sowohl German · revision 35298

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1540}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /zoˈvoːl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sowohl''' (conjunction, invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a univerbation of [[so]] and [[wohl]] “well”,^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE) from the phrase meaning “just as well as”, which was written separately until the 19th century.^(Paul 2002) Adelung still thought the separate spelling the correct one.^(Adelung 1793|4, 154)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Paul cites the phrase from 1540, after the Grimm dictionary, meaning “just as well as”.^(Paul 2002) Luther writes in Ezekiel 18:4: ''Des Vaters seele ist so wol mein / als des Sons seele'' (“the soul of the father is mine as well as the soul of the son”).^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 18th and 19th centuries, and still in the 20th (Thomas Mann), the phrase was also used negatively, ''nicht sowohl … als'' “not so much … as”, to mark an exclusion;^(Paul 2002) Campe gives the example that it is not so much the man as his money that someone is after.^(Paul 2002) The phrase was then extended with ''auch'', giving ''sowohl … als auch'' “not only … but also”, as Kramer already records.^(Paul 2002) Today the conjunction occurs only in this fixed pairing, with ''als'' or ''wie'', and stresses that both members carry equal weight.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1540 – First record of ''so wol … als'' “just as well as”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1793 – Adelung prefers the separate spelling ''so wohl''.^(Adelung 1793|4, 154)

+ * 18th–19th century – The negative ''nicht sowohl … als'' “not so much … as” is in use.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # Only in ''sowohl … als (auch)'' and ''sowohl … wie (auch)'': [[m|en|both]] … and, not only … but also: ''Sie spricht sowohl Polnisch als auch Tschechisch.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[so]]

+ * [[wohl]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}