Etymologically
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je

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Pronunciation

Forms

je[1] Old High German had eo, later io, and Middle High German ie; the form je arose from a shift of the syllable peak (ié), which took place first in Low German.[2][3][4] Schottelius gives je in 1663, but the Silesian Baroque poets still wrote ie, and Wieland still rhymes it with sie.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ie, inherited from Old High German io, inherited from Proto-Germanic *aiwin (“always, ever”).[3][1] The same adverb is Old Saxon eo, Old Norse æ, Old English ā and Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍅 (aiw, “ever (only after a negative)”).[3][5][6] It is a fossilized case form, accusative or dative, of a noun meaning “time, eternity”, preserved in 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐍃 (aiws, “time, eternity”);[5][7] Kluge and Duden take this noun as an i-stem, Proto-Germanic *aiwiz, while Wiktionary reconstructs *aiwaz.[3][7][1] The noun belongs with ewig.[3][5] A similar formation outside Germanic is Ancient Greek αἰεί (aieí, “always”),[3] and Köbler and Wiktionary trace the group to Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu (“life force, age”).[8][1]

The adverb is also contained in immer, nie, irgend, jeder, jeglich and jemand.[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German io is recorded from about 765 in glosses and in the Abrogans, and then in Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.[8][2] It meant “always, at all times, ever, at some time, each time”.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German ie and iemer (now immer) both meant “ever, always”, ie referring to the past and iemer to the future;[4] New High German replaced this with a new division, immer “at every actual time”, je “at any supposed time”, so that je stands mostly in questions and conditions.[4] The old sense “always” survived longest in je und je, as in Paul Gerhardt's der mich je und je geliebt, which later also meant “now and then”.[4]

The distributive use with numbers (je zwei) and the correlative use with comparatives, je länger, je lieber, are already Middle High German;[4][10] today je … desto and je … umso are usual.[4] Early New High German also used je as an emphatic particle, “certainly”, as in Luther's das ist je gewißlich wahr.[4][11] The use as a preposition meaning “per” is modern.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German io in glosses.[8]
  • Middle High German – ie … ie with comparatives.[4][13]
  • Late Middle High German – The form je arises by a shift of the syllable peak.[3]
  • 1663 – Schottelius gives the spelling je.[4]
  • 18th century – Wieland still rhymes ie with sie.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. ever, at any time: Hast du so etwas je gesehen?[12][1]
  2. Each, apiece, with numbers: Die Gäste bekamen je zwei Gutscheine.[12][1]
  3. Each one taken separately: Die Bretter sind je zwei Meter lang.[12]
  4. je nach: depending on: je nach Wetter.[12][1]
  5. seit je, seit eh und je: always, for as long as anyone remembers;[12] je und je (elevated, dated): now and then.[12]

Preposition

  1. per, for each: zehn Euro je Teilnehmer.[12][1]

Conjunction

  1. With two comparatives, je … desto, je … umso: the … the: je eher, desto besser.[12][1]
  2. je nachdem: depending on whether, it depends.[12][1]

Word family

  • ewig
  • English aye

Usage notes

Two interjections of other origin are spelt the same way: je with a short vowel, a variant of ja expressing surprise or reluctant agreement (je nun),[14] and je with a long vowel, short for Jesus, in exclamations such as o je and herrje.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 455
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 1647
  7. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 415
  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. 165
  10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1413
  11. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  14. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2273
  15. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2274
  16. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org