ein

ein¹ one; a, an

Pronunciation

• /aɪ̯n/^[1]
• Colloquial: /ən/, /n̩/^[1]
• Austria: /aɛ̯n/^[1]

Forms

ein (masculine and neuter), eine (feminine); used alone einer, eine, ein(e)s.^[2] Before a noun the masculine and neuter nominative and the neuter accusative have no ending.^[2]

Etymology

The numeral and article is inherited from Middle High German ein, inherited from Old High German ein, inherited from Proto-Germanic *ainaz (“one”).^[3][1] The same word is Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ains), Old Norse einn, Old English ān (whence English one), Old Frisian ān and Old Saxon ēn.^[3][4] It continues Proto-Indo-European *oi-no- (“one”), a form limited to the European languages, also found in Latin ūnus, Ancient Greek οἴνη (oínē, “the one on a die”), Old Irish óen, Old Prussian ains, Lithuanian vienas and Old Church Slavonic инъ (inŭ); Sanskrit एक (éka, “one”) is formed from the same base.^[3][5][6]

Following Carruba, Kluge takes *oi- with a suffix to be the oldest Indo-European word for “one”: a pronominal and a deictic element, roughly “he, she, it here”, as against *sem-, found above all in Greek and originally meaning “one of a group”.^[3] Pfeifer and Duden derive it from the pronominal stem *e-, also seen in er.^[5][7]

Its use as the indefinite article began before the written records, in German as in English.^[3] Old High German already used the numeral as an indefinite pronoun, “some, a certain”, from which the article developed in West and North Germanic alike; in the Gothic word this function is not yet established.^[8] The counting form eins continues the strong neuter einez.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Recorded from the 8th century, Old High German ein was a numeral, an indefinite pronoun and the indefinite article, with senses such as “one, some, any, a certain, that, one and the same, only, alone”.^[8][9] Köbler's earliest dated source is a gloss of 765.^[10] The weak form eino meant “alone, as the only one”, and as an adverb ein meant “only”.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

From the sense of number came that of unity and agreement: Old High German ein sīn “to be of one mind”, ein werdan “to come to an agreement”; from the 15th century came eins sein, eins werden, probably with a genitive -s, with the opposite uneins.^[5] The weak form, often strengthened in Middle High German by al, gave allein.^[5][8] Duden dates the use as an indefinite pronoun (einer, die einen – die anderen) to Middle High German, while Pfeifer and the EWA find it already in Old High German.^[7][5][8]

The noun Eins for the figure dates from the 18th century, and it later also named a school mark and a tram line.^[5] Paul records ein Uhr “one o'clock” from 1395.^[11]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German ein appears in a gloss.^[10]
• 1395 – First record of ein Uhr “one o'clock”.^[11]
• 15th century – eins sein, eins werden “to agree” and uneins appear; the noun Einheit is formed.^[5][7]
• 18th century – Eins becomes the name of the figure 1.^[5]
• 20th century – Einer comes to mean a single scull.^[7]

Meanings

Numeral

1. one (stressed).^[12][1]
2. One and the same: einer Meinung sein “to be of the same opinion”.^[12][1]

Pronoun

1. Someone, anyone: einer von euch “one of you”.^[12]
2. One, you (as an object form of man).^[12]

Article

1. a, an: the unstressed indefinite article.^[12][1]

Word family

• eins
• Einheit
• einen
• vereinen
• Verein
• einig
• einsam
• einst
• einzeln
• einzig
• einfach
• allein
• elf
• nein
• uneins

ein² in, into (adverb)

Pronunciation

• /aɪ̯n/^[1]

Forms

ein (adverb, invariable; mostly as a separable prefix).^[13]

Etymology

The adverb is inherited from Middle High German în, inherited from Old High German īn, the stressed and therefore lengthened form of in.^[3][7][13] In High German the adverb was set apart from the preposition only by this lengthening, which began in the 12th century, while Old English and Old Norse distinguished it by a long nasal (inn, inn, as in Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌽 (inn)), and Low German, Dutch and Frisian made no distinction.^[13] The EWA explains the long vowel either by stress or by analogy: after the preposition and the old adverb had fallen together, the adverb was remodelled after Old High German ūf and ūz.^[14]

Before the diphthongization the long form cannot be told apart in writing from the short one, but rhymes on long vowels prove it from the 14th century.^[3] Spelt ⟨ein⟩ after the diphthongization, it prevailed in the written language of the whole German area from the 16th century, although the western Middle German dialects kept the short form.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German în meant “in, into, inside”, as in herein and hinein.^[7][13]

Semantic evolution

Unlike the preposition, ein always marks a direction, as in herein, hinein, darein, querfeldein and jahrein, jahraus; it can stand alone beside aus, as in nicht ein noch aus wissen “not to know which way to turn”, which the Grimms quote from Goethe.^[7][15] Above all it is a separable prefix of verbs that express putting into something (einbauen, eintreten) or enclosing it (einzäunen, einfangen), and it has many transferred meanings.^[7][13] In a few words ein- means “inside” and has replaced Middle High German in-, as in Eingeweide from ingeweide.^[7]

Timeline

• 12th century – The vowel of the stressed adverb begins to be lengthened in High German.^[13]
• 14th century – Rhymes prove the long form în.^[3]
• 16th century – The spelling ein prevails throughout the written language.^[13]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (now mainly in compounds) In, into: marks movement into something.^[1][7]
2. (with aus) In: ein und aus.^[15]

Word family

• herein
• hinein
• darein
• Eingeweide