komen

Forms

komen (past tense kwam, plural kwamen; past participle gekomen, with zijn)^[2][3] Middle Dutch often wrote commen, and kommen stayed in common use until the long vowel won out in the forms of more than one syllable, from about the second half of the 17th century.^[3][4] Flemish had a past tense without /w/, cam, camen, already in the Middle Ages.^[4][3] West Flemish kam and kamen were still recorded in the 19th century.^[3] A past participle komen without ge- survives in Groningen, the Zaan region and parts of the south.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch comen, inherited from Old Dutch kuman, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, inherited from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną.^[5][1] The same word is Old Saxon kuman, Old High German queman and koman (modern German kommen), Old Frisian kuma and koma, Old English cuman (modern English ⟨come⟩), Old Norse koma and Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman).^[5][6][7] The sequence ⟨kwe-⟩ regularly gave ⟨ko-⟩ in the separate Germanic dialects, as in Old Dutch quena (“woman”) beside Middle Dutch kone and Old Norse kona.^[5] Kroonen accordingly sets up a stem with alternating forms, ⟨*kweman-⟩ beside ⟨*kuman-⟩.^[6]

The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to come”).^[5] It is related to Latin veniō (“I come”), Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō, “I go”), Sanskrit गच्छति (gácchati, “goes”), Lithuanian gim̃ti and Tocharian A käm-, all with senses such as “to come, to go”.^[5][8][7] De Vries and Franck–Van Wijk put a synonymous root Proto-Indo-European *gʷā- beside it, seen in ἔβην (ébēn, “I went”).^[9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms: te thi alla fleisc cuman sal “to you all flesh shall come”, and ic quam an diopi seuues “I came into the depth of the sea”.^[5][10] Already in Old Dutch it meant to arrive at a point, seen from that point, and was used with samon for coming together.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Dutch already used the verb in phrases such as te niewihte kumon “to come to nothing, to vanish”.^[10] From Middle Dutch onward it took on its many uses with a person or a thing as subject: to reach a place or goal, to arrive at a state, to happen or result from something.^[4][3] Middle Dutch also used the infinitive as a noun, dat comen, “the coming, arrival”, from 1265.^[11] The noun komst goes back to Old Dutch cuomst (c. 1100), formed with a suffix ⟨*-ti-⟩ and an inserted /s/.^[5]

The proverb Die eerst komt, die eerst maalt “first come, first served” comes from the manorial mill, where whoever brought his grain first was served first; it is known since the Middle Ages.^[12][3] Ik kwam, zag en overwon renders Caesar's veni, vidi, vici.^[13]

By the 1980s komen had taken the sense “to reach orgasm”, a clipping of klaarkomen under the influence of English come.^[14][15] In Belgium the verb is also used as a copula, “to become”.^[1]

The verb lives on in the Dutch-based creoles: Negerhollands kom, Berbice Dutch kumu, Skepi Dutch kum, and Javindo kom “to go to someone”.^[16][1] Sranan Tongo kon comes from Dutch or English.^[16]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch cuman is recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[5][17][10]
• c. 1100 – The noun cuomst “coming” appears in the Willeram.^[5]
• 1236 – Middle Dutch comst “coming” is recorded.^[5]
• 1240 – The Middle Dutch verb comen is first recorded, in Limburg sermons.^[5]
• 1265 – The infinitive is used as a noun, dat comen “the coming”.^[11]
• 1572 – A weak past compde appears once, which the WNT puts down to poor Dutch.^[3]
• 1987 – komen “to have an orgasm” is recorded in a magazine.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come, to arrive at a place, point or position: Wanneer kom je bij ons eten?^[15][1]
2. To get into a state or situation, often by chance: Hoe ben je aan dat geld gekomen?^[15] daar kan ik in komen: I can understand that.^[15]
3. To appear, to approach: Het onweer komt deze kant op.^[15] komend jaar: next year.^[15]
4. To happen, to result from: Dat komt door de regen.^[1]
5. (Belgium) To become.^[1]
6. (informal) To reach orgasm, short for klaarkomen.^[15][1][14]

Word family

• komst
• toekomst
• herkomst
• aankomen
• afkomen
• bekomen
• bijkomen
• binnenkomen
• inkomen
• klaarkomen
• omkomen
• ontkomen
• opkomen
• overeenkomen
• uitkomen
• voorkomen
• volkomen
• laatkomer

Related words

• bekwaam
• English come
• German kommen

Usage notes

In Surinamese Dutch het gaat voor je komen means that something unpleasant awaits someone.^[2] Belgian Dutch knows iemand zien komen, to cheat someone, especially to overcharge them.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 204
9. ^ Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
11. ^ a b 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. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
14. ^ a b c Coster, Marc de (1999), Woordenboek van neologismen: 25 jaar taalaanwinsten, Amsterdam: Contact
15. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
16. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen