wohl

Forms

wohl (comparative wohler, superlative am wohlsten; in the sense “well, thoroughly” besser, am besten)^[2][3] The spelling with h began in the 16th century and prevailed in the 18th, although wol was still written in the 19th century.^[4][2] The short vowel survives in Wollust and in colloquial jawoll.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German wol, inherited from Old High German wola, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wela (“well”), the adverb that served for gut in all the Germanic languages.^[5][4][1] Old High German also had wela and wala: the /o/ of the main form comes from /e/ after /w/, as in Woche, and the forms with /a/ are an ablaut grade, more common in Low German.^[6][4] The same word is Old Saxon wela, Old Frisian wel, Old English wel and Old Norse vel, and today Dutch wel, English well and Swedish väl; Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰 (waila) belongs here as well, but its vowel is unexplained.^[5][7][4]

Kluge, Pfeifer and the Duden derive it from an adjective formation of the root of wollen, also in wählen and Wille, so that it first meant “as wished, desirable”.^[5][4][8] Kluge compares Welsh gwell (“better”) and Sanskrit वर (vára, “excellent, better”).^[5] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to want”).^[1] The Grimms' dictionary reports that Brugmann at first separated the Gothic word and linked it with Sanskrit वेला (vélā, “right moment”), but later gave up that idea.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German wola and wela are recorded from the 8th century, in the Hildebrandslied, the Benedictine Rule, the Monsee fragments and the glosses, meaning “well, good, very”, also as an exclamation “well then”.^[5][9][10] Already in Old High German it could be a weakened particle of assurance, assumption or emphasis.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Paul explains that the word was the adverb of gut and was gradually pushed back as gut took over that role.^[2] It held its place for feelings (mir ist wohl, das tut wohl), in contrast to weh, and for health, where it is used predicatively like an adjective and opposed by unwohl; this use formed new comparatives, wohler and am wohlsten, instead of the old ones shared with gut.^[2][11] Elsewhere it could still replace gut until the 19th century, as in Luther's daß dir's wohl gehe.^[2]

The noun Wohl “well-being” appears in the 15th century, first in the pair wohl und weh, and became common only in the 18th century, also in toasts.^[12][4] Wohltat, Old High German wolatāt (9th century), is a loan translation of Latin beneficium, and Wohlwollen (16th century) of benevolentia.^[8][4] wohlhabend goes back to Middle High German wol haben “to be well” (14th century), and Wohlstand moved from “well-being, propriety” (16th century) to “prosperity” (18th century).^[4][8]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German wola and wela are recorded.^[5][4]
• 9th century – wolatāt “good deed” appears.^[4]
• 14th century – wolhabend “wealthy” appears.^[4]
• 15th century – The noun Wohl appears in wohl und weh.^[12][4]
• 16th century – The spelling with h begins;^[4][8] Wohlstand and Wohlwollen appear.^[4][8]
• Early 18th century – wohlig “comfortable” appears.^[4]
• 18th century – The spelling wohl prevails.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (mostly formal) Well, in good health or spirits: Ich fühle mich heute nicht wohl.^[3][13]
2. Pleasant, comfortable: Bei euch ist mir immer wohl.;^[3] leb wohl, farewell.^[3]
3. (formal) Well, thoroughly: ein wohl überlegter Plan.^[3][1]
4. Certainly, indeed, contradicting a doubt: Das weiß ich wohl!^[3][1]
5. With aber, conceding something: admittedly.^[3]
6. About, approximately: Es waren wohl hundert Leute da.^[3]
7. (regional, Austria, South Tyrol) Yes, on the contrary, in reply to a negative statement.^[1]

Particle

1. Probably, presumably, expressing an assumption: Er ist wohl schon gegangen.^[3][1]
2. Adding emphasis to a statement or demand: Du wirst wohl warten können!^[3][1]

Word family

• Wohl
• wohlig
• unwohl
• jawohl
• sowohl
• Lebewohl
• Wohlbefinden
• wohlfühlen
• Wohltat
• Wohltäter
• Wohlwollen
• wohlhabend
• Wohlstand
• Wohlfahrt
• wohlauf

Related words

• wollen
• Wille
• wählen
• Wollust
• English well

Usage notes

Wohl oder übel, “whether one likes it or not”, and the toast wohl bekomm's are fixed phrases.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 994
6. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 1025
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 938
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 397
11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
12. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 30, 1070
13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org