Etymologically
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eher

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈeːər/, [ˈʔeː.ɐ][1]

Forms

eher[1] The superlative is am ehesten.[2] The form ehest has been common since the 17th century.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ē, inherited from Old High German ēr (“earlier, before”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *airiz (“earlier”), the adverb of an old comparative.[4][3][5] The same adverb is Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌹𐍃 (airis), Old Saxon ēr, Old English ǣr, whence English ere, and Dutch eer.[4][3][5] The adjectival comparative is Old High German ēriro, Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌹𐌶𐌰 (airiza) and Old English ǣrra, and its superlative survives in erst.[4][3] The positive, lost in German, is preserved in Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂 (air, “early”) and Old Norse ár (“early”).[4][5]

Kluge takes the original meaning to be “at daybreak”, comparing Ancient Greek ἦρι (êri, “early in the morning”) and Avestan ayar- (“day”).[4][6] The DWB2 traces these to Proto-Indo-European *ā̆i̯er- (“day, morning”), which Pfeifer gives only as a possible source, asking whether it belongs to a root meaning “to burn, shine”.[3][5]

The final /r/ was lost regularly in late Old High German, as in da and hie, so that the usual Middle High German form, from the 11th century, ended in a vowel, and Early New High German stretched it into two syllables, ehe.[5][7][1] The modern form with /r/, first found in Central German in the 15th century, arose from that word under the influence of the adjectival comparative ērer (“earlier, former”).[3][6][7] Wiktionary instead derives it mainly from that adjective, shortened by haplology, and mixed with the rarer adverb ēr.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German ēr is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses and in the Isidor, Muspilli, Ludwigslied, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “earlier, formerly, before, ever”, also “rather, sooner”, and as a preposition and conjunction “before”.[4][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word served in Old and Middle High German as adverb, preposition and conjunction.[5] From the 15th century the new form eher spread.[5] It prevailed from the middle of the 17th century as the adverb, so that the adverb eher became separate from the conjunction and preposition ehe.[5][7] Ehe as an adverb lasted until the end of the 18th century and is found later only as an archaism, as in Schiller's eh nanntest du mich so.[5][7]

The old temporal sense “before now, formerly” is obsolete, replaced by früher and schon, but survives in seit eh und je.[7] Already Middle High German ē could say that one event was more likely than another, which led to the senses “rather, more readily” and “more accurately”, as in eher ein Sumpf als ein See (Goethe).[7]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German ēr appears in glosses.[4][8]
  • 11th century – The shortened form ē sets in, and it prevails from the 12th century.[5]
  • 15th century – The form eher appears.[5]
  • 17th century – Eher prevails as the adverb, and the superlative ehest becomes common.[5][3]
  • End of the 18th century – The adverb ehe goes out of normal use.[5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Earlier, sooner, also as the comparative of bald: Wir waren eher am Bahnhof als die anderen.[2][1]
  2. Rather, more readily, expressing a preference: Eher gehe ich zu Fuß, als mit ihm im Auto zu fahren.[2][1]
  3. More likely, more easily: Bei Regen kommen eher wenige Leute.[2][10]
  4. Rather, somewhat, expressing a weakened degree or a correction: ein eher kleines Zimmer.[2][1]

Usage notes

Je eher, desto besser means “the sooner the better”, and alles eher als “anything but”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 229
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. 7, 140
  6. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 223
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 90
  10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org