Amt

See also: amt and AMT

German

Alternative forms

  • Ambt, Ammt, Ampt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle High German ambahte, ambehte, ambet, ammet, ampt, ambt, amt, from Old High German ambahti, ambaht, from Proto-West Germanic *ambaht, from Proto-Germanic *ambahtaz, from Gaulish ambaxtos, from Proto-Celtic *ambaxtos.

The Middle High German contracted form amb(e)t developed quite regularly, via also attested ammet or ambt, into modern German Amt. Cognate with Dutch ambacht and ambt, Swedish ämbete, and Finnish ammatti, as well as English ambassador and embassy.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /amt/, [amt], [ampt]
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Noun

Amt n (strong, genitive Amtes or Amts, plural Ämter)

  1. agency; department; office (state institution responsible for specified concerns)
  2. office; post (public function, e.g. of a civil servant)
  3. (Roman Catholicism, chiefly in compounds) mass; office
  4. (now Switzerland, Germany historical) administrative unit (of a country); district

Declension

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Further reading

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