seinetwegen

German

Alternative forms

• seinentwegen, seintwegen (both archaic)

Etymology

Shortened from von seinetwegen, which can be traced through two developmental routes. One route is from von seinentwegen / von seinent wegen, from von seinen wegen, from Middle High German von sînen wegen, in which wegen was the dative plural of modern-day Weg and sînen was the possessive pronoun in the dative plural.

Another route can be traced from von seintwegen / von seint wegen, from Middle High German von sînt wegen, from von sîn wegen, in which sîn was the genitive pronoun. See more at wegen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzaɪ̯nətˌveːɡən/, /ˌzaɪ̯nətˈveːɡən/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

seinetwegen

1. because of him, for his sake

   Synonym: (colloquial) wegen ihm

   Das ist alles seinetwegen passiert.

   All of this happened because of him.

2. as far as he is concerned (he doesn't mind if); for all he cares

   Seinetwegen kannst du mitkommen.

   As far as he is concerned, you can come with us.

Further reading

• “seinetwegen” in Duden online
• “seinetwegen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “seinetwegen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “seinetwegen” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.