English
a whole nother
A whole nother may come from English nother ‘different, other’.
- English1500–presentnother‘different, other’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1887a whole nother
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- English1500–presentnother‘different, other’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1887a whole nother
Earliest quotation: 1887, Mary Louisa Molesworth, The Mysterious Guide: A Story of a London Fog: “Will the fog be gone by to-morrow morning?" said…”
Made of the words a + whole + nother
Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos ‘one’
Proto-Germanic *ainaz ‘one’
Proto-West Germanic *ain ‘one’
Old English ān ‘one; a certain’
Middle English a
English a
Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos ‘healthy’
Proto-Germanic *hailaz ‘whole’
Proto-West Germanic *hail ‘healthy’
Old English hāl ‘healthy’
Middle English whol ‘healthy’
English whole
Old English nōhwæþer
English nother
The story
Either from a + whole + nother (‘different, other’), where nother is a variant of other, rebracketed from an other, or from whole + another, with whole having been inserted by tmesis.
Every English word from English nother
Today it means
det An intensified form of another: an entirely different; a whole other.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / English nother / a whole nother