unser

Forms

unser^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German unser, inherited from Old High German unsēr, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *unsar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *unseraz (“our”).^[1][2][3] The same possessive is Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂 (unsar), Old Norse várr and Old English ūser, ūre, the source of English our; a shorter form is behind Old Saxon ūsa, Middle Low German ūse and Dutch onze.^[4][2][3]

It is derived from uns, the dative and accusative of wir, Germanic Proto-Germanic *unsaz, which Kluge finds matched exactly by Hittite anzaš.^[3][5] Pfeifer traces ⟨uns⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *ṇs, the zero grade of the plural Proto-Indo-European *nes of the pronoun stem Proto-Indo-European *ne-, whose lengthened grade is Latin nōs (“we, us”).^[2] Wiktionary reconstructs the possessive as Proto-Indo-European *n̥-s-ero-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German unsēr is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses and in the Hildebrandslied, Isidor, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Beside the possessive there is an older unser that is the genitive of wir (“of us”); the Grimms' dictionary finds the original relation between the two not established.^[7] Umlauted forms such as ünser are found from the end of the 13th century, especially in Upper German, but never became standard.^[4] The extended form unsrig dates from the 16th century.^[3] The Lord's Prayer, beginning Vater unser, gave the noun Vaterunser.^[3]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German unsēr is first recorded.^[2][6]
• End of the 13th century – Umlauted ünser appears in Upper German.^[4]
• 16th century – unsrig is formed.^[3]

Meanings

Determiner

1. our: belonging to or associated with the speakers (unser Sohn, unsere Heimat).^[8][1]
2. Without a noun: ours (das ist nicht euer Verdienst, sondern unsrer).^[8]
3. As a royal or modest plural, for mein “my”; also, in familiar speech to children or patients, for “your”.^[8]

Related words

• uns
• wir
• English our

Usage notes

As the genitive of wir “we”, unser means “of us”.^[7][8] It is often shortened to unsre, unsrem and so on (unsere or unsre Heimat).^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 889
4. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 1369
5. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 943
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 24, 1367
8. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag