different between ersh vs erst

English

Noun

ersh (plural ershes)

1. Alternative form of earsh

Anagrams

• EHRs, H. Res., H.Res., HSer, Her's, Hers, RSeH, Resh, Sher, her's, hers, resh

English

Alternative forms

• arste
• yerst (dialectal)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?st/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??st/

Etymology 1

From Middle English erste, from Old English ?resta (“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 ?rest (“first, erst, at first, before all”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist(?) (“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.
3. (archaic, poetic) Formerly, once, erstwhile.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 12:

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

German

Etymology

See the numeral erster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e?rst/, [?e???st], [????st]

Adverb

erst

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

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

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

5. short for erstmal

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]

Synonyms

• (1.) zuerst

Related terms

• erster

Further reading

• “erst” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?rst/, [???rst]

Adjective

?rst

1. Alternative form of ?rest

References

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