English
alone
Alone comes from Middle English allone, earlier all oon, from Old English eall ān ‘completely alone’ (eall ‘all’ + ān ‘one’).
- Old Englishc. 450–1150eall ān
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500all oon
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500allone
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1589–1593alone
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150eall ān
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500all oon
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500allone
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1589–1593alone
Earliest quotation: c. 1589–1593, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “Pardon me, Proteus, all I can is nothing /…”
A compound of eall ‘all’ + ān ‘one’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- ‘to grow, nourish’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂elnós
Proto-Germanic *allaz ‘all’
Proto-West Germanic *all ‘all’
Old English eall ‘all’
Proto-Indo-European *ís ‘this, he’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos ‘one’
Proto-Germanic *ainaz ‘one’
Proto-West Germanic *ain ‘one’
Old English ān ‘one’
The story
From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (literally “all one”), contracted from the Old English phrase eall ān (‘completely alone’), equivalent to al- (‘all’) + one. For the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one.
Every English word from Old English eall ān
Today it means
adj By oneself, solitary.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English eall ān / alone