gek

Forms

gek adjective (comparative gekker, superlative gekst), noun m (plural gekken, diminutive gekje n, feminine gekkin)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch gec (also ⟨ghec⟩, ⟨geck⟩), whose origin is not settled.^[2][1] The adjective is recorded first, in the early 14th century, and the noun “fool” later in the century.^[2][3] The EWN thinks that in Dutch, as in German, the adjective probably grew out of the noun used predicatively, though the reverse cannot be ruled out.^[2]

The same word is Middle Low German geck (“fool; foolish”) and Middle High German gecke (modern German Geck (“dandy, formerly fool”)).^[2][4] Swedish gäck and Danish gjæk were taken over from Low German, while obsolete English geck (“simpleton”) (from 1515) came from Low German or Middle Dutch.^[2][4][5] One view holds that it was a Low German word meaning “court fool” that reached Middle Dutch only in the 14th century;^[2][4] Teuchert, on the contrary, thought the ⟨Geck⟩ of the Brandenburg Mark was brought there by Dutch settlers.^[2][4]

It may imitate the noises a fool makes, like giechelen, and South Upper German has mocking words such as ⟨gagg⟩ and ⟨gaggel⟩ for a fool who utters unintelligible sounds.^[2][4][6] Wiktionary suggests an imitative verb also found in gäcka (“to mock”), and connects geek.^[1] Franck–Van Wijk and De Vries & De Tollenaere instead join it with Old Norse geiga (“to swerve from the right course”) and a dialect word Norwegian gigl (“a person who sways to and fro”), from a Germanic base meaning “to be unstable”, which would also account for the noun for a turning chimney cowl.^[7][8][9] The EWN finds this not very probable, and the NEW doubts it.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest example is an adjective in Maerlant's Spiegel historiael (early 14th century), where it means “wasteful”: al was hi somwile gec, “though he was sometimes extravagant”, said of a man otherwise very mean with his money.^[3][7] The noun is found in 1365 in the north-east for a court fool: five guilders were paid for curing den ghek of an abscess on his back.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the noun meant both “fool, man without sense” and “jester”, and the derivative ghecheyt “foolishness” is recorded in 1399.^[3][2] The phrase iemand voor de gek houden, older voor zijn gek houden “to make a fool of someone”, probably refers to the fools that princes kept for their amusement.^[9] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal records the noun for a madman and for a fool, a gekkenhuis “madhouse”, and a second noun gek “jest” from the verb gekken, as in den gek houden.^[10] Gekheid “a joke” follows in 1785.^[2]

Stoett gives older versions of al te goed is buurmans gek, “too much kindness makes you your neighbour's fool”, from Smetius and Tuinman, and finds een gek kan meer vragen dan tien wijzen kunnen beantwoorden since the Middle Ages.^[11] Sailors called a part at the top of a wooden pump a gek (1681), and the turning cowl of a chimney had the name by 1806.^[12][10] From the late 1950s gek could also mean “unusually good”, and te gek! now means “fantastic”.^[13][14]

The word spread to West Frisian, Scots geck, Norwegian gjekk and Negerhollands gek, gik; through Afrikaans it reached South African English.^[5][1] In Frisian gek is also a folk name of the gannet.^[15]

Timeline

• early 14th century – The adjective gec “wasteful” appears in the Spiegel historiael.^[3][7]
• 1365 – The noun ghek “court fool” is recorded in the north-east.^[3]
• 1399 – Ghecheyt “foolishness” is first recorded.^[2]
• 1401–1450 – Gec “mad, foolish”, the date in Van der Sijs's chronological dictionary.^[16]
• 1681 – Winschoten names a pump part gek.^[12]
• 1785 – Gekheid in the sense “joke”.^[2]
• 1806 – Gek for a turning chimney cowl.^[10]
• 1965 – Niet gek “not bad” in the magazine Hitweek.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (informal) crazy, mad, insane: zo gek als een deur.^[14][1]
2. foolish, showing a lack of good sense.^[14]
3. Strange, odd: wat een gekke hoed.^[14][17]
4. Funny, silly, playful.^[14][1]
5. Very, intense;^[14] te gek “great, fantastic”.^[14]

Noun

1. (informal) A madman, lunatic.^[14][1]
2. A fool: de gek uithangen.^[14][17]
3. A chimney cowl that turns with the wind.^[14][1]
4. A catch on a door handle that keeps it from being opened from outside.^[14]

Word family

• gekheid
• gekkin
• gekkerd
• gekkig
• gekken
• gekkenhuis
• gekscheren
• dorpsgek
• stapelgek
• knettergek

Related words

• giechelen
• German Geck
• English geek

Usage notes

Iemand voor de gek houden means to fool or tease someone.^[9][14] Gekke Henkie and similar names stand for someone easily taken in.^[6] Van Dale records al te goed is buurmans gek as a warning not to be too obliging, and gekken en dwazen schrijven hun namen op deuren en glazen against people who write their names everywhere.^[14][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e f Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
6. ^ a b Coster, Marc de (2007), Groot scheldwoordenboek: van apenkont tot zweefteef, Antwerpen: Standaard
7. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 136
9. ^ a b c Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Reinsma, R. (1975), Signalement van nieuwe woorden, Amsterdam: Elsevier
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
15. ^ Eigenhuis, K. J. (2004), Verklarend en etymologisch woordenboek van de Nederlandse vogelnamen, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
16. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
17. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org