deshalb

Forms

deshalb^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German deshalp, a fusion of des, the genitive of the pronoun das, with halp, shortened from halbe (“side, direction”).^[2][3][1][4] The Middle High German accusative adverb disehalp meant “on this side”; the genitive, as in sînhalp (“for his sake”), carried the sense “because of”.^[3] The noun halbe belongs to halb, whose substantivised feminine means “side” throughout Germanic.^[5] Wiktionary compares Paderborn Low German diäßhalw.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Notker (before 1022) des halb is still a phrase rather than a single word, meaning “for that reason”.^[2] Old High German glosses of the 12th century also have desehalb “on this side”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The causal sense “therefore, for that reason” was there from the start, as in König Rother (1150/60) and in Otte about 1210.^[2] It became the dominant use from the middle of the 18th century, with rising frequency.^[2] Older German also had deshalben, and Adelung, around 1800, preferred the spelling deßhalb and noted that as a conjunction derhalben was more usual.^[7][8]

Timeline

• before 1022 – Notker writes des halb.^[2]
• 1150/60 – des halp in König Rother.^[2]
• c. 1210 – deshalp in Otte.^[2]
• mid-18th century – The causal adverb becomes the dominant use.^[2]
• 1793 – Adelung records deshalb and deshalben.^[7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. For that reason, therefore, because of that: es regnete, deshalb blieben wir zu Hause.^[4][1]
2. With a following clause: deshalb, weil … “for the reason that …”.^[4]

Related words

• halb
• dieserhalb

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. 6, 756
3. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1029
4. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 387
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
8. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de