etsen

Forms

etsen^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German ätzen (“to etch”), taken over in the 16th century, when the German verb was spelled ⟨etzen⟩; the oldest Dutch record has the same spelling.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The German verb goes back to Old High German azzen (“to make eat, feed”) (also ⟨etzen⟩, ⟨ezzen⟩), Proto-Germanic *atjan- (“to make eat, feed”), the causative of *etaną (“to eat”), the source of Dutch eten, so its literal sense is “to make eat, have eaten away”.^{[2][8][9][1][3]}

The same Germanic verb is native in Dutch as etten, Middle Dutch etten (“to have grazed”), so ⟨etsen⟩ and ⟨etten⟩ are doublets.^{[2][10][11][1]} Its other descendants are Middle Low German etten (“to pasture”), Old Frisian etta (“to graze”), Old English ettan (“to graze off”), Old Norse etja (“to incite”) and Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fraatjan, “to give out as food”).^[2][8][9] Kroonen derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁od-éie-.^[8] Wiktionary compares Sanskrit आदयति (ādáyati, “to feed”), but notes that the LIV takes the Germanic forms as new formations.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in 1573, as etzen, glossed “in coper bijten”, to bite into copper.^[2][4] Kiliaan (1599) has etsen with the same gloss.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In German the sense of a substance eaten away by chemicals goes back to the first half of the 15th century, at first in medicine and later in printing, metalwork and chemistry, and the oldest Dutch records have this sense.^[2] Because the word was used mostly of engraving copper and the acid treatment that follows, it came to name the whole process of making an etching, and after the 17th century this is by far its main sense.^[2] German has another word for that, radieren.^[2]

A sense “to bite, eat into”, recorded in 1642, seems to come straight from German rather than from the craft, and is now obsolete.^[5][2] The verb was used for depicting something by etching from 1690 and for making prints from 1691.^[5] From 1796 it is also used for etching glass.^[5] The noun ets “an etched print” is a derivative, first recorded in 1866.^[2]

English etch (1634) is from German too, perhaps through Dutch;^{[11][12][13][14]} Etymonline derives it from the Dutch verb.^{[11][12][13][14]} Danish etse and Swedish etsa come from German.^[11][15]

Timeline

• 1573 – Etzen “to bite into copper” is first recorded.^[2][4][6]
• 1599 – Kiliaan has etsen.^[5][4]
• 1634 – English etch is first recorded.^[11]
• 1642 – Etsen is used for “to eat into”.^[5][2]
• 1690 – Etsen is used for depicting something by etching.^[5]
• 1691 – Etsen is used for making prints.^[5]
• 1796 – Etching on glass is described.^[5]
• 1866 – The noun ets is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To etch: to draw lines in a plate covered with wax or resin and let an acid bite them in.^[16][17][1]
2. To decorate metal, glass and the like with figures or letters made by a corrosive substance.^[17][5]
3. (technology) To fix circuits or markings in metal and similar materials with a corrosive solution.^[17]
4. (medicine) To corrode, eat into.^[16][1]
5. (figurative, reflexive) zich etsen: to stand out sharply against a background, as in an etching; to be imprinted indelibly.^[17]

Word family

• ets
• etser
• etsnaald
• etsgrond
• etskunst
• etswerk
• etspapier
• etsplaat

Related words

• eten
• etten
• German ätzen
• English etch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
4. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 123
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
6. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
7. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
8. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
11. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ a b Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
15. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
16. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
17. ^ a b c d Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org