Gehalt

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡəˈhalt]

• audio

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Etymology 1

Gehalt m. 'content, share', late Middle High German. gehalt 'custody, prison, inner value' is verbal abstract of Middle High German gehalten 'to keep still, to hold, to preserve, to imprison' (by prefix strengthened halten, from Old High German gihalto 'keeper, guardian', 9th cent.). Correspondingly, still today South German Gehalt stands for 'container' (e.g. 'room, cupboard'). Today's meaning 'constituent, content' develops in the 15th c. It first applies to the silver or gold content of coins, in the 17th c. to the content of chemical substances in a mixture; in the 18th c. the figurative use common today is encountered (cf. inner content, the true content of words, content and form). To keep in the sense of 'maintain' belongs Gehalt n. 'salary, income' (18th c., initially also m.), actually 'maintenance without consideration', cf. gracious, widow's salary (18th c.).

Noun

Gehalt n or (in Austria) m (strong, genitive Gehaltes or Gehalts, plural Gehälter)

1. salary

Declension

Declension of Gehalt [neuter // masculine (in Austria), strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das, der	Gehalt	die	Gehälter
genitive	eines	des	Gehaltes, Gehalts	der	Gehälter
dative	einem	dem	Gehalt, Gehalte1	den	Gehältern
accusative	ein, einen	das, den	Gehalt	die	Gehälter

¹Now rare, see notes.

Related terms

• Gehaltserhöhung
• Gehaltsvorstellung

Etymology 2

Noun

Gehalt m (strong, genitive Gehaltes or Gehalts, plural Gehalte)

1. content

Declension

Declension of Gehalt [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Gehalt	die	Gehalte
genitive	eines	des	Gehaltes, Gehalts	der	Gehalte
dative	einem	dem	Gehalt, Gehalte1	den	Gehalten
accusative	einen	den	Gehalt	die	Gehalte

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Gehalt” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Gehalt” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Gehalt” in Duden online
• Gehalt on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de