beek

Forms

beek f (plural beken, diminutive beekje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch bēke, inherited from Old Dutch beki, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *baki,^[2] inherited from Proto-Germanic *baki.^[3][1][4] The same word is Old Saxon beki and Old High German bah (modern German Bach); with assibilation of ⟨k⟩ it survives in the Frisian place name ⟨Beets⟩.^[3][5] Old English bece and Old Norse bekkr go back to a variant Proto-Germanic *bakja-;^[3][5][6] the English word beck is from Norse.^[3][5][6]

The EWN considers a source in Proto-Indo-European *bʰogi- (“flowing water, brook”) possible.^[3] Of the words compared outside Germanic only Old Irish búal (“water”) is generally accepted, and the link with Lithuanian bėgti (“to run”) is uncertain; given its meaning the EWN and Van Berkel and Samplonius take it as probably a substrate word of western Europe, as De Vries already suggested.^[3][7][5] Kroonen compares Proto-Slavic *bagno (“swamp”) and perhaps the Old Irish word.^[6][1] Franck–Van Wijk derived it from a root meaning “to break”, comparing Lithuanian bangà (“wave”);^[8][6] Kroonen thinks that link should be abandoned.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in place names: Lachbekki, the river Lauwers in Groningen (786, in a copy of about 1200), and Bechi, Beek near Ubbergen in Gelderland (814).^[3][4] As a common noun it appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms (10th century), of streams being filled with water.^[3][4] Middle Dutch beke is recorded from 1264, and a Limburg charter of 1280 places land beyond the brook.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Names in -beek were formed from the time the region became Germanic until today.^[7] Dutch settlers probably took the word east of the Elbe: in Pomerania and the Mark Bäke is feminine, as in Dutch, unlike the masculine of eastern Saxony.^[5] German dialects have borrowed it as Beke and Bäck.^[10]

Middle Dutch in ene valsche beke seilen “to sail in a false brook” meant to be on the wrong track (around 1351).^[11] From the 16th century the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal records the word for any stream of liquid, of blood or tears (1627), and it became common in poetic descriptions of nature from the 18th century.^[12] The southern form beke was long kept in the south.^[12]

Timeline

• 786 – The river name Lachbekki is recorded, in a later copy.^[3][4]
• 814 – The place name Bechi (Beek, Gelderland) is recorded.^[3][13]
• 901–1000 – Old Dutch beke “brooks” appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[3][4]
• 1264 – Middle Dutch beke is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1351 – In ene valsche beke seilen “to be on the wrong track” is recorded.^[11]
• 1586 – A river spreading into many beecken is described.^[12]
• 1627 – Tears are called beeken.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brook, stream: a small natural watercourse that can be waded across everywhere.^[14][1]
2. (literary) A stream of any liquid, as of blood or tears.^[12]

Word family

• beekbunge
• beekpunge
• Molenbeek

Related words

• English beck
• German Bach

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *baki
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ a b c d e Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Berkel, Gerald van; Samplonius, Kees (2018), Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard, Utrecht: Spectrum
8. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
11. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
12. ^ a b c d e 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
13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
14. ^ Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers