einige

Forms

einige (plural of the indefinite pronoun and numeral einiger, einige, einiges)^[1] A following adjective was at first inflected strong; weak endings spread in some cases from the 15th century, and the genitive plural, mostly weak in the 18th and early 19th centuries, has returned to strong inflection.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German einic, inherited from Old High German einīg (“any”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *ainag, used in the plural; the word was formed from the numeral ein with the suffix variant -īg.^[3][2][4] The same word is Old Saxon ēnig, Middle Low German ēinich, Old Frisian ēnich, Old English ǣnig and Old Norse einigr, and today Dutch eenig and English any.^[2][3]

The adjective einig “united, in agreement” goes back instead to einag, with the suffix variant -ag, and corresponds to Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌷𐌰 (ainaha, “only”).^[5][6] Paul stresses that the two uses were distinct from the start; the Duden gives them numbered headwords.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German einīg is first recorded in glosses of the last quarter of the 8th century.^[9] It meant “any, anyone”, and served to name something of any kind, mostly in negative, interrogative and conditional clauses:^[3][2] the Old High German Isidor (late 8th century) says that noh einic chiscaft ni archennida “nor did any creature know”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “any” was the only one until about 1600, as it still is in English any.^[2] Early in the 17th century the new sense “some, several” appeared on the border between Low and Middle Franconian, and in Dutch; it reached Upper Germany before 1700 and drove out the older use during the 18th century, at the same time pushing back the synonym etlich.^[2][10][7] Kluge also dates the plural meaning “several” to the 17th century.^[3] Paul quotes the old use from Luther (kein Handwerksmann einiges Handwerks “no craftsman of any craft”) and Pestalozzi (ohne einigen Zweifel “without any doubt”).^[7] In 1796 Heynatz still warned against using einiger for irgend ein.^[2] The dialects did not adopt the new sense, though the old one has died out there too.^[2]

The adverb einigermaßen “to some extent” arose around 1700 from the genitive phrase einiger Maßen.^[10]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 8th century – Old High German einīg appears in glosses.^[9]
• Late 8th century – The Old High German Isidor uses einic “any”.^[2]
• Early 17th century – The sense “some, several” appears in the Franconian area of the Lower Rhine.^[2]
• Before 1700 – The new sense reaches Upper Germany.^[2]
• c. 1700 – einiger Maßen, the source of einigermaßen, is recorded.^[10]
• 1796 – Heynatz criticises einiger in the old sense “any”.^[2]

Meanings

Determiner and pronoun

1. (plural) A few, several, some: Einige Kollegen waren schon da.^[1][4]
2. (singular, einiger, einiges) A certain, not very large amount of: nach einigem Zögern.^[1]
3. (singular and plural) Considerable, quite a lot of: Das Projekt verlangt einige Geduld.^[1]

Word family

• einigermaßen

Related words

• ein
• einig
• etlich
• English any

References

1. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
2. ^ 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, 753
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 235
4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ 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, 749
6. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 227
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag