Etymologically
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jeweils

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈjeːvaɪ̯ls/[1]

Forms

jeweils[1]

Etymology

It is a fusion of je and Weile, so originally “each while”, that is, “each time”.[2] The parallel form jeweilen has the dative plural of the noun instead.[3]

The first part, “ever”, is Middle High German ie, Old High German io, from Proto-Germanic *aiwin (“always, ever”), a case form of *aiwi- (“time, eternity”), the noun also behind ewig.[4][5] The noun is Middle High German wīle, Old High German hwīla, from *hwīlō (“while, time”), the same word as English while.[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kluge dates the word to the 17th century.[2] The Grimms quote it from Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus, in a passage about the roots of a tree of the social orders, of which the lower branches waren jeweils lustiger (“were at times merrier”) than the higher.[7]

Semantic evolution

The variant jeweilen meant “at any time, now and then”: the Grimms quote Schupp, and Paul dates it to 1663.[7][8] It is still used in Switzerland but is otherwise dated.[3] The adjective jeweilig was formed from jeweilen or jeweils;[8][7] Adelung recorded it in 1775.[8][7] In modern German jeweils has become a distributive word, “in each case, each”.[3][1]

Timeline

  • 1663 – jeweilen “now and then” is recorded.[8]
  • 17th century – Grimmelshausen uses jeweils.[2][7]
  • 1775 – Adelung records the adjective jeweilig.[8]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Each time; always (in a given context): Der Kurs findet jeweils am Montag statt.[3][1]
  2. In each case, each: Die Kinder bekamen jeweils zwei Äpfel.[1]
  3. At the time in question; then current: die jeweils geltenden Regeln.[3]

Word family

  • jeweilig
  • jeweilen
  • je
  • Weile
  • zuweilen

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 456
  3. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 455
  5. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 979
  7. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2326
  8. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer