An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/irgend

by Friedrich Kluge

irgend, adverb, ‘ever, soever, whatever,’ with an affix d (see Mond, Habicht, and Obst), from the equivalent Middle High German (Middle German) iergen, late Old High German iergen, for which in earlier Old High German io węrgin occurs; Old High German węrgin (for *hwęrgin, *hwar-gin), corresponds to Old Saxon hwęr-gin, Anglo-Saxon hwęrgen, in which hwar significs ‘where,’ and -gin, the indefinite particle, ‘any,’ corresponding to Gothic -hun (Latin -cunque, Sanscrit -cana); Gothic *hwar-gin, *hwar-hun, ‘anywhere.’ Respecting Old High German to, compare je. Nirgend, the negative form, occurs even in Middle High German as niergen (a compound of ni, ‘not’).