An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/irgend

by Friedrich Kluge

irgend, adv., ‘ever, soever, whatever,’ with an affix d (see Mond, Habicht, and Obst), from the equiv. MidHG. (MidG.) iergen, late OHG. iergen, for which in earlier OHG. io węrgin occurs; OHG. węrgin (for *hwęrgin, *hwar-gin), corresponds to OSax. hwęr-gin, AS. hwęrgen, in which hwar significs ‘where,’ and -gin, the indef. particle, ‘any,’ corresponding to Goth. -hun (Lat. -cunque, Sans. -cana); Goth. *hwar-gin, *hwar-hun, ‘anywhere.’ Respecting OHG. to, comp. je. Nirgend, the negative form, occurs even in MidHG. as niergen (a compound of ni, ‘not’).