jedenfalls

Forms

jedenfalls^[1]

Etymology

It is the phrase jeden Falls “in every case” run together into one word, from German jeder (“every”) + Fall (“case”), with the genitive ending of the noun used adverbially.^[2][1] It belongs to a group of adverbs ending in ⟨-falls⟩ formed in the 17th century, beside allenfalls, andernfalls and gegebenenfalls, which grew up together with the conjunction falls “in case”, itself a fixed genitive of Fall in the sense “possibility, eventuality”.^[3][2]

The first part is the pronoun jeder, from Middle High German ieweder, Old High German ioweder (“each of two”), a compound of io (“ever”) and wedar (“which of two”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer dates the adverb to about 1700, meaning “in any case”, and the Duden Herkunftswörterbuch to the 18th century.^[2][4] The Grimms' dictionary refers its formation to the article on falls, which it finds first in the dictionaries of Stieler and Frisch.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The Grimms' dictionary describes jedenfalls as an emphatic “yes” given in answer to a question, and as the word that sets a firm assertion against a preceding concession (“he may have been in need, but in any case he should not have done it”).^[5] Modern German also uses it in a weaker, limiting sense, “at least, as far as I am concerned”, often with a pronoun before it (ich jedenfalls).^[7]

Timeline

• 17th century – Adverbs in -falls such as allenfalls and jedenfalls come into use.^[2]
• c. 1700 – First record of jedenfalls “in any case”.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In any case, at all events, whatever else may be true: Das Konzert war jedenfalls gut besucht.^[7][1]
2. At least, as far as someone is concerned: Mein Bruder jedenfalls will nicht mehr warten.^[7]
3. As a reply: definitely, certainly: Kommst du morgen? – Jedenfalls!^[1][5]

Related words

• jeder
• Fall
• falls
• allenfalls
• andernfalls

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 275
4. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
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, 2284
6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1289
7. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag