Etymologically
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huis

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Pronunciation

  • /ɦœy̯s/, [ɦɐʏ̯s̠][1]
  • Netherlands: [ɦɜʏ̯s̠][1]
  • Belgium: [ɦœːs][1]

Forms

huis n (plural huizen, diminutive huisje n)[1] In eastern and south-eastern dialects there is or was a plural huizeren.[2] The old dative huize survives in fixed phrases such as van goeden huize.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch huus, inherited from Old Dutch hūs, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hūs, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hūsa-.[4][1][5] The same word is Old Saxon hūs, Old High German hūs (modern German Haus), Old Frisian hūs (modern West Frisian hûs), Old English hūs (modern English house), Old Norse hús, and the second part of Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌳𐌷𐌿𐍃 (gudhūs, “temple”).[4][6][5] From the noun Germanic formed a verb, Middle Dutch husen (modern huizen), Old High German hūsōn and Old English hūsian.[4] Slavic borrowed the noun: Czech chýše (“hut”) continues it.[4][6]

There are no certain cognates outside Germanic.[4][5] The most likely explanation takes the word back to Proto-Indo-European *kuH-s-, an extension with ⟨-s-⟩ of the zero grade of the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, wrap”), the root of schuilen and schuur; an original meaning “shelter” would fit the neuter gender.[4][5] With ⟨-t-⟩ instead of ⟨-s-⟩, the same root would give huid and perhaps hut.[4] De Vries compares Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “bladder, pouch”) and Lithuanian kiaušė (“skull”), and hauss (“skull”) beside the noun.[7][8] The older comparison with Ancient Greek κεύθω (keúthō, “to hide”) is ruled out, Kroonen argues, because that root had no laryngeal.[5][6] Alternatively the word may have been borrowed from a pre-Indo-European language with a new kind of building, since there must have been an older word for “house”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in place names: Bidningahusum, a lost place in Gelderland, is recorded in 793 in a 10th-century copy, and names in -husen became productive in the 8th and 9th centuries.[4][9] As a word on its own, Old Dutch hūs “house, homestead” is found in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century, in an huse godes “in the house of God”.[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch huus meant a dwelling from the early 13th century, a building in general by 1240, a palace in 1250 (di hoge koníng artus … in sínen hus) and the building of an institution, as the leper house of Ghent in 1236.[4] It could also mean a castle, and it was paired with hof in huus ende hof, house and yard.[11] Te huus “at home” is the source of thuis.[11]

Modern Dutch also uses the word for a family or dynasty, a firm, and a casing or shell, as in ons aardse huis “our earthly house”, the body.[3][12] Two uses were borrowed from German: een uitverkocht huis “a full house” in a theatre was still felt as a Germanism in the 1970s, and van huis uit “originally, by nature”, after von Haus aus, was criticised by the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal.[13][14]

The diminutive huisken was borrowed into English as husk, “the shell of a fruit or seed”, recorded since 1398.[7] Dutch huis went into Negerhollands (hoes, hus, huus), from which Virgin Islands Creole has hus, and into Javindo, Petjo and Chinese Malay.[15][1]

Timeline

  • 793 – The place name Bidningahusum is recorded, in a 10th-century copy.[4]
  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch hūs appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[4][10]
  • 1201–1225 – Middle Dutch huus “dwelling” is recorded.[4]
  • 1236 – The leper house of Ghent shows the sense “building of an institution”.[4]
  • 1250 – The word is used for King Arthur's palace.[4]
  • 1254 – The derived verb husen “to give shelter” is recorded.[4]
  • 1398 – English husk, from the Dutch diminutive, is first recorded.[7]
  • 1971 – Een uitverkocht huis is noted as a Germanism.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A house, a building used as a home, shop or office: Ze kochten een oud huis aan de gracht.[3][16][1]
  2. Home, the place where one lives: Ik ga naar huis.[16][1]
  3. A family line, a dynasty, as in het koninklijk huis.[3][1]
  4. A firm, a business house.[3][12]
  5. A casing or housing that holds something.[3][1]
  6. A chamber of a legislature.[1]
  7. (astrology) One of the twelve houses of a horoscope.[12]

Word family

  • blokhuis
  • gasthuis
  • huismerk
  • klokhuis
  • warenhuis
  • tweehuizig
  • huisbakken
  • huishouden
  • aanloophuis
  • badhuis
  • bedehuis
  • bejaardenhuis
  • thuis
  • huiselijk
  • verhuizen
  • huizen

Usage notes

Van goeden huize komen means to come of a good family, and also to be very good at something.[3] Ver van huis zijn, recorded since the 16th century, means to be far from the truth.[17] Er zijn meer huizen dan kerken says that there is choice enough elsewhere.[2][17] Niet om over naar huis te schrijven is a loan translation of English nothing to write home about.[18] Sailors called their ship huis, and to bring the anchor t'huis was to heave it up.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  7. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 171
  9. ^ Berkel, Gerald van; Samplonius, Kees (2018), Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard, Utrecht: Spectrum
  10. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  12. ^ a b c WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  13. ^ a b Theissen, Siegfried (1978), Germanismen in het Nederlands, Hasselt
  14. ^ Moortgat, A. (1925), Germanismen in het Nederlandsch, Gent
  15. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  16. ^ a b Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  17. ^ a b Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  18. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  19. ^ 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