kot

Forms

kot n (plural kotten or koten, diminutive kotje n or kotteke n)^[1] Middle Dutch also had a feminine cote, in the east cate, still found in place names and in surnames such as ten Cate.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch cot, inherited from Old Dutch *kot, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kot, inherited from Proto-Germanic *kutą (“shed”).^[1][4][5] Beside it stood Middle Dutch cote, Old Dutch kota, which corresponds to Low German kate (“simple farmhouse”); the EWN gives the Germanic forms as *kuta- (neuter) and *kutō-.^[4][1] The same word is Middle Low German kot and kote, Middle High German kot, Alemannic German chotte, Old English cot (modern English cot) and Old Norse kot (“cottage, hut”), all for a small house or hut.^[4][5] Umlauted and ablauting forms are -kytja and Old English cyte, and Kroonen sets beside it Norwegian Nynorsk køyta (“hut of wickerwork”) and Middle High German kœtze (“basket”).^[4][5][6]

The further origin is uncertain, since no clear relatives exist outside Germanic.^[4][6] If the basket words belong here, the word first meant a hut of plaited branches.^[4][7] Others connect it with a root for bending or hollow spaces, and so with kuil.^[6][8] Kroonen finds it hard to separate from Finnish kota (“hut, house”) and Hungarian ház (“house”), from a Finno-Ugric source, and the EWN allows a common loan from a non-Indo-European substrate.^[5][4] Kuhn took it from the language of a subject pre-Germanic people and compared Lithuanian kūtis (“stall”) and Latin cūtis (“skin”).^[6]

Old French borrowed it as cote (“hut”), with cotin (“little hut”) recorded about 1150 and cotier (“small farmer”); an Old Norman derivative gave the English word cottage.^[9][4] Lithuanian kūtė (“stall”) came from Low German through Old Prussian.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in a place name: terram in Cota, 1038, a lost place near Aardenburg in Zeeland.^[9][4][10] Van Berkel and Samplonius cite an older Cathentol of 973, preserved in a copy of 1473.^[11] As a common noun it appears in 1181, for small, poor farmsteads.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch cot meant a hut or poor dwelling and a place for animals, as in duvekoten “dovecotes” (1290); hoerenkot “brothel” appears in 1494.^[4][2][12] In later Dutch it is a small or poor house, a shed for tools or fuel, a small farm (especially in Overijssel, as kate), a tavern or brothel (1509), a prison (1583) and a poky room (1787).^[3]

Most of these senses grew in the south out of “small, poor house”.^[4] Southern student slang used kot for a student's room, recorded in 1844, and Belgian Dutch now uses it for a rented student room.^[3][4][13] In the south uit zijn kot komen means to show oneself or to speak up.^[3] The word went into French dialects and, through Negerhollands kot “pen”, into Virgin Islands Creole.^[14][1]

Timeline

• 1038 – The place name Cota, near Aardenburg, is recorded.^[9][4][10]
• 1181 – Coten appears as a common noun, for small farmsteads.^[9]
• 1290 – Duvekoten “dovecotes” is recorded.^[4]
• 1494 – Hoerenkot “brothel” appears.^[4][12]
• 1583 – Coten are dark prison holes.^[3]
• 1844 – Kot is used for a student's room.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, poor house; a hovel.^[13][15][1]
2. A pen or hok for animals; a shed for storing tools or bicycles.^[13][15][1]
3. (colloquial) prison.^[13][3]
4. Part of a mill.^[13][12]
5. (Belgium) A rented student room.^[13][15][1]
6. (Belgium, colloquial) A brothel; a house spoken of with disdain.^[4][15][12]
7. (football) The goal.^[15]

Word family

• koten
• koter
• koterij
• hoerenkot
• duivenkot
• hondenkot

Related words

• katenspek
• keuter
• hut
• English cottage

Usage notes

In Brabant dialect a separate kot (plural kotter) means “hole, opening”; the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal calls it of unknown origin, and Debrabandere thinks it may be the same word.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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
5. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 207
8. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Berkel, Gerald van; Samplonius, Kees (2018), Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard, Utrecht: Spectrum
12. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
13. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
14. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
15. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
16. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks