balken

Forms

balken (past balkte, past participle gebalkt)^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch balken beside belken, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *balkōn (“to bellow, roar”) (Kroonen's *balkōn-), a variant of bulken.^[3][1][4] The same group has Middle Low German bolken and belken (“to low”), West Frisian balkje (“to bellow, rage”) and Old English bealcian (“to belch”) (modern English belch).^[3][5][6]

It is probably a derivative in /k/, as in snorken, from a root *bel- “to make a noise”, which without the /k/ gave bellen (“to bark, low”), bullen (“to rage”), Old High German bellan (“to bark”) (modern German bellen), Old English bellan (“to roar”) and Old Norse belja (“to bellow”); bel¹ belongs here too.^[3][5][7] The EWN traces it to Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to speak, bark, roar”), which has descendants only in Germanic and Baltic.^[3] The many vowels of the group need not be regular ablaut: De Vries thinks speakers chose a bright or dark vowel to suit the sound, and the EWN calls it perhaps onomatopoeic.^[5][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Teuthonista of 1477 has balken and belken for the lowing of cows.^[3][7][6] A Holland text of 1488 says that the cows and other beasts bellekeden all together and fled backwards.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century balken was used of people as well as animals: of loud crying (1640), of loud singing, as a coarse word (1615), and of cows bellowing in the stall (1607).^[2] The donkey's bray is in a dictionary of 1643 (krijsschen als een ezel), and Van der Sijs dates that sense to 1704.^[3][7][9] The narrowing of the standard word to the donkey's sound came only in the 19th century, while dialects kept “to low” (the Zaan) and “to belch” (Groningen).^[5][6]

From balken come gebalk and huilebalk, a crybaby.^[2] English had an obsolete balk, taken from Dutch, for signalling fishing boats the direction of a shoal.^[10]

Timeline

• 1477 – The Teuthonista records balken, belken “to low”.^[3][7]
• 1488 – Cows bellekeden in a Holland text.^[3][8]
• 1607 – Cows balckten in the stall.^[2]
• 1615 – Balcken means to sing loudly.^[2]
• 1643 – Balcken is glossed as crying like a donkey.^[3][7]
• 1704 – Van der Sijs's first date for the sense “to bray”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bray, make the sound of a donkey.^[11][12][1]
2. To low, of cows.^[12][2]
3. To shout, cry or sing loudly with a sound like braying; figuratively, to talk foolishly.^[12][1][2]

Word family

• gebalk
• huilebalk

Related words

• bulken
• bel¹
• English belch

Usage notes

Two unrelated verbs were also spelled balken: Middle Dutch balken “to lay beams”, from balk (1399), and a sailors' and dock workers' word “to turn something over”, from Malay balik (“reverse side”) (1895).^{[8][2][13][14]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 59
8. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
11. ^ Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
12. ^ a b c Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
14. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut