kamer

Forms

kamer f (plural kamers, diminutive kamertje n)^[1] In West Flemish dialects it is masculine, as it sometimes was in Middle Dutch.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch camere, inherited from Old Dutch *kamara, borrowed from Latin camera (“vault; room”), which Latin had taken from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “covered wagon; vaulted room”).^[3][1][4] Medieval Latin also used the word for a court or council room.^[3] The origin of the Greek word is unclear: it may be related to Latin camur (“curved”), while Franck and Van Wijk thought it was Carian.^[3][5]

The neighbouring languages borrowed the Latin word in the same way: Old Saxon kamara, Old High German chamara (“room, palace, treasury”) (modern German Kammer), Old Frisian kamer and, through Low German or Frisian, Old Norse kamarr (“privy”).^[3][6][5] The EWN dates the loan to between about 150 and 400 AD: Germanic houses then had a single hall (zaal), while Roman villas and settlements had separate rooms, which probably reached the Germanic world, like keuken, kelder and zolder, through monasteries and castles.^[3] The same Latin word was borrowed again much later as camera.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Old Dutch compound ⟨betekameren⟩, “bedchamber”, in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century.^[3] The simple word appears in the Lower Rhine Floyris of 1201–25, which speaks of hundirt cameren, “a hundred rooms”, each with a lady to serve.^[3][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch camere was first of all a room with a fireplace, and the MNW suggests that it went from “vault” to “ceiling” and then to the living space between two ceilings.^[2][7] It also meant a prison, a treasury, a shop (1248, Antwerp), a one-room dwelling, a privy, as in ter cameren gaen “to relieve oneself” (1240, 1285), and a council or aldermen's room (1272, Bruges).^[7][3][2] Separate rooms became common in ordinary houses only from the 14th century on.^[3]

The sense “council room” lived on in names such as weeskamer (orphans' board) and assurantiekamer, which denoted both the room and the body that met there.^[3] From it came the political sense: the Batavian constitution of 1798 divided the legislature into de Eerste Kamer en Tweede Kamer, a loan-translation of French chambre.^[3][8][9] In older houses de mooie kamer or beste kamer was the front room kept for Sundays and visitors.^[10][11]

Dutch kamer was borrowed into Indonesian and Malay as kamar, into Javanese, Sranan Tongo (kamra) and Papiamentu (kamber), and into Russian as ка́мера (kámera) in the sense “lock chamber”.^[12][6][1]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – The Wachtendonck Psalms have the compound ⟨betekameren⟩ “bedchamber”.^[3]
• 1201–1225 – Hundirt cameren in the Floyris, the first record of the simple word.^[3][8]
• 1240 – A Limburg glossary uses camere for a dwelling and for a privy.^[7]
• 1248 – Camere means a shop in an Antwerp record.^[7]
• 1272 – The word is used of the aldermen's council room in Bruges.^[3][7]
• 1798 – The legislature is divided into a First and a Second Chamber.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a room in a house or building, for living, sleeping or working: Het huis heeft vier kamers en een zolder.^[13][11][1]
2. a rented room, especially a student's room: Hij zoekt een kamer in Groningen.^[11][1]
3. (often capitalised) a chamber, a body that meets to deliberate or judge: a house of parliament, a division of a court, a chamber of commerce.^[13][11][1]
4. a closed space or cavity in the body of a person, animal or plant, or in a device, such as the chamber of a gun.^[13][1][12]

Word family

• kamermuziek
• kamerbreed
• achterkamer
• badkamer
• eetkamer
• folterkamer
• gaskamer
• hotelkamer
• kamerstuk
• logeerkamer
• meldkamer
• kamerlid
• kamerheer
• kamenier

Related words

• camera
• kameraad
• German Kammer
• English chamber

Usage notes

De Kamer alone means the Tweede Kamer in the Netherlands and the Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers in Belgium.^[14][13] Kamers te huur hebben, “to have rooms to let”, is a joking phrase for being not quite right in the head.^[15] Kamer honderd is a jocular name for the toilet.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
5. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ a b Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f 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 d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
9. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
12. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
13. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
14. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
15. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme