sogar

Forms

sogar (adverb, focus particle; stressed on the second syllable)^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from German so + gar, at first written separately and meaning “so completely, so much”.^[3][4][5] Its present use, singling out something unexpected, developed in the early 18th century.^[5][3][4] The first part continues Old High German sō, Proto-Germanic *swa beside *swē, the same word as Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰 (swa) and English so.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Maaler's dictionary of 1561 gives so gar edel “so wholly noble”, with the older sense.^[5][2] The modern sense is first recorded, still written separately, in Kramer's German–Italian dictionary: der Straußvogel kan auch so gar Eisen verdauen “the ostrich can even digest iron”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Stieler records the spelling as one word, and Pfeifer and the Duden date it to the 17th century, but the separate spelling still prevailed in 18th-century literature, as in Rabener and Klinger.^[2][4][3] Adelung still treated the word under gar.^[7][2] In Switzerland plain gar was still used instead in the 19th century, and the word is not found in the dialects.^[2]

Until the 19th century it could open a sentence with the verb immediately after it, as in Goethe's letters (sogar habe ich wieder Lust zum Götz) and often in Mörike.^[5] Today it also adds a stronger statement to a weaker one, “more than that, indeed”.^[5][8]

Timeline

• 16th century – The phrase so gar “so completely” is in use.^[3][4]
• 1561 – Maaler records so gar edel.^[5]
• 17th century – The joined spelling sogar appears.^[4][3]
• Early 18th century – Kramer records the modern intensifying sense.^[5][2]
• 19th century – Sentence-initial sogar with the verb directly after it goes out of use.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. even: stresses that something is unexpected or goes beyond what was assumed: Er hat sogar die Fenster geputzt.^[8][1][9]
2. More than that, indeed: adds a stronger term to a weaker one: Ich mag sie, ich bewundere sie sogar.^[8][5]

Related words

• so
• gar
• sogleich
• sofort

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 1405
3. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 789
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
8. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org