firma

Firma is a term with multiple related but language-specific meanings in Europe. In German-speaking areas, it most commonly denotes a company or business entity. The word can refer to the legal form or structure of a business and is often used interchangeably with terms like Unternehmen. The registered name under which a business operates is called the Firmenname, and in everyday speech “die Firma” can denote the business as an organization rather than a single product.

In other languages the meaning differs. In Turkish and several Central and Eastern European languages, firma is a loanword that means a company or business. In many Romance languages, however, firma more often means a signature: Spanish firma, Italian firma, and Portuguese firma commonly refer to a person’s autograph. In practice, contexts such as “la firma de abogados” in Spanish show how the word can also appear in business phrases to denote a professional firm or company.

Etymology and usage notes: the word derives from Latin firma, meaning a fixed thing or firmness, and was adopted into various European languages with related senses tied to identity and organization. Today, firma emphasizes naming, legal identity, and business activity in Germanic contexts, while in Romance contexts it frequently focuses on signing or signing authority, with occasional use to denote a firm or company in specific phrases.

See also: trade name, business entity, corporate name.