Etymologically
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elk

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Pronunciation

Forms

elk[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch elc (also ⟨eelc⟩, ⟨elic⟩, ⟨ellic⟩), a strongly contracted form of a very old compound whose parts are not certain.[2][3][4] The same word is Middle Low German elk, Old Frisian ellik (modern West Frisian elts) and Old English ǣlc (modern English each); because there are so few variant forms, the original parts are hard to fix.[2][5]

The usual view, which the EWN, De Vries and Franck–Van Wijk share, takes the first part as the numeral een, Proto-Germanic *aina-, and the second as *(ga)līka- (“body, person”), the ancestor of lijk and -lijk, so that the compound first meant “each person separately”.[2][3][5][6] De Vries supports it with the Carolingian psalm gloss Old Dutch einuuilikīn rendering Latin unicuique (“to each one”), and compares manlijc (“everyone”).[3] Horn, followed by Van Haeringen, preferred a second part like Old Saxon gihwilīk and Old High German gihwelīh “each” (see welk), as in Old Dutch dagauuelikis (“every day”) of the Wachtendonck Psalms; the EWN thinks this less likely.[7][2][3] Wiktionary analyses the West Germanic form in that way, as Proto-West Germanic *aiwgahwalīk (“each, every”), from *aiw (“ever”), *ga- and *hwilīk.[1]

The development of the vowel matches that in elf.[8][5] The North Brabant dialect form ⟨ielk⟩ probably owes its vowel to ieder.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch elc is first recorded in the romance Aiol (1220–1240).[9][6] In a Ghent text of 1236 one must give elken “to each” what he needs, niet na elcs edelhede, nemar na sinre noet “not according to each one's rank, but according to his need”.[2][10]

Semantic evolution

In 13th-century charters the word is used alone for “each one” and in phrases that stress the single person within a group: elc allene, elc sonderlinghe “each one separately”, and the legal alle ende elc sonderlanghe “all jointly and each severally”.[10] With a noun meaning “time” it gave te elken male, later telken and telkens “every time”.[4] Its distributive sense, “each in turn”, also explains elkaar, older elkander, from elk and ander: Middle Dutch could still write elc sloech anderen for “they hit each other”.[5][8]

From the 16th century the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal records elk as a pronoun for “everyone” (1528), a use that it calls no longer usual in the northern Netherlands in its own day, and elk en een iegelijk as a formula of official language.[8] Elk wat wils, “something for everyone” (1600), may echo the Vulgate's ut sumeret unusquisque quod vellet in the Book of Esther.[8] As a determiner before a noun, elke, it is the ordinary word for “each, every”.[8][11]

Negerhollands took the word as elk “each, every”, used only before nouns.[12][1]

Timeline

  • 1220–1240 – Middle Dutch elc appears in Aiol.[9]
  • 1236 – Elken “to each” in a Ghent text.[2][10]
  • 1350 – Telken als “each time that” in a Flemish text.[4]
  • 1528 – Elc “everyone”: the emperor will reward each according to his deserts.[8]
  • 1600 – Elck wat wils “something for everyone” is recorded.[8]
  • 1642 – Elk onder ander “mixed up together”, of blood, flesh and bones.[8]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. each, every: elke ochtend fietst ze naar haar werk.[11][1][8]

Pronoun

  1. Each one, every person or thing of a limited number.[11][13]
  2. (chiefly in expressions) everyone, everybody: elk wat wils.[1][8]
  3. Used with a numeral to show that it is meant distributively: de kinderen kregen elk drie knikkers.[13]

Word family

  • elkaar
  • elkander
  • elkeen
  • telkens
  • telkenmale

Usage notes

In elk geval means “in any case, certainly”.[11] The strengthened elk een “every one” is now regional, especially in the south.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  3. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  5. ^ a b c d e Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  6. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  7. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  10. ^ a b c Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  12. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  13. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org