bereits

Forms

bereits (adverb, invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German bereit (“ready”) + -s: Middle High German used the adjective bereite (“already; quickly, skilfully”) as an adverb.^[2] From the 16th century it took the adverbial ending -s of the genitive, as in flugs, rechts and links.^[2][3][4] Duden dates the form with -s to the 17th century, the Grimms' dictionary to the 17th and 18th, but the second edition of that dictionary quotes it from 1550.^[3][5][6] Kluge compares the meaning with that of English already beside ready.^[7]

The adjective is bereit, Old High German bireiti (“equipped, ready”), recorded in a 12th-century manuscript.^[2][3] It has relatives with other prefixes, such as Middle Low German gerēde (“ready”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (garaiþs, “appointed”), and without a prefix, such as Old English rǣde, the ancestor of the English adjective, and Old Norse reiðr.^[2][3] It probably belongs with reiten in its old sense “to travel”, so that it first meant “equipped for the journey”.^[3][2] Pfeifer traces the group to Proto-Indo-European *reidʰ- (“to travel, be in motion”), with Old Irish réid (“level, easy”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The second edition of the Grimms' dictionary quotes the form with -s first from documents of the estates of the Kurmark in 1550.^[6] In 1556 Hans Staden boasts of how many Portuguese he bereits hette todt geschlagen (“had already killed”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the adverb bereit(e) also meant “quickly, skilfully”.^[2] Adelung in 1793 explains bereits as meaning the same as schon, only more refined and dignified, and rejects allbereits as an idle Alemannic lengthening.^[8] The Grimms' dictionary notes a Swiss use meaning “almost, as good as”, quoting Zurich newspaper advertisements for a noch bereits neuer rock (“a coat still almost new”).^[5] The sense lives on in south-western Germany and Switzerland.^[9]

Timeline

• Middle High German – bereit(e) is used as an adverb “already, quickly”.^[2]
• 1550 – First record of bereits.^[6]
• 1556 – Hans Staden uses it in his account of South America.^[6]
• 17th century – According to Duden, bereits replaces the older adverb bereit.^[3]
• 1793 – Adelung calls it a more dignified word for schon.^[8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. already; as early as: Als wir ankamen, war der Zug bereits abgefahren.^[9][1]
2. (south-western Germany, especially Switzerland) almost, nearly, as good as: ein bereits neues Fahrrad.^[9][5]

Word family

• allbereits

Related words

• bereit
• bereiten
• Bereitschaft
• reiten
• English already

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1500
6. ^ a b c d e 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. 4, 1019
7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 110
8. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 861
9. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag