Etymologically
Log in

jedenfalls

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈjeːdənˈfals/[1]

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]

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