Etymologically
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jij

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Pronunciation

Forms

jij[1] The unstressed form is je.[2][3] The object form is jou and the possessive jouw.[3][2]

Etymology

It is the Hollandic form of the pronoun that became gij in most of the Dutch-speaking area: inherited from Middle Dutch ji, a northern form beside gi, inherited from Old Dutch gī (“you (plural)”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *jīz.[3][1] The older form was Proto-Germanic *jūz, kept in Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐍃 (jūs); in North and West Germanic the vowel was changed after Proto-Germanic *wīz (“we”).[3][4][5] The same word is Old Saxon gī, Old High German ir (modern German ihr), Old Frisian jī, Old English gē (modern English ye) and Old Norse ér.[3][4]

The pronoun goes back to the nominative Proto-Indo-European *iuH (“you (plural)”), which also gave Sanskrit यूयम् (yūyám), Lithuanian jūs, Old Church Slavonic вы (vy) and Albanian ju;[3][5] Latin vōs and Ancient Greek ὑμεῖς (hūmeîs) are built on another stem.[3]

Initial /j/ became /ɣ/ only in some Franconian dialects, which gave ⟨gij⟩;[3][5] Holland kept the /j/, and medieval scribes, following the southern standard, almost always wrote ⟨ghi⟩, so that the Hollandic form hardly reached paper.[3][5] The unstressed ⟨je⟩ appears centuries before the stressed ⟨jij⟩, and how ⟨jij⟩ itself arose is unclear: the EWN suggests that it was formed beside ⟨je⟩ after the vowel of hij, zij, wij and mij.[3] A theory of Verdenius (1924) that enclitic ⟨je⟩ grew out of ⟨-di⟩ after a verb, as in ⟨hebdi⟩ “have you”, was answered by Muller (1926) and given up by Verdenius himself; the EWN rejects it as very unlikely, though Van der Sijs still argued for it in 2004.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record of the stressed form is in a spelling guide: in 1550 Joos Lambrecht noted that some people said iy or jy for ghy.[3] In literature it appears from the early 17th century in renderings of speech, as in Hooft's Iy de Bruygom (1617).[3][6] The unstressed je is older, in Middle Dutch Onrecht hebje “you are wrong” (1300–1350).[3]

Semantic evolution

The ancestor gi was a plural pronoun, set against the singular du; as in Latin and French it came to be used as a polite form for one person, and by the 16th century du was largely gone.[3] In 17th-century Holland texts je and jij were used for one person or several, regardless of rank, and alternated with gy; in the course of the century they became the informal singular.[3] The WNT (1914) describes jij in the north as the form for addressing children and servants and for talk among friends and equals.[2]

Written Dutch kept gij as the norm long after; in the 19th century it gave way to familiar jij/je and polite u, and the plural jullie became standard only in the 20th century.[3] Until the early 20th century jij was felt to be colloquial and hardly written, and the Hollandic system of jij, jou and jullie was fully standardised after the Second World War.[1] In Belgium gij and ge remain the normal forms in dialects and colloquial speech, now in competition with jij and u.[3]

Dutch carried the pronoun overseas: Afrikaans has jy, Negerhollands joe and ju, Berbice Dutch ju, and it reached Javanese and Chinese-Malay dialects as yè and yèi.[1][7]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Old Dutch gi “you (plural)” is recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[3][6]
  • 1300–1350 – The enclitic je appears in Middle Dutch hebje.[3]
  • 1550 – Joos Lambrecht notes that some people say iy or jy instead of ghy.[3]
  • 1617 – Jy appears in a play by Hooft.[3][6]
  • 1781 – Jy is still used as a plural, in Jy, vrienden.[2]
  • 2004 – The New Bible Translation drops gij, leaving jij and u as the forms of address in Netherlands writing.[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. you: the informal second-person singular subject pronoun, the stressed form of je: Heb jij mijn sleutels gezien?[8][1][9]
  2. Used to call or address someone directly: Hé, jij daar![2]

Word family

  • jouen

Usage notes

Before a term of abuse the object form is used: jou ezel! “you donkey!”.[2] Jij hier? expresses surprise at meeting someone in an unexpected place.[8] The verb jijen en jouen means to address someone with jij and jou instead of u.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  7. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  8. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  9. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org