Etymologically
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heet

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Pronunciation

Forms

heet (comparative heter, superlative heetst)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch hêet, inherited from Old Dutch heit, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hait, inherited from Proto-Germanic *haita- (“hot”).[2][1][3] The same adjective is Old Saxon hēt, Old High German heiz (modern German heiß), Old Frisian hēt, Old English hāt (modern English hot) and Old Norse heitr.[2][4][3] Beside it stood an ablauting Proto-Germanic *hit-, the source of hitte, and the noun Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍄𐍉 (heitō, “fever”) shows a third grade of the same root; the EWN also connects Old Norse heiðr (“bright, cloudless”) and the family of heiig, and perhaps hees through the idea “dry”.[2][4]

Further back the origin is unclear.[2] The only possible relatives outside Germanic are Baltic and have a different dental suffix: Lithuanian kaisti (“to become hot”) and kaitra (“heat”).[2][4] De Vries takes the word as a dental derivative of a root Proto-Indo-European *kai- (“hot, heat”), but both he and the EWN point out that so narrow a spread, together with Germanic forms that are hard to reconcile, may point to a borrowing from a pre-Indo-European substrate.[4][2] Kroonen sees an o-grade adjective of a root *keid-, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *kei- (“to burn”) with a dental suffix, and notes that the verb it implies is not attested.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch heit appears only as the first part of the compound heitmuodi “anger”, literally “hot mind”, in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms.[2][5][6] Middle Dutch heet “very hot” is found in Flemish texts of 1260–1280, among them a passage about a bath so hot that a man forgot himself, and in a Brabant text of about 1265 that speaks of the hot fire of purgatory.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the adjective was also used of feelings: a text of 1260–1280 asks whether a fight is too fierce, literally “too hot”, for the listener.[2] The early Middle Dutch dictionary records hot tears, hot countries such as Ethiopia (1287), and fevers called hete sucht, in which the body's temperature rises.[7] Kiliaan glossed it with Latin fervidus, and by the 16th century it was used of the weather and of a burning sun, as in a hot day of 1573.[8]

Figurative uses grew from the image of fire: voor heter vuur gestaan hebben “to have stood before hotter fire” is to have known worse dangers (1857), and heet gebakerd “quick-tempered” dates from the 17th century.[8][9] Modern Dutch also uses heet of spicy food, of a person who is sexually aroused, and informally in physics for “radioactive”.[10][11] After the American phrase long hot summer it came to describe a period full of social unrest, as in een heet najaar in a newspaper of 1975.[12] Its use for “recent, in the news” follows English hot.[13] In West Flemish heet can mean “early ripe”.[14]

The adjective passed into Negerhollands (heet) and Berbice Dutch (hete).[15][1]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch heit is recorded in the compound heitmuodi “anger” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[2][5]
  • 1260–1280 – Middle Dutch heet describes a very hot bath and a fierce fight.[2]
  • c. 1265 – A Brabant text speaks of the hot fire of purgatory.[7][2]
  • 1287 – A West Flemish text names Ethiopia een heet lant, a hot country.[7]
  • 1573 – A hot day is eenen heeten dach in a dictionary with Latin glosses.[8]
  • 17th century – Heet gebakerd “quick-tempered” comes into use.[9]
  • 1975 – A newspaper predicts een heet najaar, an autumn of social conflict.[12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Very warm, hot: Raak de kachel niet aan, die is nog heet.[10][1][16]
  2. Of food: sharp, spicy, burning in the mouth.[10][1][11]
  3. Of people: sexually aroused; also sexually attractive.[10][11]
  4. (informal, physics) Strongly radioactive.[10]
  5. Of a period: full of social or political conflict.[12]

Word family

  • heterdaad
  • heethoofd
  • heethoofdig
  • heetgebakerd
  • heteluchtoven
  • gloeiheet
  • loeiheet
  • snikheet
  • stikheet

Usage notes

A heet hangijzer “hot pot-hanger” is a delicate issue that is dangerous to take up;[17][1] Winschoten explained it in 1681 as something hot and risky to grasp.[17][1] The proverb de soep wordt nooit zo heet gegeten als ze wordt opgediend says that things are seldom as bad as they first look.[1] Stoett links heet gebakerd with the belief that the way a baby was swaddled shaped its temper, though he found no evidence of that belief.[9]

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 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  6. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  7. ^ a b c d 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
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  10. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  11. ^ a b c WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  12. ^ a b c Reinsma, R. (1984), Neologismen, Utrecht: Spectrum
  13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  14. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2002), West-Vlaams etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de West-Vlaamse woorden, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
  15. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  16. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  17. ^ 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