Etymologically
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sondern

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Pronunciation

  • [ˈzɔndɐn][1]

Forms

sondern (coordinating conjunction); verb sondern (weak, sondert, sonderte, gesondert; auxiliary haben)[1] The 16th- and 17th-century dictionaries also have umlauted forms of the verb, sündern and söndern.[2] Pestalozzi still wrote gesöndert (1822).[2]

Etymology

The conjunction is inherited from Middle High German sundern (“without; except; but”), recorded in Central German in the 14th century.[3][4] It is originally the dative plural of the adjective sunder (“separate”), and took the place of the older conjunction sunder, inherited from Old High German suntar (“but, rather”).[3][5] Kluge describes it as an early specialisation of the adverb suntar (“apart, separately”), which survives as the archaic preposition sonder.[6] The verb, sundern, suntarōn, is derived from the same adverb, like Old English sundrian and Old Norse sundra.[6][2]

The adverb continues Proto-Germanic *sundraz (“separate, alone”);[1][7] the same word is Old Saxon sundar, Old Frisian sunder, Old English sundor and Old Norse sundr, and with another ending Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍂𐍉 (sundrō).[6][3] It is in English asunder.[3][8] Outside Germanic it corresponds to Sanskrit सनुतर् (sanutár, “away, aside”) and Ancient Greek ἄτερ (áter, “without”), and without the t-suffix to Latin sine (“without”), Old Irish sain (“different, special”), Tocharian A sne and Tocharian B snai (“without”).[6][3] The Duden dictionary sets up Proto-Indo-European *sn̥-tér (“apart, separate”), a formation from Proto-Indo-European *seni-;[8] Pfeifer thinks these forms may be built on the reflexive stem Proto-Indo-European *se- of sich.[3]

The vowel /o/ is the Central German lowering of /u/ before a nasal, as in Sonne and Sommer; the present form is East Central German and was established by Luther.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old High German adverb suntar is first recorded in the Weißenburg Catechism (about 790?), and then in Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “especially, separately, apart” and, as a conjunction, “but, rather, nevertheless”.[7][9] The verb is first attested in the past participle gisuntarōt about 800, and suntarōn “to separate, divide” from the 9th century.[3][10]

Semantic evolution

The conjunction sonder “rather” remained in use until the 17th century.[3] The newer sondern spread from East Central German in the 16th century through Luther, whose Bible has Ich werde nicht sterben, sondern leben (Psalm 118:17).[3][5] Adelung, around 1800, notes that the older senses “except” and “but” had died out, and that the word was then used only after a negative, including in nicht nur … sondern auch.[11] In older texts it also follows clauses that are not negative.[5]

The verb meant in Old Norse cutting or breaking apart a mass, but in German the separating of distinct parts, often with the idea of sorting.[2] Adelung found it little used in High German, replaced by absondern, except by poets;[11] today it is an elevated word.[12][6]

Timeline

  • c. 790 – Old High German suntar appears in the Weißenburg Catechism.[7]
  • c. 800 – The past participle gisuntarōt is recorded.[3]
  • 9th century – The verb suntarōn “to separate” is recorded.[3][6]
  • 14th century – Central German sundern is used as a conjunction.[3][4]
  • 16th century – Luther's usage spreads sondern from East Central German.[3][6]
  • 17th century – The older conjunction sonder “rather” goes out of use.[3]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. After a negative statement, introduces the correct or contrasting one: but, rather: Er kam nicht mit dem Zug, sondern mit dem Rad.[4][1]
  2. nicht nur … sondern auch: not only … but also: Sie spricht nicht nur Spanisch, sondern auch Portugiesisch.[4][5]

Verb

  1. (elevated, transitive) To separate someone or something from others: die angeschlagenen Teller von den heilen sondern.[12][1]
  2. (elevated, transitive) To tell apart, distinguish; to sort by their features.[12]

Word family

  • absondern
  • aussondern
  • Absonderung
  • sonder
  • besonders
  • sonderbar
  • sonderlich
  • Sonderling
  • sich
  • English sunder
  • English asunder

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 1583
  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 Duden. Deutsches Universalwörterbuch (2007), 6th ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 1585
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 858
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b 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. 321
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 322
  11. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  12. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag