klaar

Forms

klaar (comparative klaarder, superlative klaarst)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch claer, borrowed from Latin clārus (“bright, clear, famous”).^[2][3][4][1] Van der Sijs gives Old French clar as a possible source beside the Latin word, and Franck–Van Wijk allow that the word came partly through French, the source of English clear.^[5][6] The same Latin adjective was taken into Middle Low German klār and Middle High German klār (modern German klar), and Old Frisian klāria (“to make clear”) belongs with it; late Old Norse klárr came from Middle Low German.^[4][6][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-ro-, from the root of clāmō (“to call out, proclaim”), the source of claim; it is probably related to hel² “bright” and to loeien.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears first in Old Dutch place names, Klaerhout at Pittem in West Flanders (1159) and Clart near Warneton (1197).^[8] As a Middle Dutch adjective it is first found around 1200 in the Limburg life of Saint Servatius, where the saint comes schinende alse di sonne clare “shining like the bright sun”; a Lower Rhine text of about 1201 calls a spring gut ende clar, good and clear.^[2][9][10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the word meant “bright, shining” of the sun, the day and fire, and also “clear” of water and wine, “pure, sincere”, “distinct, plain”, “famous” and, as an adverb, “wholly”.^[9][11][4] The sense “ready”, which has become the commonest, developed only in Dutch and Low German, never in High German.^[11] Verdam finds it hinted at already in the Middle Dutch verb claren “to decide a lawsuit”, literally “to clear up a case”, and so “to settle, finish”.^[11][2] It is first clearly recorded in 1652, when the horses claer waren “were ready”, and the sense “finished, done” follows in 1866.^[2][10] The adverb in klaar wakker “wide awake” is from 1876.^[2]

Pure gin was a klaare borrel (1776) or klaare jenever (1813).^[2] From 1848 it was simply klare.^[2] The Netherlands' school crossing patrols took their name klaar-over from the call “ready? then cross!”, recorded in 1955.^[2] In Surinamese Dutch klaar also means “used up, over”, after a Sranan Tongo phrase.^[12]

The word travelled widely in the sense “ready”: Indonesian and Javanese have kelar, Papiamentu kla and klaar, and West African Ewe klálò and Twi krádo.^[13][1] Danish and Swedish klar “clear” came from Dutch or Low German.^[13]

Timeline

• 1159 – The place name Klaerhout is recorded at Pittem.^[8]
• c. 1200 – Clare “bright” of the sun, in the Limburg Servatius.^[2][9][10]
• 1240 – Claer and clere “shining, pure” in a Limburg text.^[2]
• 1652 – First clear record of the sense “ready”.^[2][10]
• 1776 – Klaare borrel “a glass of plain gin”.^[2]
• 1848 – Klare alone for plain gin.^[2]
• 1866 – Klaar “finished, done”.^[2]
• 1876 – Klaar wakker “wide awake”.^[2]
• 1955 – The call Klaar-over! of the school crossing patrols.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. clear, transparent: klaar water.^[14][1]
2. Pure, unmixed.^[14][1]
3. (chiefly Belgium, dated in the Netherlands) Clear, plain, obvious.^[14][1]
4. ready, prepared for use or action: Het eten is klaar.^[14][1]
5. finished, done, of a task or of the person doing it: Ben je al klaar met je huiswerk?^[14][1]

Noun

1. (het klaar) The white of an egg.^[14]

Word family

• opklaren
• klinkklaar
• kant-en-klaar
• klaarblijkelijk
• klaarkomen
• klaarmaken
• klaarpijpen
• klaarspelen
• klaarstomen
• klaarzetten
• klaren
• klip-en-klaar
• klaarheid
• klaarte
• verklaren
• onklaar
• klare
• klaar-over

Related words

• claim
• English clear
• German klar

Usage notes

Kant en klaar “all ready” pairs the word with an older adjective kant “neat”, from kanten “to trim the edges”.^[15] Klaar is Kees is said with satisfaction when a job is done, and zo klaar als een klontje means “perfectly clear”.^[14][1] In the Netherlands the sense “clear, obvious” is now chiefly bookish; in the south it is still ordinary.^[1]

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 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
3. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
4. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
6. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
12. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
13. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
14. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
15. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme