Etymologically
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jeder

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Pronunciation

Forms

jeder[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ieweder, inherited from Old High German iowedar, older eohwedar and eogiwedar, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *aiwin-gi-hweþera- (“each of two”).[2][3] The same compound is Old Saxon eogihweðar and Old English ǣghwæþer, contracted ǣgþer, which survives as English either.[2][3] Middle Low German īder belongs here too, and Pfeifer asks whether Dutch ieder owes its form to German.[3]

The compound grew together from Proto-Germanic *aiwin (“ever, always”), the ancestor of je, and *gihweþera (“each of two”), which consists of the prefix ge- and the pronoun continued by weder.[2][3][4] That pronoun is Old High German wedar (“which of two”), hweðar, hwæþer, Old Norse hvaðarr and Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌸𐌰𐍂 (ƕaþar), and Pfeifer compares Sanskrit कतर (katará, “which of two”), Ancient Greek πότερος (póteros, “which of two”), Lithuanian katràs, Old Church Slavonic которъ (kotorŭ) and Russian который (kotóryj, “which”).[3] They continue Proto-Indo-European *ku̯otero- (“which of two”), formed with the comparative suffix *-tero- on the interrogative stem.[3][5]

The whole therefore meant “both, each of the two”.[2][6] H. Kolb proposed instead an origin in the Middle High German phrase ie der (“each time the”), which Paul mentions.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German iogihwedar is recorded in the 8th century and iowedar around 900, meaning “each of two”.[3] Notker uses ioweder, êohwedar often, also in the sense “either one of two”.[8][9][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the meaning widened from “each of the two” to “each one of all”.[3][2] The Grimms' dictionary dates the contraction of ieweder to ieder to the 14th century, when the dual sense faded and the word came to mean the same as jeglich.[9] The stem's final -er was then taken for an inflectional ending, as in guter, and the modern inflection arose.[7] Remains of the older one survived into the 17th century, as in Opitz's ein iedrer.[9]

The spelling with i- lasted until the early 18th century;[7] Schottelius already wrote only jeder.[7] A plural does not fit the sense, but it occurs under the influence of all, as in Lessing's alle und jede Richter.[7] Compounds grew from fixed phrases: jedermann in the 14th century from ieder and man, jedesmal in the 17th century and jedenfalls around 1700.[3][7][4]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German iogihwedar “each of two” is recorded.[3][2]
  • c. 900 – The shorter iowedar appears.[3]
  • 14th century – ieweder is contracted to ieder, and the sense “each of two” fades.[9]
  • 14th century – jedermann is formed.[3][7]
  • 17th century – jedesmal appears.[3]
  • c. 1700 – jedenfalls is formed.[3][7]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. each, every: every single one of a whole, without exception, used before a noun or standing alone: jeder dritte Besucher, jeder von euch.[10][1]
  2. (regional) In the neuter, standing alone: all of them, each: die Brüder haben jedes zwei Autos.[10]
  3. With abstract nouns: any at all, any conceivable: ohne jeden Zweifel.[10]
  4. With expressions of time or measure: every, at intervals of: jede halbe Stunde.[10]

Word family

Usage notes

Unlike alle, which sums up a whole, jeder takes its members one by one.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 455
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 415
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 166
  9. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2285
  10. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag