Salzamt

German

Etymology

Salz (“salt”) +‎ Amt (“government agency”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzalt͡s.amt]
• (Austria) IPA^(key): [ˈsalt͡s.amt]
• Hyphenation: Salz‧amt

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Salzamt n (strong, genitive Salzamtes or Salzamts, plural Salzämter)

1. (historical) an agency tasked with the administration of the government salt monopoly
2. (Austria, humor) a fictional non-existing or unresponsive government agency

Usage notes

For the humerous usage, the word is typically used with the verb beschweren (“to complain”), e.g. Du kannst dich beim Salzamt beschweren (“you may complain at the department of saline affairs”), meaning that any complaint with any authority will be fruitless.

Declension

Declension of Salzamt [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Salzamt	die	Salzämter
genitive	eines	des	Salzamtes, Salzamts	der	Salzämter
dative	einem	dem	Salzamt, Salzamte1	den	Salzämtern
accusative	ein	das	Salzamt	die	Salzämter

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Salzamt” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Salzamt” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Salzamt” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Salzamt” in Duden online