so German · revision 35567

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century|origins=gem-pro *swē}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /zoː/, /soː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Germany: /zɔ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Austria, Southern-Germany, Switzerland: /sɔ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''so'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|sō]], [[inh|goh|sō]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*swā]], [[inh|gem-pro|*swē|t=as, like, so]].^(Kluge 2011|855)^(Wiktionary)^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge sets up [[m|gem-pro|*swǣ]], and Wiktionary gives [[m|gem-pro|*swa]] beside the long form.^(Kluge 2011|855)^(Wiktionary) The same adverb is [[got|𐍃𐍅𐌰|tr=swa|t=so, thus]] with its ablaut partner [[m|got|𐍃𐍅𐌴|tr=swē|t=as, like]], [[non|svá]], [[ang|swā]], [[osx|sō]] and [[ofs|sā]], and today [[nl|zo]], [[en|so]], [[sv|så]] and [[is|svo]].^(Kluge 2011|855)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ Outside Germanic, Kluge compares [[grc|ὥς|tr=hṓs|t=as, like]], which follows the word it qualifies, and [[itc-ola|suad|t=so]].^(Kluge 2011|855) Pfeifer adds [[la|sī|t=if]], originally “so”, as still in [[m|la|sīc|t=so, thus]], and refers all of them to different ablaut grades of [[ine-pro|*su̯e-|t=so]], which he connects with the pronoun stem of [[sich]], properly “apart, for oneself”.^(Pfeifer 1993) Kroonen likewise derives the adverb from the root meaning “his own, self”,^(Kroonen 2013) while Wiktionary calls the source uncertain and notes that Dunkel reconstructs a separate particle *swa “thus, like”.^(Wiktionary) Horn proposed in 1929 a blend of the demonstrative [[ine-pro|*sod]] with the interrogative [[ine-pro|*ku̯od]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Kluge also finds the loss of the /w/ in German unexplained.^(Kluge 2011|855) Jacob Grimm thought that the /w/ became a vowel and coloured the following one, and Paul suggests an assimilation of the /w/ to the vowel.^(DWB|16, 1341)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''sō'' is recorded from the 8th century in almost every text, with a broad range of uses: “so, in this way, likewise”, but also as a conjunction “when, as, if, after, as soon as, because”.^(Kluge 2011|855)^(Köbler AHD)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Duden describes ''so'' as at first an adverb meaning “in this way”, which developed the senses “such, as follows, to this degree, about”, and soon became a conjunction meaning “then, therefore”, often in the compound [[also]].^(Duden 7 2020|789) Already in Old High German it took up a preceding conditional, temporal or causal clause at the head of the main clause, as in Luther's ''Wenn du aber Almosen gibst / So las deine lincke'' … “but when you give alms, then let your left [hand]” ….^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Middle High German usually has ''sō'', but also ''sā'', mostly in sources from central Germany.^(DWB|16, 1341) Old High German phrases such as ''sō hwer'' “whoever” merged in Middle High German into ''swer'' and ''swaʒ'', which lost their initial /s/ in New High German.^(DWB|16, 1341) As a relative pronoun ''so'' was common in Luther's Bible, ''Die Heiligen, so auf Erden sind'';^(Adelung 1793|4, 117) Adelung defended it against critics who wanted it banished.^(Adelung 1793|4, 117) It is now obsolete in this use.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Many adverbs and conjunctions grew out of phrases with ''so'': [[sofern]] from Middle High German ''sō verre'', written ''so fern'' by Luther in the 16th century and together in the 18th, [[sofort]] in the 16th century, first in the north, [[sogar]] from ''so gar'' “so completely” and [[sogleich]] in the 17th and 18th centuries.^(Pfeifer 1993) [[sozusagen]] imitates the Latin phrase ''ut ita dicam''.^(Paul 2002) The phrase ''und so weiter'' was taken into English in 1885.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''sō'' is recorded.^(Kluge 2011|855)

+ * 1060–1065 – Middle High German ''sō'' appears in Williram's commentary on the Song of Songs.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 1296 – A Strasbourg document uses the central German form ''sa''.^(DWB|16, 1341)

+ * 16th century – Luther writes ''so fern'';^(Pfeifer 1993) ''sofort'' appears.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 17th century – ''sogar'' is written as one word.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 18th century – ''sofern'' and ''sogleich'' are written as one word.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1885 – ''und so weiter'' is first recorded in English.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In this way, [[m|en|thus]], like this or that.^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ # To such a degree, so, that: ''so müde''.^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ # As, in comparisons with ''wie'': ''so alt wie ich''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' [[m|en|roughly]], about: ''so gegen acht''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A filler or intensifier with little meaning of its own; also standing alone as a closing remark or question: ''So!'', ''So?''.^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # So, therefore, then, introducing a consequence.^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ # ''(archaic, legal or regional)'' If.^(Wiktionary)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ===Particle===

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Introducing reported words or a reaction, like English “be like”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(obsolete)'' Who, which, that, as a relative.^(Wiktionary)^(Adelung 1793|4, 117)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[also]]

+ * [[sofern]]

+ * [[sofort]]

+ * [[sogar]]

+ * [[sogleich]]

+ * [[sozusagen]]

+ * [[sowas]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[solch]]

+ * [[en|so]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Paul notes ''Herr Soundso'' as a stand-in for a name that is unknown or not to be given.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}