kennen

Forms

kennen^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch kennen, inherited from Old Dutch kennen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”), the causative of the verb that gave kunnen.^[2][1][3][4] The same verb is Old Saxon ant-kennian (“to perceive”), Old High German irkennen (“to recognise”) (modern German kennen), Old Frisian kenna, Old English cennan (“to declare”), Old Norse kenna (“to know; to make known”) and Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kannjan, “to make known”).^[2][3][5] The causative meaning “to make known” survives in Gothic, Old English and partly in Old Norse; in Dutch only in a few obsolete senses of ontkennen and in overkennen.^[6][4] Middle Dutch also said ⟨te kennen doen⟩ “to make known”.^[7]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch kennen first appears in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, in that ik it kende, “that I should know it”: the oldest sense is “to know, be aware of”.^[2][9][10] Middle Dutch kennen first occurs in a Ghent charter of 1237, and a Limburg glossary of 1240 renders Latin agnoscere with it.^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch kennen covered much more than the modern verb: to acknowledge, admit, judge in court, award, declare, recognise and find out, as well as to know facts, for which modern Dutch uses weten.^[11][7][2] Many of these senses now belong to compounds such as erkennen, bekennen and toekennen.^[7][2] The participle gekend “known” is recorded in 1562.^[2] Since 1888 it has also meant “well known, famous”, a use that is now mainly Belgian.^[2] Ongekend “unknown” (1573) came to mean “unprecedented” by 1840.^[2]

Proverbs with the verb include men kent den vogel aan zijn veeren and the biblical aan hunne vruchten zult gij ze kennen.^[6] In Belgium newspaper Dutch of the 1890s used iemand iets kennen “to know someone to have something”, a construction copied from French connaître.^[12] Swedish känna and Negerhollands ken are recorded as loans from Dutch or Low German.^[13]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch kennen “to know” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2][9][10]
• 1237 – Middle Dutch kennen in a Ghent charter.^[11]
• 1240 – Kennen glosses Latin agnoscere in Limburg.^[11][2]
• 1562 – The participle ghekent “known”.^[2]
• 1840 – Ongekend “unprecedented”.^[2]
• 1888 – Gekend “famous”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know, to be acquainted or familiar with a person, place or thing.^[14][1]
2. To know through study or practice: een gedicht uit het hoofd kennen.^[14][15]
3. To recognise: ik kende hem aan zijn stem.^[14][6]
4. To experience, to go through: het land kende een strenge winter.^[1][15]
5. Of things: to have, contain: deze regel kent geen uitzonderingen.^[14]

Word family

• bekennen
• eenkennig
• erkennen
• herkennen
• kenmerk
• miskennen
• ontkennen
• kennis
• kenbaar
• kenschets
• kenteken
• toekennen
• verkennen
• kennelijk
• kenner
• gekend
• ongekend

Related words

• weten
• kunnen
• English ken
• German kennen

Usage notes

Kennen for kunnen “can” is dialectal and colloquial.^[1] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal notes that educated speech carefully avoids it, though 17th-century writers such as Bredero and Vondel used it, and that the reverse, kunnen for kennen, occurs too.^[6] An older regional form is kinnen.^[6] Wat de boer niet kent, dat vreet hij niet mocks someone who will not try anything new, and to know something als zijn broekzak is to know it inside out.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Vreese, Willem de (1899), Gallicismen in het Zuidnederlandsch, Gent: Siffer
13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
14. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
15. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org