Etimology
From Middle English sone, from Old English sōna (“immediately, at once”), from Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō), from Proto-Germanic *sēna, *sēnô (“immediately, soon, then”), from *sa (demonstrative pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *só (demonstrative pronoun). Cognate with Scots sone, sune, schone (“soon, quickly, at once”), North Frisian san (“immediately, at once”), dialectal Dutch zaan (“soon, before long”), Middle Low German sân (“right afterwards, soon”), Middle High German sān, son (“soon, then”), Old High German sār (“immediately, soon”). Compare also Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐍃 (suns, “immediately, soon”), from Proto-Germanic *suniz (“soon”).
adjective
soon (comparative sooner, superlative soonest)
Short in length of time from the present.
(US, dialect) Early.
Used as an alternative to express 'to be going to' in the form 'to be soon to'.
Examples
I need the soonest date you have available.
Late in the evening we arrived at Quincy where we bivouacked for the night and taken a soon start the next morning to march to the arsenal.
Got up pretty early, ate a soon breakfast, had the sulky and was about to start to Newtown when it commenced raining..
They were different from colored folks who had to be out to get a soon start.
Hurry up, the wedding is soon to start!
A new shop is soon to be opened in this street.
adverb
soon (comparative sooner, superlative soonest)
(obsolete) Immediately, instantly.
Within a short time; quickly.
(now dialectal) Early.
Readily; willingly; used with would, or some other word expressing will.
Examples
I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese […] began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death.
How is it that ye are come so soon to day?
“Been huntin’ fuh mah mule. Anybody seen ’im?” he asked.“Seen ’im soon dis mornin’ over behind de school-house,” Lum said. “’’Bout ten o’clock or so. He musta been out all night tuh be way over dere dat early.”
I would as soon see a river winding through woods or in meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles.