eljest

From Old Swedish ællæghis, from Proto-Germanic *aljas (genitive of *aljaz), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos. Sense 2 might derive from sense 3, which is also intuitively what it means. Cognate with English else.

eljest

1. (dated) or else, otherwise

   Synonym: annars

   eljest vore vi alla dömda

   otherwise we'd all be doomed

3. (dialectal, Northern Sweden) strange, different, eccentric

   Grabben hans är lite eljest

   His son is a bit strange

   "The <thing> <possessive pronoun>" is a common construction in northern dialects. Compare Norwegian and "the lad of his" (or "the child of mine") in English.

5. (obsolete) differently, different

• eljest in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• eljest in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• eljest in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Slangopedia
• Recommendations against the use of this word in legal prose, together with suggested replacements, are found in Svarta listan : Ord och fraser som kan ersättas i författningsspråk (4th ed., 2011), published by the government of Sweden. The recommendations apply primarily to governmental texts; they may or may not apply to other legal prose.