es

Forms

es n sg^[1] Middle High German had ëȥ and iȥ; the spelling with s first appears in the last quarter of the 13th century in Alemannic manuscripts, while forms with i lasted in Central German texts into the first half of the 16th century.^[2] In the 15th and 16th centuries esz, isz and ehs are also found.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ëȥ, inherited from Old High German iȥ, inherited from Proto-Germanic *it.^[4][1][2] The same word is Gothic 𐌹𐍄𐌰 (ita) and Old Saxon it, and it survives as Low German it.^[2][5][3] Old English hit, the source of English it, and het go back instead to a form with initial h-, Proto-Germanic *hit.^[1][6]

It is the neuter of er and continues Proto-Indo-European *id, which is also Latin id; Sanskrit इदम् (idám) is formed from the same pronominal stem.^[4][5][7] The revised Grimm describes it as built with the pronominal ending -d on the zero grade of the stem Proto-Indo-European *ei-, but calls its further connections disputed.^[2] In the North Germanic languages it was replaced by the demonstrative pronoun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German iz is recorded from the 8th century; the Old High German Isidor of the late 8th century already uses it for a neuter noun, “it”.^[2][8] Notker writes iz ist lîeht “it is a light”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides standing for a neuter noun, es came to refer to a whole statement or to something given only by the situation (es ist ein Junge “it's a boy”).^[9] From this grew its use as the subject of impersonal verbs such as es regnet “it is raining”, where it first pointed to the situation and then became a mere formal subject.^[9] Without es only some phrases with a dative or accusative in front survive, such as mich friert “I am cold”.^[9]

The unstressed pronoun was shortened in Middle High German after verbs and pronouns (ich binʒ “it is I”), as in modern ich bin's and gibs.^[3][6] The weakening of the final sound to s made the word look like the old genitive es, which the Grimms regretted as a source of confusion.^[3] In 1923 Freud used das Es, after Georg Groddeck, for the unconscious part of the psyche, and this Es gave the semantic loan Latin id of psychoanalysis.^[10][1]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – The Old High German Isidor uses izs for a neuter noun.^[2]
• 1060–1080 – Middle High German ez is used in the Early Middle High German Genesis.^[11]
• 1278 – A Basel charter has one of the first spellings es with s.^[2]
• First half of the 16th century – The last forms with i appear in Central German texts.^[2]
• 1923 – Freud uses das Es as a term of psychology.^[10]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. It; the third person singular neuter, nominative and accusative, standing for a neuter noun: es ist sehr spannend “it (the book) is very exciting”; also he or she for persons named by a neuter noun (das Mädchen).^[12][1]
2. It, so; standing for a predicate or a whole clause: er ist wütend, und sie ist es auch “he is angry, and so is she”.^[12]
3. Announcing a subject or clause that follows later in the sentence.^[12][6]
4. It, there; as an empty grammatical subject of impersonal verbs and phrases: es regnet “it is raining”.^[9][1][6]
5. As an empty grammatical object in some phrases.^[6]

Word family

• Es

Related words

• er
• English it

Usage notes

In regional colloquial speech es or ’s is also used for the article das.^[1] In Bavarian an old dual form es means “you” (plural), ihr in the standard language.^[13] Dialects often refer to a girl with es instead of sie.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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, 2379
3. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1104
4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 252
5. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b 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, 2383
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
13. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de