zuletzt

Forms

zuletzt^[1]

Etymology

It is a fusion from German zu + letzt of the preposition with the superlative of an old adjective meaning “slow”.^[2][3][1] It continues Old High German zi leʒʒist, recorded in the 9th century, and zi laʒʒōst, recorded in the 10th, and Middle High German ze lezist or ze leste.^[3][2] The superlative belongs to Old High German laz (“slow, sluggish, tired”), the source of lässig, and the same phrase is Old Frisian tolesta.^[3][2]

The modern form with final /t/ is Early New High German.^[4] Paul explains it by the influence of the noun Letze (“farewell, end”), still current in the 18th century and also written with a secondary ⟨t⟩, as in zu guter Letzt.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer dates the Old High German phrase to the 9th century, and the Middle High German adverb is recorded in the Millstatt Psalter, before 1190.^[3][5] It meant “in the end, finally”, as it still does.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In New High German the uninflected form prevailed from the start, beside regional ze lest and zletst.^[2] Inflected variants were also used: zuletzten in the 15th and 16th centuries (Zwingli, Burkard Waldis) and zuletzte in 17th-century verse (Paul Fleming, Logau).^[2] The phrases auf die Letzt and zur Letze, with the same meaning, hardly survived the 16th century; only zu guter Letzt remains, no longer understood as “as a farewell” but as an emphatic “finally”.^[2]

Goethe's Faust speaks of how far we have zuletzt so herrlich weit gebracht (“brought it so splendidly far in the end”).^[4] Negated, nicht zuletzt is a litotes meaning “especially”, comparable to English last but not least.^[4][6] In colloquial use it also means “the last time”.^[6][1]

Timeline

• 9th century – Old High German zi leʒʒist is recorded.^[3]
• 10th century – The variant zi laʒʒōst is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1190 – Middle High German zuolezzist appears in the Millstatt Psalter.^[5]
• 15th–16th centuries – An inflected variant zuletzten is used.^[2]
• 17th century – The inflected zuletzte appears in verse and in prose.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In the last place, after everything else: Die Fenster putze ich zuletzt.^[6][1] Nicht zuletzt means “not least, especially”.^[6]
2. As the last one: Sie ist wie immer zuletzt angekommen.^[6]
3. (colloquial) The last time: Wann hast du deine Tante zuletzt besucht?^[6][1]
4. Finally, in the end: Wir haben zuletzt doch ein Taxi genommen.^[6][1]
5. Recently, lately.^[1][7]

Related words

• letzte
• zuerst
• lässig
• Letzt

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 g h i Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 32, 520
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org