damp

Forms

damp m (plural dampen, diminutive dampje n)^[1] In the south the word also appears as domp and doemp.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch damp, inherited from Old Dutch *damp, inherited from Proto-Germanic *dampaz.^[1][2][4] The same word is Middle Low German damp (“mist”), Old High German dampf (“vapour, steam, smoke”) (modern German Dampf) and Old Frisian damp (“vapour, mist”);^[2][5] North Germanic has forms with ⟨b⟩, such as Old Norse dumba (“dust”) and Swedish damm (“dust”).^[2][5]

Kroonen derives the noun from the verb Proto-Germanic *dimban- ~ *dimpan-, whose original ⟨b⟩ is kept in Norwegian damb (“dust”).^[4][1] Related verbs are Old Saxon thempian and Old High German dempfan (“to make smoke, to smother”), the counterpart of dempen, Middle Low German dumpen (“to put out, to suppress”), which belongs with domper, and Middle High German dimpfen (“to steam”).^[2][5]

Outside Germanic it is usually connected with Lithuanian dùmti (“to blow”) and other words for blowing, and perhaps with Middle Irish dem (“black, dark”), all from Proto-Indo-European *dʰem-H-; the sense “to blow” and the extension with a labial are difficult.^[2][5] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal knows no relatives outside Germanic.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest Middle Dutch record, of 1384–1395, joins bloet ende vier ende damp van roeke, “blood and fire and vapour of smoke”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Early Modern Dutch the word meant mist (1598), smoke (1608) and a noxious exhalation (1645).^[2][3] Older medicine used it for moist vapours rising in the body and causing moods, and the effects of wine were explained the same way.^[3] A sailors' dictionary of 1681 glosses it as the smoke of gunfire and of tobacco.^[6] Apart from compounds, the sense “smoke” is now almost limited to tobacco, and physics uses damp for the gaseous state of a substance that is liquid at ordinary temperatures.^[3][7]

Van der Sijs lists English damp “moisture, mist” among the borrowings of the word, with Danish and Norwegian damp from Dutch or Low German, while Etymonline takes the English word probably from Middle Low German.^[8][9] Negerhollands has damp “mist, smoke”, Papiamentu damp “steam, smoke” and Sranan Tongo dampu “mist”.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 1384–1395 – Middle Dutch damp van roeke “vapour of smoke” is recorded.^[2]
• 1573 – The sense “mist” is in Plantijn's dictionary.^[10][11]
• 1598 – A text describes the sun dispelling a thick damp over the mountains.^[3]
• 1608 – Damp is used of the smoke of burning dried leaves in a pipe.^[3][2]
• 1626 – The verb dampen “to give off vapour” appears.^[2]
• 1645 – It is used of a noxious exhalation.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. vapour, a visible mass of tiny drops floating in the air.^[7][3][1]
2. (physics) The gas of a substance that is normally a liquid.^[7][11]
3. smoke, now mostly tobacco smoke.^[3]

Word family

• dampen
• dampig
• verdampen
• dampvormig
• dampkring
• kolendamp
• kruitdamp
• waterdamp
• dampbad
• dampdruk

Related words

• dempen
• domper
• bedompt
• German Dampf

Usage notes

Kiliaan's damp “moist”, an adjective borrowed from English, is long obsolete.^[3] Van Veen and Van der Sijs explain the phrase iemand de dampen aandoen by comparison with Middle High German dampfe “heavy catarrh, a fit of choking”, so that it would mean to take someone's breath away.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ Winschoten, Wigardus à (1681), Seeman: behelsende een grondige uitlegging van de Neederlandse konst- en spreekwoorden, voor soo veel die uit de seevaart sijn ontleend, Leiden
7. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
8. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
12. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie