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dood

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Dutch dood is both the adjective “dead” and the noun “death”, separate Germanic formations from one verb for dying that came to sound alike.[1][2]

dood1 dead

Pronunciation

Forms

dood (comparative doder, superlative doodst)[3]

Etymology

The adjective “dead” is inherited from Middle Dutch doot, inherited from Old Dutch dōd, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *daud, inherited from Proto-Germanic *daudaz (“dead”).[1][3][4] The same word is Old Saxon dōd, Old High German tōt (modern German tot), Old Frisian dād (modern West Frisian dea), Old English dēad (modern English dead), Old Norse dauðr (modern Swedish död) and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (dauþs).[1][4][5]

It was originally a past participle in ⟨*-to-⟩ of Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”), formed like oud and koud.[1][4][6] That verb survives in Middle Dutch doyen (“to waste away, languish”) and in Old Saxon dōian, Old High German touwen and Old Norse deyja (“to die”).[1][2] Its further origin is uncertain: possible relatives are Old Irish duine (“human being, mortal”), Lithuanian dvẽsti (“to perish”) and perhaps Latin fūnus (“funeral”), which point to a root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeu- (“to vanish, die”).[1][2] The adjective stands beside the noun with grammatical alternation, Germanic ⟨*dauda-⟩ against ⟨*dauþu-⟩, and in Dutch the two came to sound alike.[1][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective first appears in Old Dutch place names in the sense “barren, unfruitful”: Datnesta or Dotnest, a wood near Drongen by Ghent, is recorded in 820.[7] In the sense “dead” it is found around 1100 in the Leiden Willeram, where myrrh and aloe keep thie doden lichamon, the dead bodies, from rotting.[7][1][8]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch doot meant “dead, lifeless” of living beings and of things, and also “void, invalid”.[9][10][3] Al doot was “stone dead” (1291) and half doot “half dead”.[10] From the 16th century the WNT has dood of things that no longer exist, dood zijn voor iets, to be indifferent to something (1766), and strengthened forms such as dood en begraven and zo dood als een pier.[6] Sailors used it to mean “completely”: Winschoten explains doodstil in 1681 as a calm with not the least breath of wind.[11]

The adjective became a first element meaning “very” in many compounds, such as doodgewoon and doodmoe, helped by older compounds of the noun such as doodsbang and doodsbleek.[12][6] In Surinamese Dutch someone who is dood is finished, out of the game.[13] Berbice Dutch took the adjective as doto.[14][3]

Timeline

  • 820 – Dotnest, a place name with dood “barren”.[7]
  • c. 1100 – Thie doden lichamon “the dead bodies” in the Leiden Willeram.[7][8]
  • c. 1240 – Middle Dutch dot, doet “dead”.[1]
  • 1291 – Al doet “stone dead”.[10]
  • 1596 – Het doode lijf of a vice-admiral, thrown into the sea.[6]
  • 1681 – Winschoten records sailors' dood in the sense “completely”.[11]
  • 1766 – Dood zijn voor iets, to be indifferent to something.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of people, animals and plants: dead, no longer living: Er lag een dode vogel in de tuin.[15][3][12]
  2. Of things: without life or movement, no longer working: De accu van mijn telefoon is dood.[15][12]

Adverb

  1. (colloquial, East and West Flanders) Very much, a lot.[3]

Word family

  • doden
  • morsdood
  • hersendood
  • doodgeboren
  • doodgewoon
  • doodmoe
  • doodstil
  • doodop
  • doodleuk
  • doodeenvoudig

dood2 death

Pronunciation

Forms

dood m or f (plural doden, no diminutive)[3]

Etymology

The noun “death” is inherited from Middle Dutch doot, inherited from Old Dutch dōth, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dauþu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz (“death”).[1][3][4] The same word is Old Saxon dōth, Old High German tōd (modern German Tod), Old Frisian dāth, Old English dēaþ (modern English death), Old Norse dauðr (“death”) and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌿𐍃 (dauþus).[1][4][5]

It is a noun of action formed with the suffix ⟨*-þu-⟩, from PIE ⟨*-tu-⟩, from the same verb Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”) as the adjective.[1][2][4] The WNT calls the relatives outside Germanic uncertain and mentions Latin fūnus (“funeral”).[6] In Middle Dutch the noun was usually feminine, though masculine in the related languages.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch dōt “death” is recorded in the 9th or 10th century, and the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms have fan dōde “from death”.[7][1][8] In Middle Dutch it first appears around 1240 in a Limburg glossary, for Latin mors and nex.[10]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch used doot for death and dying, the death throes, a hopeless state, the day of someone's death, a killing and the death penalty.[10][9] People swore by the death of Christ: Bruges statutes of 1292 mention swearing bi ons heren doed, and the oath was worn down into exclamations such as o doot.[16]

Death was pictured as a figure, usually a skeleton with a scythe.[12] Vercoullie explains zo bleek als de dood van Ieperen by the figure of Death in a dance of death, which at Ypres appeared twice on the town clock.[17] Den dood sterven (1646) was an old solemn way of saying “to die”, and something hard to bear was harder dan de dood.[6] The black death is a translation of German schwarzer Tod, and over de doden niets dan goeds of a Latin saying.[18] The noun passed into Negerhollands (dood, dod), Berbice Dutch (doti) and Skepi Dutch (dut).[14][3]

Timeline

  • 801–1000 – Old Dutch dōt “death”.[7][1]
  • 901–1000 – Fan dōde “from death” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[1][8]
  • c. 1240 – Middle Dutch dot glosses Latin mors.[10]
  • 1292 – An oath bi ons heren doed “by our Lord's death” in Bruges.[16]
  • 1548 – Vander dood en mueghdy adpelleren “from death you cannot appeal”.[6]
  • 1646 – De bittere doot … te sterven “to die the bitter death”.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. death, the state that sets in when life ends: Na zijn dood werd het huis verkocht.[15][12][3]
  2. Dying, the passage from life to death: Ze stierf een rustige dood.[15][12]
  3. The end of something: Die regel betekende de dood van de kleine winkels.[15]
  4. Death personified, a skeleton with a scythe: Hij zag eruit alsof hij de dood had gezien.[12]

Word family

  • doodsangst
  • doodsbang
  • doodsbleek
  • doodzonde
  • doodsvijand
  • doodsakte
  • doodsklok
  • marteldood
  • hondendood

Usage notes

Duizend doden sterven is to be terrified, and the proverb de een zijn dood is de ander zijn brood says that one person's loss is another's gain.[15] Een broertje dood hebben aan iets, to loathe something, was first said of an illness a little brother had died of; in the south one said een oom van iets dood hebben.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  8. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  9. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b 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
  12. ^ a b c d e f g WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  13. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
  14. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  15. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  16. ^ a b Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
  17. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
  18. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  19. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme