Etymologically
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elf

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Pronunciation

  • /ɛlf/, [ʔɛlf][1]

Forms

elf[1] Until the 19th century it was usually written eilf.[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German einlif, later eilf, inherited from Old High German einlif, inherited from Proto-Germanic *ainalif (“eleven”), a compound of Proto-Germanic *ainaz (“one”) and an element *-lif (“left over”).[3][1][4] The same word is Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌻𐌹𐍆 (ainlif), Old Norse ellifu, Old English endleofan, whence eleven, Old Saxon ellevan and Dutch elf.[3][5] The modern form with a simple vowel is of Central and Low German origin (Middle Low German elf) and prevailed over the diphthong only in the second half of the 19th century.[1][6]

Germanic forms only eleven and twelve (zwölf) in this way, which Kluge takes as a relic of a contrast between counting in tens and in twelves;[3][4] Lithuanian forms all the numbers from 11 to 19 with -lika, as in Lithuanian vienúolika (“eleven”).[3][4] The element means what is left over after counting to ten.[4][7] It may belong with bleiben and Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick”), or, with the Lithuanian word, with Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”) (see leihen); in the second case the labial of twelve would have spread to eleven.[3][4] Kroonen points out that the two branches use different roots, so the formations arose separately, and suggests that this way of counting may come from a lost language of northern Europe.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German einlif is first recorded in the Monsee Fragments at the end of the 8th century, then in Tatian and Otfrid.[8][9] The Tatian (about 830) has einlif iungoron giengun in Galileam, “the eleven disciples went into Galilee”, and Otfrid uses the einlifin for the eleven disciples.[6][10]

Semantic evolution

Forms with ⟨n⟩ are found until about the middle of the 16th century, and one-syllable forms from the first half of the 13th.[6] Goethe nearly always wrote eilf, and the famous vintage of 1811 was called der Eilfer;[2] Jacob Grimm described eilf as receding in 1859.[2] In sport the feminine noun Elf names a football or handball team of eleven players from 1903, and Elfmeter or Elfer a penalty kick from 1891.[2][4]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German einlif appears in the Monsee Fragments.[8]
  • c. 830 – The Old High German Tatian speaks of the eleven disciples.[6]
  • First half of the 13th century – One-syllable forms such as eilf appear.[6]
  • Mid-16th century – Forms with ⟨n⟩ go out of use.[6]
  • 1811 – The vintage of that year is called der Eilfer.[2]
  • Second half of the 19th century – elf prevails over eilf.[6]
  • 1891 – First record of Elfmeter.[2]
  • 1903 – Elf is used for a team of eleven players.[2]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. Eleven, the cardinal number 11: Wir waren elf Leute am Tisch.[11][1]
  2. (elliptical) Eleven o'clock, or eleven years old: Der Zug kommt um elf.[12][6]

Word family

  • elfte
  • Elf
  • Elfmeter
  • Elfer

Usage notes

Elf “elf, fairy” is a separate noun, borrowed from English in the 18th century.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 241
  4. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ 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. 7, 1229
  7. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 231
  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. 86
  10. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de
  11. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  12. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org