# someone



## bearded

Hello,

I know German, so I only understand a little bit of (written) Dutch.  Now, in a recent thread of the German forum it was said that in some German dialects (Pfälzisch and Hessisch in particular) a word _ebber _exists - meaning someone and deriving from an obsolete German ''etwer'' (parallel to ''etwas'' = something).
Since in my knowledge the origin of the Dutch language was from Low-Frankish dialects, I would like to know whether in Dutch - or any Dutch dialects - a word like 'ebber' exists and means ''someone''.
Thank you in advance for your replies.


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## Hans Molenslag

'Ebber' doesn't ring a bell, I'm afraid. It's certainly not standard Dutch, and I've never heard it in any dialect either.


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## Koekwaus

'Someone' in Dutch is 'iemand'.

There are a few dialects, like Achterhoeks and Limburgs, which have similarities with the German language.
----
'Someone' in het Nederlands is 'iemand'.

Er zijn een paar dialecten, zoals het Achterhoeks en Limburgs, die raakvlakken hebben met de Duitse taal.


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## ThomasK

I just think of a dialectal, Flemish word: "entwie" (_entwie moe' da' gedaon 'en_)... The ent- does not sound like 'eb(ber)' but maybe with some kind of assimilation? I have just noticed that 'ent-' is explained as 'et-'. At dwds.de I find that the prefix refers to OLd High German 'edde', which we find back in German 'etlich', Dutch 'ettelijk', and which just means "any"...


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## Peterdg

Ik denk dat "entwie" komt van "eender wie".


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## ThomasK

.. of gewoon dat dat de betekenis is? Dan zijn we het eens. Ik bedoel: dwds.de lijkt mij een stevige site, die vermoedelijk terechte links legt met een historisch prefix dat die betekenis heeft, pardon, had.


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## ThomasK

I am sorry, something had gone wrong apparently. I have just added it.


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## Peterdg

ThomasK said:


> At dwds.de I find that the prefix refers to OLd High German 'edde', which we find back in German 'etlich', Dutch 'ettelijk', and which just means "any"...


What did you look up on dwds.de? When I look up "ent-", they speak about the prefix that in Dutch would be "ont-" and I see no mention at all about "edde".


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## ThomasK

I looked for "etwas", and then found a link to "etlich", and that is where I found the explanation. The "ent-"/ "ont-" prefix would be a negative prefix, comparable to "dis-", I think.


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