Etymologically
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alone

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /əˈləʊn/, US /əˈloʊn/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound, Middle English al one or al ane,[2][3] from all and one,[4][5][6] continuing Old English all āna “all by oneself”,[7] in which āna, “by oneself”, is from ān (“one”).[2][8] It preserves the old pronunciation of one.[7] German allein and Dutch alleen are similar compounds.[8][7][3] In Middle English it was sometimes written a lone, the source of lone by aphesis.[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

All by oneself: probably about 1200, in the Ormulum,[8] or the 12th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “nothing else, only”, as in man does not live by bread alone, is from about 1200.[7] Tyndale had onlye where the King James Version has alone.[7] “Without an equal, unique” is from 1535.[10] To let alone or leave alone is from 1366.[10] In Middle English it was often strengthened by a pronoun, as me alone,[10] and the English Dialect Dictionary records mine alane in Cumberland.[11] The adverb alonely seems to have gone out of use in the 17th century.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – al one, by oneself (Ormulum).[8]
  • c. 1200 – only, and nothing else.[7]
  • 1366 – to let alone.[10]
  • 1535 – unique.[10]
  • 17th century – alonely falls out of use.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Apart from others; solitary.
  2. Without anyone or anything else; only.
  3. Considered separately from all others of its class.
  4. Without equal; unique.

Adverb

  1. Without others; without help.
  2. Exclusively, only.

Word family

  • aloneness
  • stand-alone
  • let alone
  • lone
  • lonely
  • all
  • one
  • only
  • atone

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that alone stresses being apart from others without necessarily implying unhappiness, while lonely and lonesome suggest a painful awareness of being alone.[12]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin