erst

English

Alternative forms

• arste
• yerst (dialectal)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɝst/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɜːst/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)st

Etymology 1

From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere +‎ -est. Cognate with North Frisian eerst, ærst (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).

Adjective

erst (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) First.

Etymology 2

From Middle English erst, arst, erest, from Old English ǣrest (“first, erst, at first, before all”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist(ō) (“erst”). Cognate with Scots erst (“erst”), Dutch eerst.

Adverb

erst (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) First of all, before (some other specified thing).
   • 1567, Arthur Golding, Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 2, line 691:

     Consider what I erst have been and what thou seest me now:

2. (obsolete) Sooner (than); before.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxviij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book X:

     Thenne he sente the varlet ageyne and bad hym telle Kyng Mark that I wille come as soone as I am hole / for erste I maye doo hym noo good
     "Then he sent the varlet again, and bade him: Tell King Mark that I will come as soon as I am whole, for erst I may do him no good. "

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (archaic, poetic) Formerly, once, erstwhile.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
     Which erst from heat did canopy the herd

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:erst.

Derived terms

• erstwhile

Anagrams

• Rest., -ster-, 'rest, rest., REST, -ster, ERTs, rets, rest, tres, RETs, TERs, SERT, estr-, -estr-

German

Etymology

See the numeral erster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːrst/, [ʔeːɐ̯st], [ʔɛɐ̯st]

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

erst

1. first, at first

   Synonym: zuerst

2. only (with progress, accomplishments or the present time)

   Sie ist erst 28 Jahre alt. ― She is only 28 years old.

   Es ist erst halb zehn. ― It is only half past nine.

3. not until, not for, not before (with reference to a point or period of time in the future)

   Ich bin erst nächsten Monat in Urlaub.

   I'm not on vacation until next month.

   Mein Bruder kommt erst in drei Wochen an.

   My brother's not arriving for three weeks.

4. only, as recently as (with reference to the past)

   Er ist erst gestern gegangen. ― He left only yesterday.

   Er ist erst seit zwei Tagen da. ― He has only been here for two days.

5. Short for erstmal.

   Es ist kalt im Süden. Und im Norden erst!

   It is cold in the South. And especially in the North.

6. (Switzerland) Synonym of zumal
   • 2021 January 21, Timo Posselt, “Bis der Server zusammenbricht”, in wobei (Die Beilage der WOZ), page 17:

     Wer lieber Arthousefilme streamt, findet bei Filmingo, Myfilm und Cinefile lokale Alternativen, die erst noch regelmässig ihre Steuern zahlen.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

• With reference to time periods and moments, the opposite of erst is schon. Erst emphasizes how long it is until something happens or how recently it has happened, whereas schon how soon in the future or far in the past. Thus:

  erst in drei Wochen ― not for three weeks [and that seems so far away]

  schon in drei Wochen ― in only three weeks [and I'm glad I don't have to wait any longer]

• With reference to progress and the like, erst emphasizes how young or short, while schon emphasizes how old or long. Thus:

  Sie ist erst 28 Jahre alt ― She's only 28 [and yet she has so many accomplishments/she looks so much older, etc.]

  Sie ist schon 28 Jahre alt ― She's already 28 [but it seems only yesterday that she was a little girl]

Derived terms

• erst recht

Related terms

• erster

Further reading

• “erst” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛːrst/

Adjective

ērst

1. Alternative form of ērest

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN