Eigentum

German

Alternative forms

Eigenthum (superseded)

Etymology

From Middle High German eigentuom. Equivalent to eigen (“own”) +‎ -tum (“-dom”), compare Dutch eigendom.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈaɪɡəntuːm/
Audio: (file)
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: Ei‧gen‧tum

Noun

Eigentum n (strong, genitive Eigentumes or Eigentums, plural Eigentümer or Eigentume)

(uncountable, law) ownership
Hypernyms: Herrschaftsrecht, absolutes Recht, dingliches Recht
(countable, archaic) an item of owned property, e.g. estate, belonging, etc.

Usage notes

Common translations of the word's second sense is ‘property’; however, the technical usage is narrower and does not allow for it to be used with the same objects as these terms are in English.

Outside of legal usage other areas (e.g. business administration) may use the term Eigentum for things that German law does not regard as ownership. So terms like geistiges Eigentum (“intellectual property”), not referring to corporeal objects, are strictly translationese and a misnomer and do not occur in the internal legal systems of the German-speaking countries, except as a comparative law and international law catchword. While an economic work might refer to a Markeneigentümer (“brand owner”), legal works would refer to a Markeninhaber (“brand owner”), as Inhaberschaft denotes any legal position as English ownership does.

In either cases however, the corresponding verbs eignen and innehaben are not in common use anymore but stilted; the former, for the technical sense of owning a corporeal object, is suppleted by gehören.

Declension

Declension of Eigentum [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Eigentum	die	Eigentümer, Eigentume
genitive	eines	des	Eigentumes, Eigentums	der	Eigentümer, Eigentume
dative	einem	dem	Eigentum, Eigentume¹	den	Eigentümern, Eigentumen
accusative	ein	das	Eigentum	die	Eigentümer, Eigentume

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

geistiges Eigentum, Eigentümer