kein German · revision 35393

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=9th century|origins=gmw-pro *nehwain}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kaɪ̯n/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''kein''' (indefinite pronoun; feminine ''keine''; used alone: ''keiner'', ''keine'', ''kein(e)s'')^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|kein]], a shortening of [[m|gmh|nekein]] and [[m|gmh|enkein]], [[inh|goh|nihein]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*nehwain]], originally “and not one”.^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Wiktionary)^(EWA) The Old High German pronoun joins the numeral [[m|goh|ein|t=one]] to a conjunction [[gem-pro|*nehw|t=and not, nor]], made of the negation [[ine-pro|*né]] and [[ine-pro|*-kʷe|t=and]]; it matches [[la|neque]] and [[osc|nep]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA)^(Wiktionary) Old High German had the variants [[m|goh|nohein]] (8th century), [[m|goh|nihhein]] (9th century) and [[m|goh|nehein]] (around 1000).^(Pfeifer 1993) The same word is [[osx|nigēn]], [[gml|gēn]], [[ofs|gēn]], [[nl|geen]] and [[yi|קיין|tr=keyn]];^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA)^(Wiktionary) Kluge explains their ⟨g⟩ by weak sentence stress, Pfeifer by grammatical change.^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The modern form arose when the syllable-initial ⟨ch⟩ of [[m|gmh|nechein]] hardened to ⟨k⟩.^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Paul 2002) But the Middle High German word also meant “any”, the sense of [[m|gmh|dehein]], [[m|goh|thehhein]], whose first part is of unclear origin.^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Duden 7 2020) The sources therefore see the modern word as a blend of both pronouns: the Duden, Paul and the Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch derive it from a mixture of “not one” and “any”.^(Duden 7 2020)^(Paul 2002)^(FWB) Behaghel derived it from ⟨dehein⟩ alone, and the Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch also takes [[m|goh|chein]] as a shortening of ⟨thehein⟩ rather than of ⟨nehein⟩.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(AWB|5, 69)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''nihein'' “no, none, nobody” is common from the beginning of the 9th century in glosses, the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and other texts.^(EWA)^(Schützeichel 2012|237) The form ''chein'' first appears in the second half of the 11th century, in Williram of Ebersberg and in Otloh's prayer (after 1067), meaning “any”.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA)^(Köbler AHD)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German, sentences with a double negation often dropped the negative particle, so ''dehein'' “any” could itself mean “no”; around 1200 this began the decline of ''nehein'', whose variant ''enkein'' last appears in the 16th century and survives in Swiss dialect ''nekein''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA) ''Kein'', usual from the end of the 12th century, had both senses, “no” and “any”, into the 16th century.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(FWB) Paul quotes Wolfram's ''ie ze keiner stunt'' “at any hour” and Luther's ''tiefer denn kein Abgrund'' “deeper than any abyss”, and the sense lingers after comparatives into the 18th century: Goethe has ''mehr als kein anderer Geist'' “more than any other mind”.^(Paul 2002)

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+ Derivatives built on adverbial genitives followed: ''keinerlei'' “no kind of” (14th century), ''keineswegs'' “by no means” (late Middle High German ''deheins wegs'', 14th century; written as one word from the 16th) and ''keinesfalls'' “in no case” (first half of the 19th century).^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''nohein''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 9th century – Old High German ''nihein'' “no, none”.^(Kluge 2011|486)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 1000 – Old High German ''nehein''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * After 1067 – ''chein'' “any” in Otloh's prayer.^(Köbler AHD)^(EWA)

+ * End of the 12th century – ''kein'' becomes the usual form.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 1200 – Decline of ''nehein'' begins.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 14th century – ''keinerlei'' and ''deheins wegs'' “by no means”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 16th century – Last records of ''enkein''; the sense “any” fades.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+ * First half of the 19th century – ''keinesfalls'' “in no case”.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # Attributive: [[m|en|no]], not a, not any: ''ich bin kein Fachmann'' “I am not an expert”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Attributive, before mass nouns: not any: ''keine Zeit haben'' “to have no time”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Before an adjective, turns it into its opposite: ''kein dummer Gedanke'' “not a stupid idea”, a clever one.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Before numbers: not even, less than: ''keine fünf Minuten'' “not even five minutes”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # Standing alone: [[m|en|nobody]], [[m|en|none]], nothing: ''keiner rührte sich'' “nobody moved”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[keinerlei]]

+ * [[keineswegs]]

+ * [[keinesfalls]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ein]]

+ * [[noch]]

+ * [[nl|geen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}