Etymologically
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einige

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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
  • 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