immerhin

Forms

immerhin^[1]

Etymology

It is from German immer + hin: the adverb meaning “always” joined with the adverb of direction meaning “onward, away”.^[2][1] In the 16th century the parts were still written separately, as in Luther's Bible, and only later were they run together.^[2] The first part is Middle High German iemer, Old High German iomēr, run together from io (“ever”) (modern je) and mēr (“more”) (modern mehr).^[3][4]

The concessive meaning grew out of the temporal one.^[1][2] The simple adverb was already used in the same way, to grant that at least so much could be admitted.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

At first the phrase was purely temporal, “on and on, further”: Luther's translation of Genesis 8:3 says that the waters receded from the earth jmer hin, and Revelation 22:11 has wer böse ist, der sei jmer hin böse “he that is unjust, let him be unjust still”.^[2] Early New High German also used immerhin to mean “only, merely”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century it could be an encouraging cry, “go on! forward!”, as in Logau.^[2] From there it came to express permission, letting an action go ahead: Gotter writes schlaf immerhin die erste zeit des lebens! “sleep on, then, the first part of your life!”^[2]

In more recent German it is often used to introduce or to weaken an objection, as in Wieland: nenne die tugend immerhin schwärmerei “call virtue fanaticism if you will”.^[2] Today its main use is to point to something that should be acknowledged in spite of everything, “at least, after all”.^[7][1]

Timeline

• 16th century – imer hin, written separately, in Luther and other writers.^[2]
• 17th century – Used as an encouraging cry by Logau.^[2]
• 18th century – Concessive use (“go ahead and…”) in Wieland and Gotter.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At least, in any case (acknowledging something positive): Sie hat immerhin den zweiten Platz erreicht.^[7][1]
2. All the same, nevertheless, even so: Er war dagegen, hat aber immerhin unterschrieben.^[7][1]
3. After all (pointing to a circumstance that must be considered): Sie ist immerhin deine Schwester.^[7][1]
4. (formal) With mögen: even if, however much: Mag es immerhin regnen, wir gehen trotzdem.^[7]

Related words

• immer
• hin
• immerzu
• immerfort

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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2074
3. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 439
4. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 389
5. ^ Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
6. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag