schließlich

Pronunciation

• /ˈʃliːslɪç/^[1]

Forms

schließlich^[1] Early New High German also had the adverbs schließlichen and schließentlich, and the spelling schlüßlich after Schluß.^[2][3] Pfeifer dates the adjective to the 16th century and the adverb schließlich to the 17th.^[3]

Etymology

It is from German schließen + -lich, formed in Early New High German.^[1][3][2] The verb goes back to Middle High German sliezen, Old High German sliozan and Proto-West Germanic *sleutan (“to bolt, lock”), which is found only in German, Dutch and Frisian: Middle Low German slūten, Dutch sluiten, Old Frisian slūta.^[4][3][1]

Kluge compares Latin claudō (“to close”), clāvis (“key”) and Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, key”), so that the original sense would be “to put a bolt in”.^[4] Pfeifer reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *skleud-, with a root Proto-Indo-European *klēu- (“hook, peg”).^[3] Kroonen, however, leaves the origin open, and the Duden dictionary calls it not securely explained.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Luther already used the word, meaning “final, conclusive” and “logically consistent”; a Low German slieslich is recorded in 1522, and Henisch's dictionary has it in 1616.^[2] It was at first both an adjective and an adverb.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “final, conclusive” comes from schließen “to conclude”, and the attributive use is still recorded by Stieler in 1691 and by Goethe in 1811, die schließliche Redaktion des Manuskripts “the final editing of the manuscript”.^[2] Adelung, around 1800, described the adjective as Upper German, as in ohne schließlichen Bescheid “without a final answer”.^[6] The sense “logically consistent” comes from schließen “to infer”, used since the 16th century.^[2][5]

Since what follows logically can be expected, the word became a modal particle meaning “after all”, probably in the 19th century, as in Fontane and Thomas Mann.^[2] It often closes a list (drittens und schließlich), and Schiller's endlich und schließlich is now usually said the other way round.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 16th century – Luther uses the word for “final” and “logically consistent”.^[2]
• 1522 – Low German slieslich is recorded.^[2]
• 1616 – Henisch's dictionary lists schließlich.^[2]
• 1691 – Stieler records the attributive use.^[2]
• 19th century – Probable rise of the particle “after all”.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. finally, in the end, eventually, after a long wait or delay: Nach langem Zögern sagte sie schließlich zu.^[7][1]
2. Introduces the last item of a list, often with und: ein Bahnhof, zwei Kirchen und schließlich der Hafen.^[7]
3. after all: gives a reason the speaker considers sufficient and obvious: Ich helfe ihm, er ist schließlich mein Bruder.^[7][1]

Related words

• schließen
• Schluss
• Schloss
• Schlüssel

Usage notes

Schließlich und endlich is a colloquial reinforcement of the first sense.^[7][2] An attributive use (das schließliche Scheitern) is rare.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 811
5. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
7. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag