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noch

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noch1 still, yet

Pronunciation

  • /nɔx/, /nɔ/[1]
  • Austria, Southern-Germany, also, southern-Germany: /no/[1]

Forms

noch (adverb; not inflected)[1]

Etymology

The adverb “still, yet” is inherited from Middle High German noch, inherited from Old High German noh, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *noh, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nuh.[2][1] The same word is Old Saxon noh, Old Frisian noch, Dutch nog and Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌿𐌷 (nauh).[2][3] It was formed by joining nu (“now”) (see nun) and the enclitic particle Proto-Germanic *-h (“and, also”), which corresponds to Latin -que and Ancient Greek τε (te).[2][3] Behind this lies a combination of Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”) and Proto-Indo-European *-kʷe (“and”), so that the starting sense of the adverb was “and now, now also”.[3][1][4]

Pfeifer explains the West Germanic vowel /o/ as perhaps due to the following guttural spirant, like the regular change of Germanic /u/ before /h/ to the Gothic vowel spelled ⟨aú⟩.[3] Brugmann instead took the Gothic form as a diphthong, started from Proto-Indo-European *nou-kʷe and saw the Old High German and Old Saxon forms as shortened from a long vowel.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German noh is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses of about 765, and then in Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.[2][5] Schützeichel's dictionary lists it with senses that cover both modern words: “still, as yet, also, besides, further”, and “and not, also not”.[6] Paul finds the temporal sense, that a state lasts up to a given moment, already in Otfrid.[4]

Semantic evolution

The adverb is first of all a word of time, marking that something continues up to the moment spoken of.[7][4] Already in Old High German it could also add something further, as in Notker's hōre noh “listen further”, which shows the step from the temporal to the additive use.[3][4] Down to Early New High German it could also express a contrast, a use now taken by dennoch.[3]

Repeating noch einmal came to intensify a quantity or quality, as in noch einmal so viel “twice as much” (17th century, earlier noch einst so vil in the 16th).[3] Early New High German also had nur noch so in this sense.[3] From the 17th century noch so appears in concessive clauses meaning “however much”, as in er mag noch so klug sein “however clever he may be”.[3] In Bavarian, Swiss and other dialects the final consonant is often lost (no).[7]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German noh is first recorded.[2][5]
  • c. 1000 – Notker uses hōre noh “listen further”, an early additive use.[3]
  • 16th century – noch einst so vil “twice as much” in Early New High German.[3]
  • 17th century – noch einmal so viel and the concessive noch so “however much” are recorded.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. still: the state or process continues, though it may soon end.[8][1]
  2. With an amount: only so much is left (ich habe nur noch zwei Mark).[8]
  3. Before something else happens; also at some time in the future, eventually (er wird noch kommen).[8][1]
  4. With a time phrase: as recently as, no later than (noch gestern).[8][4]
  5. In addition, besides, another.[8][1]
  6. With a comparative: even (noch besser).[8][1]
  7. After a question: again.[1]

Word family

noch2 nor

Pronunciation

  • /nɔx/, /nɔ/[1]
  • Austria, Southern-Germany, also, southern-Germany: /no/[1]

Forms

noch (conjunction)[1]

Etymology

The conjunction “nor” is inherited from Middle High German noch, inherited from Old High German noh, like Old Saxon noh and Old Frisian noch.[2] Kluge explains it as a contraction of the negation ni (or ⟨ne⟩) with ⟨-uh⟩, a variant of the particle Proto-Germanic *-h (“and”) found in the adverb noch1.[2] The Duden dictionary takes the second part as ouh (“also”), so that the word meant “also not”.[8] With a different vowel the same formation is Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌷 (nih); outside Germanic it matches Latin neque.[2][9] Kluge leaves open how far auch took part in the German forms, comparing nec, which may come from a negation with an Old Saxon word for “also” or “but”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German noh “and not, nor” is recorded from the 8th century.[2] In the Tatian it divides a negative statement: noh thesêr suntôta noh sîne eldiron “neither this man sinned nor his parents”.[10]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the conjunction could also join a negative clause to a positive one, strengthen a negation, or introduce a question like Latin nonne.[10] Modern German uses it only to continue a negation that comes before it, above all in weder … noch “neither … nor”.[10][8] The paired noch … noch “neither … nor” lived on beside weder … noch until the end of the 18th century;[10] Luther wrote noch sichtbarlich noch unsichtbarlich “neither visibly nor invisibly”.[10]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German noh “nor” is first recorded.[2]
  • End of the 18th century – noch … noch gives way to weder … noch.[10]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. nor: after a negation, especially in weder … noch “neither … nor”, introducing each further item that is also not true.[8][1]
  • nun
  • Old High German noh

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 657
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 239
  7. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 866
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 98
  10. ^ a b c d e f Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 872