allr

Forms

allr^[1] Viking Age runic alt (allt), aliR (allir), alan (allan).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *allaz (“all”),^[5][6] with the cognates Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls), Old English eall, Old Frisian al, Old Saxon al and Old High German al.^[5][7] The double ⟨ll⟩ comes from an older cluster ⟨ln⟩, as in fullr, and the form without the suffix survives in compounds, as al- and 𐌰𐌻𐌰- (ala-).^[5] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-nó- and compares Oscan allo (“whole”), Old Irish uile (“all”) and Lithuanian aliai (“completely”).^[5]

Its further origin is disputed:^[8][9] Hellquist and Falk and Torp take it for an old participle of the root of ala “to nourish” and 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽 (alan, “to grow”), formed in the same way as the other.^[8][10] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks that link unlikely and derives it instead from a pronominal stem meaning “beyond, besides”, comparing Latin uls (“beyond”) and alius (“other”).^[9] Feist notes that it is usually set beside the Gothic verb, but points to other ways the sense “all” arose.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Swedish inscription Hs 7, which Rundata dates to the 800s: its rune text alt (allt) stands in a clause putting all of a man's property at stake if he does not make amends.^[2] The plural aliR (allir) “all” is on U 539 of the 1010s–1020s: þeir brœðr allir “those brothers all”.^[3] The first manuscript records ONP dates are from 1175, in Eluc674, in the senses “all, every” and “whole”: gnot altz góþs “abundance of all good”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

ONP's main senses are “all, each and every” and “whole, complete”, with “undivided” for abstract nouns and “any at all” after án or útan.^[11] Used almost as an adverb it means “quite, entirely” (allr annarr maðr “quite another man”).^[12][13] With vera and verða it came to mean “finished, gone, dead”, so that verða allr is “to die”;^[14][15] Hellquist explains this sense as grown out of “whole” and finds it already in Old Swedish.^[8] The genitive plural allra strengthens superlatives: allra ríkastr “richest of all”.^[13]

The word is frequent in every genre, and in learned works far more than expected (145 citations against 36).^[11] It continues as Icelandic allur, Swedish all and Danish al.^[9][8]

Timeline

• 800s – alt (allt) on the Swedish inscription Hs 7.^[2]
• 1010s–1020s – aliR (allir) on the Swedish runestone U 539.^[3]
• Mid-11th century – aliR (allir) on the Gästrikland stone Gs 11.^[16]
• 1175 – “all, every” and “whole” in Eluc674.^[11]
• 1200–1225 – allir, ǫllum, allt in AM 677 4to.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. all, each and every one, every; the neuter allt “everything”.^[11][12]
2. after án or útan “without”, any whatsoever.^[11]
3. whole, entire, complete.^[11][12]
4. with abstract nouns, full, undivided.^[11]
5. almost as an adverb, quite, entirely.^[12]
6. ended, gone, past; dead.^[12][18]

Word family

• alls
• allz
• ǫllungis
• gǫrvallr
• flestallr

Descendants

• Icelandic allur^[1]
• Faroese allur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk all^[1]
• Old Swedish alder^[1]
• Swedish all^[1]
• Danish al^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål all^[1]

Related words

• al-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Hs 7
3. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 539
4. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
5. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 23
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 16
7. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 40
8. ^ a b c d Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. all
9. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. allur
10. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. al
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. allr
12. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. allr
13. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 9
14. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 39
15. ^ Neckel, Gustav (1927), Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius, vol. 2: Kommentierendes Glossar, Heidelberg, p. 3
16. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Gs 11
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
18. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 17