immer

Forms

immer (adverb; not inflected)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Old High German io (“ever”) + mēr (“more”), Middle High German iemer, immer: Old High German “iomēr” was joined together from the adverb behind je and the comparative behind mehr.^[2][3][4][1] The compound is limited to German and Dutch, with Old Saxon eomēr, Middle Low German immer and Dutch immer.^[4][3] The Grimms' dictionary notes that Old Saxon mostly still used the simple ēo, and that Low German has “jümmer”.^[5]

The first part, io (earlier ⟨ēo⟩), is the accusative of the Germanic noun Proto-Germanic *aiwaz (“age, eternity”) used as an adverb, like Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍅 (aiw), Old Norse æ and Old English ā.^[6][7] The noun is related to Latin aevum (“age”) and Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “lifetime, age”).^[6][1] Because the stress fell on the first syllable, the long vowel of the second part was gradually weakened and the compound obscured.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German iomēr is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses of about 790, then in Isidor, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “always, for ever, at all times, henceforth”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Kluge takes the starting sense as “ever more, from now on”, later generalised to “always”.^[2] At first the adverb referred only or mainly to the future (Old and Middle High German “at some future time, ever, now and in future”); the widening to “at any time”, including the present and past, already begins in Middle High German.^[3] As the sense of iemer weakened, Middle High German formed it anew with mēre, to bring back something of the old meaning.^[5]

Before a comparative it expresses a continuing increase, as in es wurde immer dunkler “it grew darker and darker”.^[9] Joined with other words it gave immerdar, immerfort, immerhin, immerzu and immergrün, with the plant name Immergrün.^[3][4] Goethe's bis zum Dammweg ist's immer ein Stündchen shows the older concessive use now taken by immerhin.^[9]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German iomēr is first recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 790 – iomēr appears in glosses.^[8]
• Middle High German period – iemer begins to mean “at any time”, not only in the future.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. always, at all times; constantly (so war es schon immer, für immer “for ever”).^[10][1]
2. Every time, whenever something happens.^[1][9]
3. With a comparative: more and more (immer dunkler).^[9][1]
4. (colloquial) Unstressed, emphasising another adverb of time.^[1]
5. After wer, was, wie with auch: -ever (wer auch immer “whoever”).^[1]

Word family

• immergrün
• immerdar
• immerfort
• immerhin
• immerwährend
• immerzu

Related words

• je
• mehr
• nimmer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 439
3. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 389
5. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2068
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 139
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag