Etymologically
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all

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Pronunciation

Forms

all (indefinite pronoun and determiner; inflected aller, alle, alles; uninflected all before an article or a possessive, as in all das, all sein Geld)[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German al, inherited from Old High German al, inherited from Proto-Germanic *allaz (“all, whole”).[3][4][1] The same word is Old Saxon al, Old English eall, Old Norse allr and Old Frisian al, and today Dutch al, English all and Swedish all.[3][5][4] Beside it Germanic had a form Proto-Germanic *ala- (“entirely”) with a single /l/, used as the first part of compounds, as in Old High German alaniuwi (“brand new”) and alawāri (“friendly”), the ancestor of albern.[6][5][3]

The double /ll/ is usually explained by assimilation of an older /ln/, so that the Germanic word goes back to a form with an n-suffix, Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-nó-, also seen in Oscan allo (“whole”).[4][5][3] Kluge and Kroonen also compare Old Irish uile (“all, every”), but they disagree on Lithuanian aliái (“completely”), which Kroonen includes and Kluge would keep apart.[3][4] The sources differ on the root.[5][3] Pfeifer and the Duden take the word as an old participle “grown up, complete” of the root Proto-Indo-European *al- (“to grow”) that is also behind alt;[5][7] Kluge prefers a pronominal stem Proto-Indo-European *ol- (“that one, beyond”), whose sense “to the extreme, completely” he compares with Latin ultrā.[3] Paul finds no certain connection outside Germanic.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German al is first recorded in glosses of about 765, and then throughout the Old High German texts, meaning “whole, undamaged, complete” and “all, every”, rendering Latin omnis, totus and universus.[9][10][6] Middle High German al appears from Williram (1060–1065) on.[11]

Semantic evolution

Since Middle High German the word has been left uninflected before an article or another pronoun (all der Schmerz, mit all seiner Habe).[7][8] In the 16th century an uninflected alle came up in the same position, which Paul considers Central German and which Luther used; it survives in bei alledem and trotz alledem.[8][7]

In Northern and Central German, alle also came to mean “used up, gone”, as in alle sein, alle werden and alle machen.[3][7] This use started from East Central German, occurs several times in Luther and was always colloquial;[12] Kluge and the Duden explain it as an ellipsis: potatoes that are “all used up” are simply alle.[3][7] Adelung, around 1800, describes it as a colloquial word of everyday speech, especially in Lower Saxony, and quotes the Bible: Die Missethat der Amoriter ist noch nicht alle (Genesis 15:16).[13]

The neuter noun All was used in Middle High German for God, and in the 17th century for a beloved person.[5] From the second half of the 17th century, with Lohenstein, it was used for the universe;[5] Kluge treats this All as a loan translation of Latin universum.[3] From the 18th century the clearer compound Weltall took its place.[5][7]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German al appears in glosses.[9]
  • 9th century – allero ērist “first of all”, the start of compounds such as allererst, is recorded.[5]
  • 1060–1065 – Middle High German al is used by Williram.[11]
  • 16th century – Uninflected alle appears before articles;[8][7] Luther uses it.[8][7]
  • 16th century – alle “used up” is recorded, mainly in East Central German.[3][12]
  • 2nd half of the 17th century – All is used for the universe (Lohenstein).[5]
  • 18th century – The compound Weltall becomes common.[5][7]

Meanings

Determiner and pronoun

  1. (singular) The whole of something, in its full extent or strength: alles Geld, in aller Stille, all die Zeit.[2]
  2. (singular, of the single members) every, each: Bücher aller Art, es geht alles vorüber.[2]
  3. (plural) all the members of a group, everyone.[2][1]
  4. (with a plural noun of time) Every, at intervals of.[1]

Adjective

  1. (colloquial, predicative, as alle) Used up, finished: der Schnaps ist alle.[2][1]
  2. (colloquial, predicative, as alle) Worn out, exhausted.[2]

Word family

  • alle
  • alles
  • All
  • Weltall
  • allein
  • allerdings
  • allererst
  • allerhand
  • Allerheiligen
  • allerorts
  • allerseits
  • allgemein
  • allmächtig
  • Allmacht
  • Alltag
  • allseits
  • allzu

Usage notes

Common phrases are alles in allem “all in all, taken as a whole” and vor allem “above all, especially”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 31
  4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 1, 129
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
  8. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 31
  11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  12. ^ a b Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 2, 313
  13. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf