kleed

Forms

kleed n (plural kleden or klederen, diminutive kleedje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch cleet, inherited from Old Dutch klēth, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *klaiþ, inherited from Proto-Germanic *klaiþa- (“cloth”).^[2][1][3][4] The same word is Middle Low German klēt, Middle High German kleit (modern German Kleid), Old Frisian klāth, Old English clāþ (modern English cloth), all meaning “garment, cloth” or the like.^[2][3] Old Norse klæði was probably borrowed from Old English, according to the EWN, Franck–Van Wijk and Kroonen;^{[2][5][3][6][7]} Van Haeringen thought of Frisian, and De Vries held that it may be native.^{[2][5][3][6][7]}

The origin is uncertain.^[8][5] The word is often derived from the root Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to stick”), as in klei, pointing to the clay once used in fulling, so that the first sense would have been “fulled cloth”.^[2][7][9] Kroonen finds the meaning of the compared verb Old English clīðan (“to stick”) hard to reconcile and leaves the origin open, but takes Icelandic klíð (“piece of woven fabric”) as certainly related.^[3][1] Franck–Van Wijk thought a root meaning “weave” more likely, though no good etymology offers itself, and the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal calls the form participial but of wholly uncertain origin.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Dutch Dictionary quotes texts of 1151, perhaps from Werden, in which John the Baptist's cleith “garment” was of camel's hair.^[4] Middle Dutch cleet “garment”, also cleit, is found from 1220–1240, when a man wraps a woman gently in his clothes, in sine cleider.^[2][11][12] In 1240 a Limburg glossary renders Latin toga with cleet, and in 1287 a West Flemish text strains a syrup dor i cleet “through a cloth”.^[12][2]

Semantic evolution

The basic meaning was a garment, and as in German Kleid Belgian Dutch has kept the old sense “dress”; from it Dutch developed the general sense “piece of cloth or other fabric used as a covering”.^[2] Middle Dutch already used it for table and bed linen, tapestry and hangings, and the pall laid over a coffin, and for an eye disease in which a film covers the eye, Latin pannus.^[13] At sea a kleed was anything that covered something else, as in dekkleed and schanskleed (Winschoten, 1681), and also one width of sailcloth in a sail (1697).^[10][14]

The old plural was kleder; because it was rare and often looked like the singular, new plurals klederen and kleden arose and long existed side by side.^[2] Today kleden is the plural of kleed, while kleren, from klederen with loss of the ⟨d⟩, keeps only the sense “clothes”.^[2] In Surinamese Dutch kleed still means a dress.^[15]

The word was borrowed into Danish as klæde and into Russian as kletnja “screen, cover hung on a ship”, and into Negerhollands as kleed and Papiamentu as klechi.^[16][1]

Timeline

• 1220–1240 – Middle Dutch cleet “garment” is first recorded.^[2][11]
• 1236 – Cleder are the clothes of the sick in a text from Ghent.^[2][12]
• 1240 – Cleet glosses Latin toga in Limburg.^[12]
• 1287 – Cleet means a cloth for straining.^[2][12]
• 1437 – The plural cleeren “clothes”, with loss of ⟨d⟩, is recorded.^[2]
• 1681 – Winschoten explains the sailors' use of kleed for any covering.^[14]
• 1697 – Kleed is one width of sailcloth.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A finished piece of fabric for covering something, especially a rug or a tablecloth.^[17][18][1]
2. (Belgium) A dress.^[17][18][1]
3. A formal garment, often long, worn on special occasions or by people of certain professions; a robe.^[18][1]
4. (formal) Clothing.^[18]
5. The covering of an animal, especially the plumage of a bird.^[18][1]

Word family

• kleden
• kleding
• kledij
• kleren
• kleermaker
• tafelkleed
• vloerkleed
• verenkleed
• altaarkleed
• baarkleed

Related words

• klei
• English cloth
• German Kleid

Usage notes

The plural is kleden;^[2][1] klederen is old-fashioned, and kleren is used only for clothes.^[2][1] In compounds kleer- has given way to kleding- in the Netherlands because of the curse prefix klere-.^[2]

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. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ a b Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 196
9. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
10. ^ a b c 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 Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
12. ^ a b c d e 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
13. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
14. ^ a b Winschoten, Wigardus à (1681), Seeman: behelsende een grondige uitlegging van de Neederlandse konst- en spreekwoorden, voor soo veel die uit de seevaart sijn ontleend, Leiden
15. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
16. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
18. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org