selbst

Forms

selbst (indeclinable demonstrative pronoun; adverb)^[1] The older form was selbs, used until the 16th and 17th centuries: Luther writes wer eine Gruben macht / der wird selbs drein fallen.^[2] Goethe and Schiller sometimes wrote selbsten.^[2]

Etymology

It is the frozen genitive singular of the pronoun selb, inherited from Middle High German selbes, with an excrescent final /t/ as in sonst and einst.^[3][4][1] The form with /t/ appears around 1300 in East Central German, in the phrase dâ selbest, and as a single syllable from the 15th century.^[3][5] selber is the strong nominative masculine singular of the same pronoun.^[6][3]

The pronoun is Old High German selb, Proto-Germanic *selbaz.^[6][1][7] The same word is Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌱𐌰 (silba), Old Norse sjálfr, Old English seolf, Old Frisian self and Old Saxon self, and today Dutch zelf, English self, Swedish själv and Icelandic sjálfur.^[6][3]

Its origin is not certain.^[3][8] The nearest comparison is Venetic sselboisselboi (“oneself”), with the same doubling as Old High German selbselbo.^[6][3] It is usually analysed as the reflexive stem Proto-Indo-European *se- of sich, with an l-suffix and the adjective suffix Proto-Indo-European *-bʰo-;^[3][6] Kluge also compares Old Irish selb and Welsh helw, both “possession”, from Proto-Indo-European *sel-wo-, and cites Oettinger, who analyses it as the reflexive Proto-Indo-European *s(w)e- with an element of belonging Proto-Indo-European *-el and the same adjective suffix.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German selb is first recorded in glosses of about 765, and then in almost every Old High German text, meaning “self, the same, this very, own” and “even”.^[7][9][10]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th century selber could stand for every case; today it counts as the colloquial form of selbst.^[3] The combination with the article grew into derselbe from late Middle High German to the 16th century.^[3][10] Beside places, selbst faded in daselbst “there”.^[2]

The adverb selbst “even”, stressing that something is unexpected, is used from the 16th century.^[2] The saying selbst ist der Mann “do it yourself” is recorded from 1623.^[2] The noun Selbst “the self-aware ego” was formed in the 18th century after English the self, first in a religious and moral sense, and selbstisch “selfish” after English selfish.^[8][3]

Many compounds have selbst- in place of the older selb-: Selbstlaut “vowel” (selbstlauten, 1531), Selbstmord (17th century, for Latin suicidium), Selbstverwaltung (early 19th century, after English self-government).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 765 – Old High German selb appears in glosses.^[7]
• 12th century – selber begins to be used for all cases.^[3]
• c. 1300 – dâ selbest appears in East Central German texts.^[3][5]
• 15th century – The single-syllable form selbst appears.^[3]
• 1531 – selbstlauten “vowels” is recorded.^[3]
• 16th century – selbst is used as an adverb “even”.^[2]
• 1623 – The saying selbst ist der Mann is recorded.^[2]
• 18th century – The noun Selbst is formed after English the self.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (stressed, after the word it refers to) Stresses that this person or thing and no other is meant: himself, herself, itself: Die Ministerin selbst eröffnete die Brücke.^[4][1]
2. By oneself, without help: Er repariert sein Auto selbst.^[4][1]
3. von selbst: by itself, without outside cause: Die Tür ging von selbst auf.^[4][2]
4. (colloquial, after a noun of a quality) The very embodiment of: Sie war die Geduld selbst.^[4][2]

Adverb

1. even: Selbst sein Bruder wusste nichts davon.^[4][1]

Word family

• selber
• derselbe
• daselbst
• Selbst
• selbstisch
• selbständig
• selbstverständlich
• Selbstmord
• Selbstbewusstsein
• Selbstlaut

Related words

• sich
• English self

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 f g h i j k l m n o 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 f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 445
6. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 841
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 275
10. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 1076