What is the origin of the German word Panzer?

Question

I know it means 'tank',but what if anything did the word mean before?

Answer 1

Panzer refers to an armoured tank or other vehicle, usually a Second World War German model. The term is rarely, if ever, used outside this context. Panzer also describes armoured forces, as in "panzer division".

Panzer is a loanword from German. The German noun Panzer (plural: Panzer) means armour in the sense of protective equipment such as Plattenpanzer (plate armour) or Schutzpanzer (protective armour), or armoured forces (today, tank organizations and the tanks themselves). The term gained infamy in English during Germany's successful Blitzkrieg armoured advances of World War II. It is derived from the French pancier ("breastplate", compare English paunch). German pronunciation [ˈpanʦer] (listen (help·info)), English [ˈpænzɝ]. The word has been calqued in many languages, such as Swedish "pansarvagn" or Finnish "panssarivaunu" for any tracked armoured fighting vehicle.

Answer 2

Panzer is a loanword from German. The German noun Panzer (plural: Panzer) means armour in the sense of protective equipment such as Plattenpanzer (plate armour) or Schutzpanzer (protective armour), or armoured forces (today, tank organizations and the tanks themselves). The term gained infamy in English during Germany's successful Blitzkrieg armoured advances of World War II. It is derived from the French pancier ("breastplate", compare English paunch). German pronunciation [ˈpanʦer] ), English [ˈpænzɝ]. The word has been calqued in many languages, such as Swedish "pansarvagn" or Finnish "panssarivaunu" for any tracked armoured fighting vehicle.

A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related process whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word "loanword" is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort.

Noun
Panzer

German army tank.
A particular series of German tank, built in the early 1930s and used throughout WW2.

Answer 3

panzer adj., n.
from Panzer, Panzer- "armor, armored": armored, belonging to an armored division; a vehicle, especially a tank, in a panzer division [German Panzer "armor" < Middle High German panzier "breast armor" < Old French pancier, panciere "coat of mail, literally belly piece", pance "belly" < Italian panzia, pancia "belly" < Latin pantex, panticis "belly", related to paunch].
"Intelligence reports had indicated that the Finns had only a few old light-weight tanks and probably fewer than 100 small-caliber anti-panzer guns." Eloise Engle & Lauri Paananen, The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940, 1973, p. 4.
"By 4 February, however, it was seen that this reinforcement was not enough to crush the Anzio beachhead and General Jodl asked Hitler for permission to move in the 9th SS Panzer Division, the only fully combat ready armored division in France." Gordon A. Harrison, European Theatre of Operations: Cross-Channel Attack, 1993, p. 234.
"Heinrich Jäger stuck his head and torso up through the open cupola of his Panzer V for a look around, then ducked back down into the turret of the panzer." Harry Turtledove, Upsetting the Balance (Worldwar Series, Volume 3), 1996.
"In the spring of 1940, when Germany was making its lightning strikes into the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, the Nazis had 2.2 million troops in uniform, nine motorized divisions, and ten panzer divisions protected by 3,500 combat aircraft." Tom Brokaw, An Album of Memories: Personal Histories from the Greatest Generation, 2001.
"Stalingrad's five-month trial by fire began on August 23, 1942, when the first panzer grenadiers of the German Sixth Army reached the Volga on the city's northern outskirts." David L. Robbins, War of the Rats: A Novel, 2000.
More books and products related to panzer

Answer 4

The word is used for tank due to the original use as the shell (armour) of a tortoise.

Answer 5

Panzer is tank ..obviously. Please note the shell of a tortoise is "der Panzer" too. That is what it means until today.... strong enforced shell.

From your question I assume you don't need any pointless information on German warfare and tank/armour details?

Panzer, der (masc), noun.

Answer 6

Read the first paragraph of Tisha's answer, ignore the rest of what she cut and pasted from somewhere else.