wer German · revision 34909

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German|origins=ine-pro *kʷo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /veːr/, [veːɐ̯], [vɛɐ̯]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''wer''' (interrogative, relative and indefinite pronoun; genitive ''wessen'', older ''wes''; dative ''wem''; accusative ''wen''; neuter [[was]])^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|wer]], [[inh|goh|hwer]].^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The related words are [[osx|hwē]], [[ang|hwā]] and [[got|𐍈𐌰𐍃|tr=ƕas]], and today [[nl|wie]], [[en|who]] and [[sv|vem]].^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge derives the German form from [[gem-pro|*hwiz]], while the Gothic, Old English and Old Frisian forms go back to [[gem-pro|*hwaz]].^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Kroonen 2013) Pfeifer and the Grimms' dictionary see it instead as a purely German new formation that took its /e/ from the genitive [[m|goh|hwes]], helped by the model of [[er]] and [[m|de|der]]; it keeps the final /r/ from Germanic /z/, which the other West Germanic languages lost.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|29, 71) Old Norse has no nominative masculine and uses [[non|hverr|t=which]] instead.^(DWB|29, 71)

+

+ The word belongs to the interrogative stem [[ine-pro|*kʷi-]] / [[ine-pro|*kʷo-]], also found in [[hit|kuiš]], [[grc|τίς|tr=tís]], [[la|quis]], [[sga|cía]], [[lt|kas|alt=kàs]] and [[cu|къто|tr=kŭto]].^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Pfeifer 1993) The same stem underlies [[was]], [[wann]], [[wie]], [[wo]] and [[welcher]].^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Paul 2002) Initial /h/ was lost in Old High German from the 9th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''(h)wer'' is recorded from the 8th century, in the ''Hildebrandslied'', Isidor, the Benedictine Rule, Otfrid and Notker, as an interrogative “who, which”, with a genitive “what kind of”, as a relative and as an indefinite “someone”.^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Schützeichel 2012|380)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ German has only the masculine and neuter forms, ''wer'' and ''was'', which distinguish persons from things rather than genders.^(Paul 2002) The old genitive ''wes'' survives in the proverb ''Wes Brot ich esse, des Lied ich singe'', in [[weshalb]] and [[weswegen]], and in ''wes Geistes Kind'', after Luke 9:55; otherwise it was replaced by ''wessen''.^(Paul 2002) Middle High German used ''swer'' as a generalizing relative “whoever”, from older ''so wer so''; in late Middle High German the simple ''wer'' took its place, as in the proverb ''Wer wagt, gewinnt''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ In colloquial German ''wer'' means “somebody”, and also “somebody important”.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''(h)wer'' is recorded.^(Kluge 2011|982)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 9th century – Initial ''h-'' begins to be lost.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * Late Middle High German – Simple ''wer'' replaces the relative ''swer''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(interrogative)'' [[m|en|who]], which person: ''wer hat angerufen?''; also in rhetorical questions.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(relative)'' [[m|en|whoever]], the one who: ''wer zuletzt kommt, macht das Licht aus''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Someone, anyone: ''hat wer meinen Schlüssel gesehen?''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Somebody important: ''in der Stadt ist sie wer''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[irgendwer]]

+ * [[Werfall]]

+ * [[Wemfall]]

+ * [[Wenfall]]

+ * [[weshalb]]

+ * [[weswegen]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[was]]

+ * [[wo]]

+ * [[wie]]

+ * [[welcher]]

+ * [[en|who]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}