An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/elend

by Friedrich Kluge

elend, adj., ‘wretched, pitiful, miserable, despicable,’ from MidHG. ęllende, adj., ‘unhappy, woful, living in a foreign country, banished,’ OHG. ęli-lenti, ‘banished, living out of one's country, foreign, alien, captive’; corresponding to OSax. ęli-lendi, ‘alien, foreign.’ To this is allied the abstract Elend, n., from MidHG. ęllende, OHG. ęli-lenti, n., ‘banishment, foreign country,’ MidHG. also, ‘want, distress, misery,’ OHG. also, ‘captivity,’ OSax. ęlilendi, n., ‘foreign country.’ The primary meaning of the adj. is ‘living in, born in a foreign country’ (comp. Elsaß, from early MidLat. Alisatia, from OHG. Elisâȥȥo, lit. ‘incola peregrinus,’ or ‘inhabitant of the other bank of the Rhine’). Goth. aljis, ‘another,’ is primit. cognate with Lat alius, Gr. ἄλλος (for ἄλjος), OIr. aile, ‘another’; comp. the corresponding gen. OHG. and AS. ęlles, ‘otherwise,’ E. else. The pronominal stem alja- was even in the Goth. period supplanted by anþara-, ‘another.’ Comp. Recke.