jemand

Forms

jemand (genitive jemandes or jemands; dative jemandem or jemand; accusative jemanden or jemand)^[2][1] The dative and accusative were at first the same as the nominative;^[3] jemandem and jemanden, with the endings of the adjective, are found from the 17th century.^[3] The form without -d lasted until the 16th century, as in jemann in a Livy translation of 1598.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ieman, inherited from Old High German ioman, from Old High German io (“ever, always”) + man (“man, person”), the ancestors of je and Mann, so at first “any man at all”.^[5][6][7] The same compound is Old Saxon eoman, Middle Low German ieman and Dutch iemand;^[6][4] Old English and Old Norse lack it.^[6][4] Gothic did not yet have it as one word, but placed Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍅 (aiw, “ever”) before 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna, “person”) in negative sentences.^[4]

The final /d/ is secondary, as in niemand, irgend and Dutzend.^[6][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German ioman is found in the Weißenburg Catechism (perhaps about 790), Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “anyone, someone”.^[8][9] Kluge and Pfeifer date it to the 8th century.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

At first the word referred to any person at all, like Latin quisquam; in New High German it also took over the role of Middle High German etewer, someone definite but not named.^[3] A final t or d appears early, in Konrad von Megenberg's iemant.^[4] From the 15th century on iemant is almost the only form, and Luther writes jemand throughout.^[4][3]

In southern German it is combined with the neuter of an adjective, as in jemand Bekanntes, when the sex of the person is left open;^[3] Goethe often writes so.^[3] The noun ein gewisser Jemand is a jocular way of pointing at a known person without naming them.^[2]

Timeline

• 8th century – First record of the word.^[5][6]
• c. 790 – ioman in the Weißenburg Catechism.^[8]
• 14th century – Forms with final t such as iemant appear.^[4]
• 15th century – iemant becomes the usual form.^[4]
• 16th century – Luther writes only jemand.^[4][3]
• 17th century – The inflected forms jemandem, jemanden appear.^[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. A particular person known to the speaker but not named: Ich kenne jemanden, der dir das Dach reparieren kann.^[2][1]
2. A particular person unknown to the speaker: An der Tür hat jemand geklingelt.^[2]
3. Any person at all, anyone, somebody: Hat jemand einen Bleistift?^[2][1]

Related words

• niemand
• je
• Mann
• man
• irgend

Usage notes

Jemand anders “someone else” has anders as an adverb; a dative jemand anderm is also found.^[3] niemand was formed from jemand with the negation and behaves in the same way.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2301
5. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 456
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 415
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 166
10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 655