Etymologically
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als

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Pronunciation

  • /als/, [al(t)s][1]

Forms

als[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German als, a weakened form of one syllable from alse, inherited from Old High German alsō (“just so”); the full form survives as also.[2][3][4] The Old High German word is sō (“so”) strengthened by al (“all”), and so first meant “quite so”.[4][1] English as and Dutch als were shortened from the corresponding words in the same way.[2]

According to Pfeifer, the shortened forms with and without the final vowel are found already in Old and Middle High German, the one-syllable form at first only before a vowel.[3] The revised Grimm finds the reduction to one syllable only occasionally in late Old High German and widely only in Middle High German; from the 14th century the /l/ was sometimes lost in Upper and Central German, and forms without it prevailed in the Low German and Swabian-Alemannic dialects.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the word to the 11th century.[2] Old High German alsō and its short forms als and alse meant “so, just so, likewise, as, as if, because” and are found in Notker, Williram and other texts.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

While also kept its pointing, demonstrative function, als took on the work of joining clauses and lost its demonstrative sense in the written language as early as Early New High German; remnants are alsbald and alsdann.[5][7] Joining als at first did the work of modern wie “as, like”, until the early 19th century, as in Luther's weiß als Schnee “white as snow”, though wie already competed with it in Luther's time.[7] In the 18th century als wie was often combined, as in Goethe's Und bin so klug als wie zuvor “and am as wise as before”.[7]

In the present language wie marks equality and als inequality after a comparative (älter als er “older than he”).[5][8] The chancery style long kept als at the head of a main clause after a clause of reason, and Schiller imitated it.[7]

Timeline

  • 11th century – Als is first recorded.[2]
  • 14th century – Forms without /l/ appear in Upper and Central German.[5]
  • 16th century – Luther still uses als where modern German has wie, but wie already competes with it.[7]
  • Early 19th century – Als gives up the sense “as, like” to wie.[7]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. When, as; introducing a clause of time, mostly of a single event in the past: als wir das Haus erreicht hatten, fing es an zu regnen “when we had reached the house, it began to rain”.[8][1]
  2. Than; after a comparative: ich bin älter als er “I am older than he”.[8][1]
  3. But, other than; after anders, nichts, kein and the like: nichts als Unfug “nothing but nonsense”.[8][1]
  4. As if; with ob or wenn, or with the verb placed first: als ob ich schon Stunden gewartet hätte “as if I had been waiting for hours”.[8][1]
  5. As; in fixed comparisons of equality: so schnell als möglich “as fast as possible”, sowohl … als auch “both … and”.[8]
  6. As, in the capacity of: introducing the role or form of something.[1][9]

Word family

  • alsbald
  • alsdann

Usage notes

In western and Central German regional speech an adverb als means “again and again, always”; it comes from Middle High German allez, the neuter of all, and is recorded from the 13th century.[2] The Grimms record als as a short form of alles, frequent in the 16th and 17th centuries, together with this adverbial use.[10] Combinations such as als wie after a comparative are colloquial.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 35
  3. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b c d 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, 544
  6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 33
  7. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  10. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 246