halen

Forms

halen (weak: past haalde, past participle gehaald)^[2] Eastern dialects have a strong past tense hiel.^[2] Middle Dutch also wrote alen and, in Brabant, hallen.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch halen, inherited from Old Dutch *halon, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *halōn, inherited from Proto-Germanic *halōn-.^[4][1][5] The same verb is Old Saxon halōn (Middle Low German ⟨halen⟩), Old High German halōn beside holōn (“to pull, bring”) (modern German holen), Old Frisian halia (“to take away”) (modern West Frisian helje) and Old English geholian (“to obtain”).^[4][6] Outside West Germanic it is found only as a loanword: Old Norse hala was taken from Middle Low German.^[4][6]

Its further origin is unclear.^[4][7] The traditional comparison is with Latin calō (“to call out, summon”) and Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō, “to call”), assuming a first meaning “to call here”; the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal accepted this, and Kroonen reconstructs an iterative from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”), but the EWN finds it semantically unconvincing.^[4][2][5] Franck and Van Wijk thought “to pull” older than “to call”.^[8] A link with Ancient Greek κάλως (kálōs, “rope”) is still less likely, and the word may come from a pre-Indo-European substrate.^[4][6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch halen “to bring to oneself” is first recorded in 1265–1270, in the Brabant life of Saint Lutgard.^[4][10] The early texts already have it for sending for someone, as in having smiths fetched to make a coffin of silver and gold.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Already in the earliest Middle Dutch the verb had most of its modern shades of meaning, including adem halen “to draw breath”, so the senses cannot be dated one by one.^[4] It meant to pull, to take to oneself, sometimes unlawfully, to fetch, and to hoist a sail: sijn seil te haelne is recorded in 1365–1385.^[4][11][3] The prefixed behalen “to gain by effort” followed in 1440.^[4]

The sense “to reach” is relatively young: het niet kunnen halen bij “not to come near (in comparison)” dates from 1624, hij haalt den wal “he reaches the shore” from 1822 and het halen “to make it” from 1844.^[4][12] The curse de duivel hale u! rests on the idea that the devil and death come to fetch their victims.^[13] During the German occupation halen and ophalen became euphemisms for rounding Jews up for deportation.^[14] The question Haalt … 1984? comes from the Dutch title of Andrei Amalrik's book, translated in 1970.^[15]

French borrowed the seafaring word as haler “to hoist, to tow” at the start of the 12th century;^[4][16] Spanish halar and Portuguese alar come from the French verb.^[4][16] English hale and haul come from the French verb.^[4] Danish hale, Norwegian hale and Swedish hala are from Dutch or Low German, and Negerhollands, Sranan (hari), Aukan and Papiamentu (hala) have it too.^[16][1]

Timeline

• early 12th century – French haler, from Germanic, is recorded.^[4]
• 1265–1270 – Middle Dutch halen is first recorded, in Brabant.^[4][10]
• 1365–1385 – Sijn seil halen “to hoist his sail” is recorded.^[4]
• 1440 – Behalen “to gain by effort” appears.^[4]
• 1624 – Het niet kunnen halen bij “not to bear comparison with” is recorded.^[4]
• 1822 – The sense “to reach” appears in hij haalt den wal.^[4]
• 1844 – Het halen “to make it” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fetch, to go and get someone or something: Ik haal even brood bij de bakker.^[1][2][17]
2. To pull or draw towards oneself or into a position: Ze haalde de stekker uit het stopcontact.^[18][3]
3. To obtain by effort, to gain: Hij heeft zijn rijbewijs in één keer gehaald.^[18]
4. To reach, to catch in time: We haalden de laatste bus nog net.^[18][1]
5. (het halen) To make it, to manage or survive: De patiënt haalt het niet.^[1][4]

Word family

• aanhalen
• herhalen
• inhalen
• onthalen
• verhalen
• achterhalen
• ademhalen
• afhalen
• behalen
• bijhalen
• binnenhalen
• doorhalen
• haalbaar
• neerhalen
• verhaal
• ophalen
• terughalen

Related words

• German holen
• French haler
• English haul

Usage notes

Het niet halen bij iemand means not to bear comparison with someone; it goes back to halen “to reach”.^[12][18] Dat haal je de koekoek “you bet!” is short for wishing the cuckoo, that is the devil, to fetch the speaker if it is not true.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
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. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 155
10. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ a b c Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
13. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
14. ^ Kamp, Jacob van de; Wijk, Jacob van der (2006), Koosjer Nederlands: Joodse woorden in de Nederlandse taal, Amsterdam: Contact
15. ^ Reinsma, R. (1984), Neologismen, Utrecht: Spectrum
16. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
18. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers