An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/all

by Friedrich Kluge

all, adjective, ‘all, whole,’ from Middle High German and Old High German al (inflected genitive alles), adjective, ‘entire, each, every one’; a word common to the Teutonic group; it corresponds to Gothic alls, Old Icelandic allr, Anglo-Saxon eall, English all, Dutch al, Old Saxon ol, with the same meanings. There is also an Old Teutonic form ala- in compounds and derivatives; compare Old High German and Old Saxon alung, Middle High German alenc, ‘entire, complete,’ Gothic alamans, plural, ‘everybody,’ Old High German ala-wâr, ‘quite true’ (see albern), alaniwwi, ‘quite new.’ Probably Gothic alla- as a participial form is based upon an older al-na- (compare voll, Wolle), since ala- shows that the root was al or rather ol. Whether Gothic alan, ‘to grow up’ (see alt), is a cognate, remains uncertain; in any case, the Keltic words, Old Irish uile, ule, ‘entire, each, all’ (base olio-), and Welsh oil ‘entire,’ are rightly compared with it, while Greek ὅλος, on account of Sanscrit sárvas (from Aryan solvo-s), ‘entire, each,’ must be kept apart. —