gestern

Forms

gestern (adverb)^[1] Old High German had several case forms: gestre, gestera (dative singular) and gesteron, gesterēn (dative plural), the source of the modern form.^[2][3] The shorter gester was still in use in the 17th century and survives in Tyrol and Switzerland; forms with a final -t, gestert, are also recorded.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gestern, inherited from Old High German gesteron, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gesteran, a West Germanic adverb with several case endings.^[2][1][4] The same word is Middle Low German gisterne, Middle Dutch ghisteren and Old English geostran, and today Dutch gisteren;^[5][4] Old English also had the compound gystran dæg, the source of English yesterday.^[5][4] Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis) means “tomorrow”, and with another ablaut grade Old Norse í gær means “yesterday”, rarely “tomorrow”.^[2][5]

The word was formed with the suffix Proto-Indo-European *-ter-, like Latin hesternus (“of yesterday”) beside herī (“yesterday”).^[5][4] Other related words are Ancient Greek χθές (khthés) and Sanskrit ह्यस् (hyás);^[2][5] Kluge sets out from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰyes, perhaps an adverbial genitive.^[2][5] Pfeifer reckons with several Indo-European base forms and finds a common source uncertain.^[5] Kluge mentions as attractive in meaning, but difficult in sound, a derivation from a pointing particle and a word for “day”, “on that day”.^[2]

The original sense was “on the other day” as seen from today, which explains why Gothic and Old Norse could use the word for “tomorrow”.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German gesteron is first recorded in the Tatian (about 830) and gesterēn in Otfrid (863–871), both meaning “yesterday”.^[8][9] The glosses use it for Latin heri and hesternum, and bifora gesteren for “the day before yesterday”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the day before today, the word came to stand for the recent past.^[10][11] Luther's translation of Job 8:9, Denn wir sind von gestern her vnd wissen nichts “for we are but of yesterday and know nothing”, gave the phrase von gestern sein “to be naive, behind the times”;^[7][10] nicht von gestern sein “to know what's what” is recorded from the end of the 18th century, in Lessing.^[7][10] Jean Paul used das Gestern for the past.^[7]

The adjective gestrig goes back to Old High German gesterīg (about 1000).^[5] Schiller's das ewig Gestrige in Wallensteins Tod gave the noun Ewiggestrige, for people who cling to the past, especially to National Socialism.^[7] vorgestern is recorded from the 15th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 830 – Old High German gesteron appears in the Tatian.^[8]
• 863–871 – Otfrid uses gesterēn.^[8]
• c. 1000 – The adjective gesterīg is recorded.^[5]
• 15th century – vorgestern is recorded.^[5]
• 16th century – Luther's Job 8:9 has wir sind von gestern her.^[7]
• Late 18th century – nicht von gestern sein appears, in Lessing.^[7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. yesterday, on the day before today: Gestern Abend hat es geschneit.^[10][1]
2. In the recent past, formerly: Was gestern modern war, ist heute vergessen.^[10][11]

Word family

• gestrig
• vorgestern
• Gestern

Related words

• English yesterday

Usage notes

Von gestern sein (colloquial) is to be old-fashioned or naive, after Job 8:9;^[10][7] nicht von gestern sein is to be nobody's fool.^[10][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 355
3. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 4229
4. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 190
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 322
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 127
10. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org