Etymologically
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erstmals

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Forms

erstmals[1]

Etymology

It is a fusion from German erst + -mals of the ordinal and Mal (“time, occasion”).[2][1] The ending is the old genitive of the noun, kept in adverbs of this kind such as ehemals (from a Middle High German phrase meaning “before the time”), abermals (15th century), jemals and oftmals.[3]

The noun continues Old High German māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą (“measure, point in time”);[3] Pfeifer traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”), with the sense “point in time” developed from “marked point in space”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the chronicle of Ernst von Kirchberg (1378/79), meaning “for the first time”: Cyprian is said to be the first to mention the lectores.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the late 15th century the word also meant “at first, initially”, and in the 16th century it was used in both senses, as in the German Boccaccio and the Buch der Liebe.[2][4] Modern German uses it only for something that happens for the first time.[5][1]

Timeline

  • 1378/79 – First record, in Ernst von Kirchberg's chronicle.[2]
  • About 1460 – Used in Cammermeister's chronicle.[2]
  • 1480/81 – First record of the sense “at first”.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. For the first time: das Stück wird erstmals in Graz aufgeführt.[5][1][6]

Word family

  • erstmalig

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. 8, 2222
  3. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1017
  5. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org