laden

Forms

laden (past tense laadde, past participle geladen)^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch laden, inherited from Old Dutch *ladan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hlaþan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hlaþaną.^[3][1] Old High German hladan (modern German laden), Old Norse hlaða and Gothic 𐌰𐍆𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌸𐌰𐌽 (afhlaþan, “to overload”) keep /þ/ without grammatical change, while Old Saxon hladan, Old English hladan (whence English lade) and Old Frisian generalised the /d/ that grammatical change gave the past plural and participle.^[3][4] Ablaut forms are Old Dutch hlōthu (“booty”), Middle High German luot (“load, crowd”) and hlōþ (“booty, band”).^[5][4]

Outside Germanic the verb is related to Lithuanian klóti (“to cover, spread”), Latvian klāt (“to spread”) and Russian клад (klad, “treasure”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to lay down, put”).^[3][1] The Germanic verb continues an extension *kleh₂-t-.^[3][1][5] Related Dutch words are lade and last.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch laden is first recorded in 1236, already figuratively, in a text saying that “we do not wish to burden them with anything else”.^[3][7] The literal sense follows in dit hout te ladene “to load this wood” (1286).^[3] A West Flemish text of 1285 tells how Joseph ordered his servant to load the brothers' sacks.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch used the verb for loading goods into ships, carts or onto pack animals, and also for heaping up money and goods.^[9] Loading a weapon is first recorded before 1423, in mit geladener armborst “with a loaded crossbow”.^[3] In 1502 an arrow is laid and geladen on a drawn bow, and geladen stucken “loaded guns” follow in 1599.^[3][7] The sense “to charge with electricity” appears in 1877.^[3] Laden also came to mean reading a file into a computer's memory, a sense Van Dale recognised in 1999.^[10]

The derivative lading meant the act of loading in Middle Dutch (1376–1389), and only later the cargo of a ship (1618), the charge of a gun (1625) and an electric charge (1885).^[3] Middle Dutch used last for the cargo itself.^[3]

Swedish ladda was borrowed from Dutch or Low German and passed on to Finnish ladata.^[11] Sranan Tongo lai and Negerhollands ladin also come from the Dutch verb.^[11][1]

Timeline

• 1236 – Middle Dutch laden “to burden” is first recorded.^[3][7]
• 1286 – Dit hout te ladene “to load this wood”.^[3]
• 1376–1389 – Ladinghe “loading” of a ship is recorded.^[3]
• before 1423 – A geladener armborst “loaded crossbow” is recorded.^[3]
• 1599 – Geladen stucken “loaded guns” is recorded.^[3][7]
• 1877 – The sense “to charge with electricity” is recorded.^[3]
• 1999 – Van Dale includes the computing sense.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To load: to put a cargo in or on a vehicle, ship or animal.^[12][1]
2. To place a load or burden on someone or something, also figuratively.^[12][2]
3. To load (a weapon), to put in what something needs to work.^[12][3]
4. (electricity) To charge.^[12][1]
5. (computing) To read software or data into a computer's memory.^[12][10]
6. (marketing) To make a new brand or message widely known.^[12]

Word family

• lading
• lader
• laadbak
• laadruimte
• laadpaal
• laadstation
• laadvermogen
• beladen
• geladen
• herladen
• inladen
• uitladen
• afladen
• opladen
• ontladen
• overladen
• verladen

Related words

• lade
• last

Usage notes

Laden was a strong verb, with Middle Dutch past tense loed, loeden (compare German lud). The past tense is now weak, laadde, but the participle keeps the strong form geladen.^[3][2]

An obsolete verb laden “to summon; to invite” has a separate source.^[5][2][1] It is Middle Dutch lāden, Old Dutch lathon “to call, summon; to invite” (about 1100, Egmond), from Proto-Germanic *laþōną, and is the same word as Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌸𐍉𐌽 (laþōn) and the German verb laden “to invite”.^[13][1][5] In Middle Dutch it was mostly eastern and took the strong forms of laden “to load”.^[9] From the 17th century it was used almost only in the passive, mainly in Utrecht and the east, and in the 19th century the Utrecht church council still spoke of being geladen to a meeting.^[2] Meringer derived it from a Germanic word for “board”, the stick sent round to call men to the assembly, which De Vries rejected.^[5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
4. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
5. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 219
7. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ a b c Reinsma, R. (1999), Neologismen, Den Haag: Sdu
11. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
12. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
13. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org