koek

Forms

koek m (plural koeken, diminutive koekje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch coeke, inherited from Old Dutch *kuoko, inherited from Proto-Germanic *kōkan-.^[2][1][3] The same word is Old Saxon kōkelīn (a diminutive; later Middle Low German kōke), Old High German kuohho (German Kuchen), the diminutive Old English cǣcel (“morsel, small cake”) and Old Frisian kōke (West Frisian koeke).^[2][3][4] In ablaut with it is ⟨*kakō-⟩, which gave Old Norse kaka and Swedish kaka, and by borrowing English cake and Dutch cake and kaakje.^[2][3][5] Finnish kakku was borrowed from the Germanic stem in ⟨*kak-⟩.^[2][4]

Further back the origin is unclear: the words are found only in Germanic, their root vowel varies unusually, and a pre-Germanic root ⟨*gVg-⟩ with two voiced stops would not be Indo-European.^[2][1] De Vries compares Norwegian dialect ⟨kōk⟩ and Swedish ⟨kōka⟩ “clod of earth”, so that the cake would be named for its lumpy shape, and also Lithuanian gúogė (“head of cabbage”).^[4][6][7] Some have thought of a Romance origin, but Franck–Van Wijk and De Vries take Picard couque, Occitan coco and Catalan coca to be from Germanic.^[5][4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears first in compounds: an Old Dutch byname pancoca for a pancake baker (1187) and Middle Dutch coukemakre “cake baker” (1284).^[2] A text of 1285 has mac mi een coekelkin “make me a little cake”, and a Flemish and Brabant text of about 1300 says that si en aten coken no broot, “they ate neither cakes nor bread”.^[2][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch also used coeke for a hard swelling in or on the body (1351) and for any small round object; in heraldry a banner of 1430 bears drie coken root, three red roundels.^[9] The WNT counts the baked food for eating, the sweet treat and the shaped piece as the original senses, and the rest as transferred ones.^[11] Koec in d'asse gebacken “cake baked in the ashes” is recorded in 1573, and boter op de koek, advantage or good fortune, by 1667.^[11] In de koek is op the word probably meant “money”, as Middle Dutch coecke could mean a coin.^[8]

Bredero has the mock oath o gants sacker koek en vijgen, a disguise of “God's holy five wounds”.^[12] In Jewish circles one wished je mond zal koek eten “may your prediction come true”.^[13]

The diminutive koekje was taken into American English as cookie, recorded in that sense by 1808.^[2][14][4] French dialects near the language border borrowed couque.^[4][15] The word lives on in Afrikaans koek, Negerhollands koeki, Berbice Dutch kuku, Sranan Tongo kuku and Papiamentu kuki.^[15][1]

Timeline

• 1187 – The Old Dutch byname pancoca “pancake baker” is recorded.^[2]
• 1284 – Coukemakre “cake baker” is recorded.^[2]
• 1285 – The diminutive coekelkin “little cake” is recorded.^[2]
• 1300 – The simple word coeke is recorded.^[10][9]
• 1430 – Coken are roundels on a coat of arms.^[9]
• 1573 – Koec in d'asse gebacken is recorded.^[11]
• 1667 – Boter op de koek “advantage” is recorded.^[11]
• 1808 – American English cookie, from koekje, is recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. cake: a sweet baked food made from dough, eggs, sugar and other ingredients.^[16][17][1]
2. A cake: one piece or loaf of it.^[16][17]
3. (Belgium) A soft sweet bun, often eaten at a Sunday breakfast; koffiekoek.^[17]
4. A pressed or cut tablet of finely divided or kneadable material.^[16][17]
5. A more or less flat, clotted or caked mass.^[16][17][1]
6. (heraldry) A roundel.^[1][9]

Word family

• pannenkoek
• peperkoek
• ontbijtkoek
• moederkoek
• kletskoek
• lariekoek
• lulkoek
• boterkoek
• billenkoek
• koeken
• koffiekoek
• koekenbakker

Related words

• cake
• kaakje
• German Kuchen

Usage notes

Dat is andere koek means “that is something quite different”, and het is koek en ei that two people get on well.^[16] Iets voor zoete koek slikken is to accept something without question.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 202
7. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
9. ^ a b c d e Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; 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 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
12. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
13. ^ Beem, H. (1974), Uit Mokum en de mediene: Joodse woorden in Nederlandse omgeving, Assen: Van Gorcum
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
16. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
17. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
18. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho