wenn

Forms

wenn (subordinating)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wenne, inherited from Old High German hwenne, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hwan.^[2][3][1] It is a variant of wann, whose functions were differentiated only later.^[2] The two are the form without umlaut and the umlauted form of one Old High German word, hwanne beside hwenne, and in the older language had the same meanings and uses.^[3][4]

Related are Old Saxon hwanna, Middle Low German wanne and Old English hwanne beside hwenne, the source of English when, which is only temporal.^[3] Forms without the extension ⟨-ne⟩ are hwan, Middle Dutch wan and Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌽 (ƕan, “when, how”).^[3][5] All are formed with an ⟨n⟩ suffix from the pronoun stem of wer, Proto-Germanic *hwa-, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, what”).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German hwanne is found in glosses perhaps as early as 765, and hwenne in the 9th century.^[7][3] The Old High German word was mainly an adverb, “when, ever, at some time, once, until”.^[8][7] In the phrase sō hwanne sō (about 800) it was a conjunction, first temporal, “as soon as, whenever”, then conditional, “if”.^[3] Paul finds the temporal sense “as soon as” already in Isidor, “whenever” in Notker, and the conditional sense from the 11th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Late Old High German had so wenne beside so wanne, and the short forms wenne, wen prevail in some manuscripts of the 14th century.^[4] The present split, with wann an adverb “at what time” and wenn a conjunction “if, when”, was first drawn by Gottsched in 1748 and became general only in the 19th century.^[9][3][5] In some regions, especially Austria, wann is still used for wenn.^[9]

Concessive wenn … auch “even if”, wishes such as wenn sie nur käme! “if only she would come!”, and als wenn, wie wenn “as if” (from 1565) were added to the temporal and conditional uses.^[9] The noun Wenn “condition, reservation” is found in Herder and Bürger.^[9]

Timeline

• 765? – Old High German hwanne in glosses.^[7]
• c. 800 – sō hwanne sō is used as a conjunction.^[3]
• 9th century – The form hwenne appears.^[3][2]
• 11th century – First conditional use.^[9]
• 1482 – The Nuremberg Vocabularius theutonicus is the first dictionary to enter the form wenn.^[4]
• 1565 – als wenn, wie wenn “as if” is first recorded.^[9]
• 1748 – Gottsched separates wenn (condition) from wann (time).^[9]
• 19th century – The distinction becomes general.^[3][5]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. if: on condition that, in case.^[10][1]
2. when, as soon as.^[10][1]
3. whenever, every time that.^[10]
4. (with auch, schon) Even if, although.^[10][9]
5. (with doch, nur) If only: introduces a wish.^[9]
6. (als wenn, wie wenn) As if.^[9]

Word family

• Wenn
• wenngleich
• wennschon
• wenns

Related words

• wann
• wer
• was

Usage notes

Ohne Wenn und Aber means “without reservations”.^[10] Wenn das Wörtchen wenn nicht wär (“if the little word if did not exist”) is a mild retort to excuses.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 982
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 29, 51
5. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 371
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag