solch

Forms

solch (demonstrative pronoun); inflected solcher, solche, solches; uninflected solch before an adjective or before ein^[2][1] Middle High German had many forms, among them solich, solch, sulich, sulch and sölch.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German solich, inherited from Old High German sulīh, inherited from Proto-Germanic *swalīkaz (“so shaped, such”).^[4][1][5] The same compound is Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (swaleiks), Old Norse slíkr, Old English swilc and Old Saxon sulīk, and today Dutch zulk, English such and Swedish slik.^[4][5] Kluge notes that the Old High German and Old Frisian forms point to a variant with a long vowel in the first part, Proto-Germanic *swǣ-līka-, while Gothic, Norse and English go back to *swa-līka-.^[4]

The first part is the word so; the second is the noun Proto-Germanic *līką (“body, shape”), which survives in Leiche and in the suffix -lich.^[4][5][6] The word therefore first meant “having such a shape, so made”, a sense it still has.^[5][6] welch is formed in the same way.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German sulīh, solīh is recorded from glosses of 765 on and is frequent in the Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “such, of that kind, so made”.^[7][4] Middle High German solich appears in Eilhart (1170–1190).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Paul notes that the word was first an adjective, but that in predicative use it was soon replaced by so.^[8] Like so, it often refers to degree, as in solche Schönheit “such beauty”, and stands uninflected before ein: solch eine Tat beside eine solche Tat.^[8]

Used on its own it is now rare (Luther's das sei ferne von mir, solches zu tun), and so etwas has taken its place.^[8] In the scholarly language of the 19th century als solcher “as such” became common, as in die Philosophie als solche.^[8] The chancery style used solcher for “the same, it”, which Adelung criticised in 1780 as a fault of common speech, but Schiller still wrote wirft ihm solchen verächtlich vor die Füße in Die Räuber.^[8]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German sulīh appears in glosses.^[7]
• 1170–1190 – Middle High German solich is used by Eilhart.^[3]
• 1780 – Adelung rejects solcher in the sense “the same, it”.^[8]
• 19th century – als solcher “as such” becomes common in scholarly language.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. Of that kind, such: solche Bücher lese ich gern.^[2][1]
2. So great, so strong: ich habe solchen Durst.^[2]
3. (standing alone) Such a person or thing, referring to something already named;^[2] als solcher: as such, in itself.^[2]
4. (uninflected, formal) So, such a: solch ein Abend, solch schönes Wetter.^[2][8]

Related words

• so
• welch
• Leiche
• -lich
• English such

Usage notes

Es gibt solche und solche, “there are such and such”, means that not all people are equally pleasant or reliable.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 856
5. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 790
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer