Kluge 2011|717)

+

+ The old sense “news” lives on in phrases such as ''schlimme Post'' and in [[Hiobspost]] “bad news”.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) Several related words came in with the institution: [[Postillon]] about 1560 from Italian, [[Postkutsche]] in Stieler (1691), the official [[Postkarte]] and ''postlagernd'', a rendering of French ''poste restante'', in 1875.^(Paul 2002) The Latin formula ''per postam'' “by post” is first found in 1523.^(DFWB) ''Elektronische Post'' was formed after English ''electronic mail''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1489 – ''Postmeister'' is recorded.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1494 – ''Post'' names the public conveyance for letters and travellers.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1516 – Franz von Taxis sets up the regular postal line between Vienna and Brussels.^(DWB|13, 2017)

+ * 1523 – ''Per postam'' appears in the Latin of the ''Epistolae obscurorum virorum''.^(DFWB)

+ * 16th century – The senses “post station” and “message, news” appear.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 1560 – ''Postillon'' is borrowed from Italian.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1691 – Stieler records ''Postkutsche''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1875 – ''Postkarte'' and ''postlagernd'' become official terms.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|postal service]]: the public service that carries letters, parcels and money transfers, and in places local passenger transport.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A post office ([[Postamt]]).^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The [[m|en|mail]] delivered by this service or to be sent through it: ''Heute ist keine Post für dich gekommen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' The delivery of the mail.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(historical)'' A mail coach ([[Postkutsche]]);^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''(technical)'' a post bus.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(dated)'' A message, a piece of [[m|en|news]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

+ # An item or amount in an account, a [[Posten]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[postalisch]]

+ * [[Postamt]]

+ * [[Postkarte]]

+ * [[postwendend]]

+ * [[Postauto]]

+ * [[Postfach]]

+ * [[postfrisch]]

+ * [[Posthorn]]

+ * [[Postkutsche]]

+ * [[Postleitzahl]]

+ * [[Postillon]]

+ * [[Hiobspost]]

+ * [[postlagernd]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Posten]]

+ * [[en|post]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural ''Posten'' is rare.^(Wiktionary) A separate masculine ''Post'', plural ''Posts'', borrowed from English ''post'', means a message in an Internet forum or the post position in basketball, and an obsolete ''Post'' is a form of [[Porst]], the bog myrtle.^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}