jongen
jongen1 boy
Pronunciation
- /ˈjɔ.ŋə(n)/[1]
Forms
jongen m (plural jongens, diminutive jongetje n)[1] Older plurals are jongers and jongeren, used in the States Bible.[2] Besides jongetje the diminutives jongentje and jongske are found.[2]
Etymology
The noun is inherited from Middle Dutch jonghe (“youth, young man”), the weak form of the adjective jong used as a noun.[3][4][5] The adjective goes back to Proto-Germanic *jungaz (“young”).[3][1] The ending ⟨-en⟩ of the oblique cases was later taken into the nominative, and Kiliaan still gives both forms; the old form survives in the diminutive jongetje.[3][2][4] In the same way Old High German jungo gave modern German Junge, and West Frisian jonge is the same.[3][5]
Van Haeringen notes that ⟨jonge⟩ lives on in much of the language area, and that the North Holland form ⟨joon⟩ shows that ⟨jongen⟩ was really spoken, not only written.[6] Vercoullie took the word for a derivative with an ⟨-n⟩ suffix, like jungino.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
Middle Dutch jonghe as a noun is recorded in 1300–1325, in a line about the youth who sins through excess.[3] The form jongen is first dated 1479.[8][9]
Semantic evolution
In a dictionary of 1573 een ionge, oft ioncksken translates French garçon.[2] In the plural the word could mean children of either sex, as in vort, jongens! “off you go, children!” (1840), and in the south young people of both sexes.[2] Jongens is still a familiar way to address a group, and men use jongen to each other.[1]
Jongens van Jan de Witt “tough fellows” has nothing to do with the statesman Johan de Witt;[9] Van Veen and Van der Sijs connect it with Johann von Werth, a soldier of the Thirty Years' War who rose to field marshal.[9] Stoett explains een bengel van een jongen, where bengel “cudgel” came to mean a rascal.[10]
The noun was borrowed into Indonesian as jongos “servant”, into Malay, Javanese and Sranan Tongo (yongu).[1]
Timeline
- 1300–1325 – Middle Dutch jonghe “young man”.[3]
- 1479 – The form jongen is recorded.[8][9]
- 1573 – Een ionge, oft ioncksken translates French garçon.[2]
- 1599 – Kiliaan gives both jonghe and jonghen.[3]
- 1840 – Vort, jongens! addresses children.[2]
Meanings
Noun
- A boy, a male child.[11][1]
- (informal) A man, a fellow: hij is een aardige jongen.[11][1]
- (in the plural, vocative) Guys, folks: a way to address a group.[1][2]
- (familiar) A boy servant or an apprentice.[1]
- (dated) A friend, a sweetheart.[11]
Word family
- jongetje
- jongens
- jongensachtig
- jongensboek
- kwajongen
- tjonge
- loopjongen
- straatjongen
- boerenjongen
jongen2 to give birth to young
Pronunciation
- /ˈjɔ.ŋə(n)/[1]
Forms
jongen[1]
Etymology
The verb is from Dutch jong + -en, formed from the noun jong “young animal”.[2][1] The same verb is Middle Low German jungen (“to have young”) and German jungen, recorded in the Vocabularius theutonicus of 1482.[5][4][12] Middle High German jungen meant only “to become young”, and the Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek infers a Middle Dutch jongen (“to become young”) from verjongen.[4][13]
Earliest recorded meaning
Kiliaan records jonghen “to give birth to young” in 1588, as a synonym of worpen.[2][12][5]
Semantic evolution
The verb is mostly used of mammals; in 1621 it was used of a kingfisher sitting on eggs, and in coarse speech of a woman (1699).[2] Figuratively, money that bears interest jongt (1898), and in Flanders a thunderstorm that gathers on the horizon is said to jongen.[2]
Timeline
- 1588 – Kiliaan records jonghen “to have young”.[2][12]
- 1621 – The verb is used of a brooding kingfisher.[2]
- 1898 – Money is said to mate and jongen.[2]
Meanings
Verb
- Of animals: to give birth to young, to whelp, to litter.[11][1]
- (figuratively) To multiply, to grow.[1][2]
Word family
- aanjongen
- uitjongen
Related words
- jongeman
- jongere
- jonker
- jonkheer
- jong
- verjongen
- German Junge
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
- ^ a b c d e f g 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
- ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
- ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
- ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
- ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
- ^ a b c d Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
- ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
- ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
- ^ a b c Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 180
- ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org