An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/halb

by Friedrich Kluge

halb, adj., ‘half,’ from MidHG. halp, OHG. halb (gen. halbes). adj.; comp. OSax. and LG. half, Du. half, AS. healf, E. half, OIc. hálfr, Goth. halbs, adj.; the common Teut. adj. for HG. halb; there are no undoubted cognates in the non-Teut. languages (Teut. halba-, from pre-Teut. kalbho-). The fem. of the adj. is used in OTeut. as a subst. in the sense of ‘side, direction’; Goth. halba, OIc. halfa, OHG. halba, MidHG. halbe, OSax. halƀa; hence it might seem as if the adj. had orig. some such meaning as ‘lateral, that which lies on one side.’ But in any case the adj. in the sense of ‘half’ was purely a numeral in primit. Teut.; the ModHG. method of reckoning anderthalb (11/2), drittehalb (21/2), viertehalb (31/2), is common to Teut.; comp. OIc. halfr annarr (11/2), halfr þriþe (21/2), halfr fjorþe (31/2); AS. ôþer healf, þridde healf, feorþe healf; even in MidE. this enumeration exists (it is wanting in E.); in HG. it has been retained from the earliest period.

halb, halben, prep., ‘on account of,’ from MidHG. halp, halbe, halben, ‘on account of, by reason of, from, concerning’; prop. a case of the MidHG. subst. halbe, f., ‘side,’ mentioned under halb (adj.), hence construed with the gen.; MidHG. mîn-halp, dîn-halp, der herren halbe, sëhens halben, ‘on my, thy account, on the gentlemen's account, for the sake of seeing.’ Similarly the ModHG. halber, ‘on account of,’ recorded in the 15th cent., is a petrified form of the inflected adj.; so too halben, dat. plur., halbe, halp, from OHG. halb, probably an instr. sing. (since Notker halb has been used as a prep.). This usage is also found in the other Teut. languages; comp. OIc. af-halfu, MidE. on-, bi-halfe; Goth. in þizai halbai, ‘in this respect.’