Etymologically
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dochter

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɔx.tər/[1]

Forms

dochter f (plural dochters, diminutive dochtertje n)[1] Middle Dutch also had a dialect form dachter.[2] Older spellings include dogter and dochtre.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch dochter, inherited from Old Dutch dohter, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dohter, inherited from Proto-Germanic *duhtēr, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr (“daughter”).[5][1][6] It is one of the Indo-European kinship terms in ⟨-er⟩, like vader and moeder.[5][7] The same word is Old Saxon dohtar, Old High German tohter (modern German Tochter), Old English dohtor (modern English daughter), Old Frisian dochter, Old Norse dóttir and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐌰𐍂 (dauhtar).[5][8][6] Outside Germanic it is Ancient Greek θυγάτηρ (thugátēr), Sanskrit दुहितृ (duhitṛ́), Lithuanian duktė̃, Old Church Slavonic дъшти (dŭšti), Old Armenian դուստր (dustr) and Tocharian A ckācar.[5][6][9][10]

De Vries notes that the Germanic forms point to ⟨*dhuktēr⟩, while the other languages point to a form with a vowel between the consonants, which has been explained as a laryngeal.[8] What the word first meant is unknown.[7] Vercoullie reports the old explanation as “milker” or “suckling”, from a root meaning “to milk”, but Franck and Van Wijk call the link with Sanskrit दोग्धि (dógdhi, “milks”) very unlikely.[11][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, in the dative plural dohteron, of the daughters of Zion.[5][12][13] Middle Dutch dochter appears around 1220 in Aiol, where a man accuses another of having taken his beautiful daughter.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was also used figuratively.[12] Middle Dutch used it for a spiritual daughter, as God or a confessor addressed young women, often nuns, and for a female inhabitant, as in dochter van Sion “daughter of Zion”, meaning Jerusalem.[4] In legal texts dochter was set against sone to mark the different position of daughters in inheritance.[4]

From the 16th century dochter also meant a young girl or an unmarried woman, as in a 1546 text about a respectable young daughter of good family; this sense now survives only in Belgium and in jongedochter.[3] The phrase Eva's dochters, women seen as heirs of Eve, is recorded from 1820, often with a hint of temptation or curiosity.[3][14] In the 20th century the word was extended to companies controlled by another company (dochteronderneming), to institutions founded by another, and to organisms descended from another.[15][16]

Negerhollands took it as dochter and dogter, and Afrikaans has dogter.[17][1]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch dohteron in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[5][12][13]
  • c. 1220 – Middle Dutch dochter in Aiol.[4][5]
  • 1240 – Dogter glosses Latin filia in a Limburg glossary.[4]
  • 1546 – Dochter in the sense “young unmarried woman”.[3]
  • 1785 – Myne Mama's Dogter, of taking after one's mother.[3]
  • 1820 – Eva's dogtren, women.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A daughter, a female child in relation to her parents.[18][15][1]
  2. A subsidiary, a company that depends on a larger one and was often set up by it; also an institution that grew out of another.[15][16]
  3. (literary) A woman as a member of a nation, people or community.[15][3]
  4. A direct female descendant of an animal; an organism produced by another.[15]
  5. (figurative) Something derived from or growing out of something else.[15][1]
  6. (Belgium, dated) A young girl, an unmarried woman.[3]

Word family

  • kleindochter
  • dochterlijk
  • dochterbedrijf
  • dochteronderneming
  • dochtermaatschappij
  • dochtertaal
  • dochtercel
  • jongedochter
  • koningsdochter
  • burgerdochter
  • winkeldochter

Usage notes

Zo moeder, zo dochter says that daughter and mother are alike.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 105
  8. ^ a b Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  10. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  11. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
  12. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  13. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  14. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  15. ^ a b c d e f Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  16. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  17. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  18. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers