hakken

Forms

hakken^[1] Weak verb: past tense hakte, past participle gehakt.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch hacken, inherited from Old Dutch *hackon, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hak(k)ōn- (“to hack, chop”).^[3][1] The same verb is Middle Low German hacken, Old High German hacchōn (modern German hacken), Old Frisian hakia (West Frisian hakje) and Old English tōhaccian (“to hack to pieces”) (modern English hack).^[3][4] The nouns Old Saxon hakka (“mattock”) and Old High German hacka (modern German Hacke) belong with it.^[3] Whether the Old Frisian verb had a single ⟨k⟩ is disputed.^[4][5][6]

There are no clear cognates outside Germanic.^[3][7] The EWN considers it perhaps one of the northern European substrate words described under haak, or else, with Kortlandt, a variant of houwen from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eu- (“to hew”).^[3] Franck–Van Wijk thought a link with ⟨houwen⟩ unlikely and one with ⟨haak⟩ more probable, and De Vries saw the double ⟨kk⟩ as intensive: “to hack with a hooked tool”.^[8][4] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal called its etymology obscure.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch hacken is first recorded in 1350, meaning “to dig, delve”.^[3][9] The Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek quotes country folk hackende where many old graves lay, and had no Middle Dutch example of the transitive sense “to hew, chop”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Kiliaan in 1599 gives hacken both as “to dig” and as “to cut to pieces”.^[10][2] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal of 1897 separated the verb for striking with an edged tool from one meaning “to work with a hoe”, derived from the noun hak “hoe”, recorded in 1573.^[2] It also noted that in the spoken language of the south hakken was unusual, kappen being the common word in Flanders and Brabant.^[2]

Figurative uses followed from the striking: op iemand hakken “to find fault with someone”, er met de grove bijl in hakken “to go at it roughly”, and dat hakt erin “that makes a hole in one's purse”.^[2][11] In youth slang of about 1991 hakken meant to fight.^[12] From the early 1990s it named the hard, rather wooden dancing of the gabber house scene;^[12][13][14] de Volkskrant described a night of hakken to 185 beats per minute in 1993.^[12][13][14] The curse loop hakken! means “get lost”.^[15]

Danish hakke, Norwegian hakke and Swedish hacka are counted as borrowings from Dutch or Low German.^[16] The verb survives in Afrikaans hak.^[1]

Timeline

• 1350 – Middle Dutch hacken “to dig” is first recorded.^[3][9]
• 1573 – Hacken is used of working the soil with a hoe, and hacksel “chopped straw” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1599 – Kiliaan gives the sense “to cut to pieces”.^[10][2]
• 1613 – Er op hakken “to lay into someone” is recorded.^[2]
• 1993 – Hakken is used for gabber house dancing.^[13][14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chop, hack: cut into pieces with an axe, knife and the like.^[11][1]
2. To make by chopping.^[11]
3. To work the soil with a hoe.^[11][2]
4. To strike or cut wildly.^[11][2]
5. Op iemand hakken: to criticise someone harshly.^[11][2]
6. To dance to gabber house, with small, quick, somewhat wooden steps.^[11][14][1]
7. (football) To play the ball with the heel.^[11]

Word family

• haksel
• hakker
• houthakker
• beenhakker
• hakbijl
• hakblok
• hakhout
• hakmes
• afhakken
• hakkelen

Related words

• haak
• houwen
• English hack
• German hacken

Usage notes

Iemand in de pan hakken is to defeat someone crushingly.^[11] The proverb waar gehakt wordt, vallen spaanders says that where work is done, mistakes are made.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 155
7. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
8. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
10. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
12. ^ a b c Coster, Marc de (1999), Woordenboek van neologismen: 25 jaar taalaanwinsten, Amsterdam: Contact
13. ^ a b c Reinsma, R. (1999), Neologismen, Den Haag: Sdu
14. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
15. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
16. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)