etwa

Forms

etwa (adverb and particle)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German etewā, contracted etwā, inherited from Old High German eddeshwār (“somewhere”), from Old High German eddes- + hwār (“where”).^[2][1][3] The second part is the adverb that became wo;^[4][2] the first is the element marking indefiniteness that is also found in etlich and etwas.^[4][2][3]

A parallel formation with the word for “when” was eddeshwanne (“at some time”), Middle High German etewenne, which gave Early New High German etwan.^[2][1] The two adverbs were mixed up already in Middle High German.^[2][5] The Grimms' dictionary took the modern adverb to be a shortening of the latter,^[6] but the revised dictionary explains it from the Middle High German form with /aː/: forms with /o/, the regular outcome of that vowel, were usual from the 14th century and dominant in the 15th, and the form with /a/ survived because it was felt to be a variant of the adverb in ⟨-an⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Notker, who died in 1022, uses eteuuâr “somewhere”.^[3] Pfeifer dates Old High German eddehwār to about 1000 and eddeshwār to the 11th century.^[2] Middle High German etewā, eteswā meant “somewhere, here and there”, and also “rather, very” and “sometimes, once”.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The adverb was local at first and became modal in Early New High German.^[2] Taking over the uses of etwan, it meant “sometime” and “once, formerly”: Luther writes Jch aber lebete etwa on Gesetze (“but I once lived without the law”, Romans 7:9).^[5] From the late 15th century it also meant “somehow”, and it has meant “perhaps” since the 18th century at the latest.^[5] The sense “for example” is also old, and etwa later came to mean “approximately”.^[5][8] By the end of the 18th century etwa had replaced etwan in the written language.^[3]

The adjective etwaig “possible” appeared at the end of the 18th century in place of an older etwanig.^[2] The phrase in etwa “roughly” was a fashionable expression in the middle of the 20th century, though Immermann already used it in the early 19th.^[2] In Switzerland etwa still means “now and then”.^[9]

Timeline

• Before 1022 – Notker uses eteuuâr “somewhere”.^[3]
• 14th–15th century – The forms etwo, ettewo prevail.^[3]
• 1494 – Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff uses etwan in the sense “somehow”.^[5]
• 1702 – Kramer records etwa in the sense “perhaps”.^[5]
• End of the 18th century – etwa fully replaces etwan, and etwaig appears.^[3][2]
• Mid-20th century – in etwa “roughly” becomes fashionable.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Approximately, about: etwa zwanzig Minuten.^[9][1]
2. For instance, for example: große Städte wie etwa Köln.^[9][1]
3. (Switzerland) Sometimes, now and then.^[9]

Particle

1. Perhaps, possibly, by any chance, stressing a possibility: falls sie etwa anruft.^[9][1]
2. In questions, expressing surprise or the expectation of a negative answer: Hast du etwa schon gegessen?.^[9][1]
3. With nicht, strengthening a denial: nicht etwa “by no means”.^[9]

Word family

• etwaig
• in etwa

Related words

• etlich
• etwas
• etwan
• wo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ 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. 8, 2420
4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 262
5. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1181
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
9. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag