denken

Forms

denken^[1] Weak verb with an irregular past: dacht, past participle gedacht; older also docht, gedocht.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch denken (also dinken), inherited from Old Dutch thenken, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”).^[4][1][5] The same word is Old Saxon thenkian, Old High German denken (modern German denken), Old Frisian thanka, thenzia (modern West Frisian tinke), Old English þencan (modern English think), Old Norse þekkja (“to perceive”) and Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þagkjan, “to think, consider”).^[4][6][7]

According to the EWN the Germanic verb must be a causative of an unrecorded primary verb with the root ⟨þink-⟩ or ⟨þank-⟩, see dunken.^[4] Kroonen, noting that the meaning is stative, takes it to continue an o-grade present that is identical to Latin tongeō (“to know”).^[7] Other comparisons are Oscan tanginom (“opinion”), Tocharian B tankw (“love”) and perhaps Russian тянуть (tjanutʹ, “to weigh”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel”).^[4][6][8] De Vries noted that the word is found only in Germanic and Italic.^[6]

The irregular past has several causes: the ⟨-i-⟩ of the ending was lost very early, so there is no umlaut, and in Proto-Germanic ⟨kt⟩ became ⟨ht⟩; the /n/ was then lost before /h/ with lengthening of the vowel, giving Proto-Germanic *þāhta- (“thought”), and Middle Dutch shortened the vowel again before ⟨cht⟩.^[4] The variant ⟨dinken⟩ arose by closing of the vowel before a nasal cluster, as in the English verb, and lives on in Afrikaans dink; it is not the western ⟨dinken⟩ that developed from ⟨dunken⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century Old Dutch thencon means “to think”, as in thahton idele thing “they thought vain things”, and “to remember”, as in thenke te mi “think of me”.^[4][5] The same text uses it for “to intend”.^[5] The first Middle Dutch record is from the Lower Rhine around 1201, Do dahte uro cloyris “then lady Floris thought”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch used denken intransitively, transitively and now and then impersonally; the intransitive verb took a genitive or the prepositions om, op and van, and Old Dutch also had te.^[4] The transitive verb meant not only what it means now but also “to devise, plan” and “to remember”.^[4][9] The infinitive used as a noun meant “thought, opinion” in 1299.^[9]

The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal quotes the proverb zwijghen en dencken kan niemand krencken “keeping silent and thinking can hurt nobody” from 1657, and manier van denken “way of thinking” from 1766.^[2] In the 1960s dacht ik “I thought” was noted as a new, polite way of stating an opinion, as in ik dacht van wel “I think so”.^[10] The verb passed into Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (from Dutch or Low German), into Negerhollands, Sranan Tongo and Aukan (denki), and through Sranan into Saramaccan (tínga) and Surinamese Javanese.^[11][1]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch thencon in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[4][12]
• c. 1201 – Middle Dutch dahte “thought” on the Lower Rhine.^[9]
• 1236 – Middle Dutch dinken.^[13]
• c. 1240 – Denken in the Limburg glossary Bernardus.^[13][9]
• 1299 – Denken as a noun, “opinion, judgement”, in a Holland charter.^[9]
• 1657 – Zwijghen en dencken kan niemand krencken.^[2]
• 1766 – Manier van denken “way of thinking”.^[2]
• 1964–1965 – Dacht ik as a hedge on an opinion.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To think, use one's mind, form a judgement: Even denken, dan weet ik het.^[14][1][15]
2. (with aan) To think of, have in mind; not to forget: Denk je aan de sleutels?^[15][2][1]
3. (with over) To consider, think about doing something.^[15]
4. To believe, be of the opinion: Ik denk dat het gaat regenen.^[14][15]
5. To take into account, imagine: dat laat zich denken.^[14]

Word family

• bedenken
• gedenken
• gedachte
• herdenken
• verdenken
• nadenken
• overdenken
• denkbaar
• denkelijk
• denker
• denkbeeld
• denkwijze
• andersdenkend

Related words

• dank
• dunken
• achterdocht
• aandacht
• German denken

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
5. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b Reinsma, R. (1975), Signalement van nieuwe woorden, Amsterdam: Elsevier
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
12. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
13. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 100
14. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
15. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org