Etymology and origin of the Dutch word leer
leer1 leather
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- 1240 Middle Dutch (Limburg)
- Inherited from
- Proto-West Germanic *leþr via Middle Dutch, Old Dutch
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Germanic *leþrą
Pronunciation
- /leːr/[1]
Forms
leer n (uncountable, no diminutive)[1] The older, unsyncopated form leder is still recorded beside leer, as is the adjective lederen beside leren.[2][3]
Etymology
The word for leather is inherited from Middle Dutch leder, inherited from Old Dutch *lether, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *leþr, inherited from Proto-Germanic *leþrą.[1][3][4] The modern ⟨leer⟩ grew out of the older ⟨leder⟩ through the regular loss of /d/ between vowels; the short form is first found in the compound leertouwer “leather-dresser” in 1480.[3][1]
The same word is Old Saxon lethar, Old High German ledar (modern German Leder), Old Frisian lether, Old English leðer (modern English leather) and Old Norse leðr.[3][5][4] Outside Germanic it has a match only in Celtic: Old Irish lethar, Welsh lledr and Middle Breton lezr, all “leather”.[3][5] The EWN sets up Proto-Indo-European *letro- for both groups, leaves open whether one borrowed from the other, and calls the further origin unknown.[3] If Germanic took the word from Celtic, the base may be *pletro-, which would link it with Latin pellis (“skin”) and with vel.[3] Kroonen takes it as a Celtic loanword going back to *pl-tro-, and Wiktionary calls a borrowing from Proto-Celtic *(ɸ)letrom (“leather, hide”) possible.[4][1] Because the word is found only in Germanic and Celtic, De Vries considers a substrate language as its source, and the EWN does not rule this out.[5][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Middle Dutch leder is first recorded in 1240 in a Limburg text that glosses Latin corium “hide, leather”, beside ledermakere for coriarius “leather-worker”.[6][3][7] A West Flemish text of 1285 speaks of the old leather of shields eaten in a famine.[6]
Semantic evolution
In Middle Dutch the word named prepared hides; a Bruges ordinance of 1301 forbids members of a craft to take dressed leather (ghetauwet leder) out of the town, and another rule of the same year names cowhide leather.[6] The adjective leren “made of leather” appears as lederijn in 1367–1372, in lederne budel “leather purses”.[3]
From the 16th century the WNT records leer both as a material and as the leather fittings of an object, as in a red doublet trimmed with red leather (1528), and in bookbinding, where half leer and heel leer mean half and full leather bindings.[2] Uit andermans leer is het goed riemen snijden says that it is easy to be generous with someone else's goods.[8][2] Leer om leer “leather for leather”, meaning tit for tat, is found in a 16th-century Antwerp song-book, and a work of 1613 gives it as leder om leder, slaet ghy my, ick sla u weder.[9] Iemand achter het leer zitten, to keep after someone, is recorded in 1810 and is now obsolete.[2]
Dutch took the word overseas: Negerhollands has leër and leer, and Sranan Tongo leri, now mostly in lerbuba, where it means leather made from hides.[10][1] Afrikaans has leer.[1]
Timeline
- 1240 – Middle Dutch leder is first recorded, in Limburg.[6][7][3]
- 1301 – A Bruges ordinance mentions ghetauwet leder “dressed leather”.[6]
- 1367–1372 – The adjective lederijn “of leather” appears.[3]
- 1480 – The short form leer is first found, in leertouwer “leather-dresser”.[3]
- 1528 – Leer is used of the leather trimming of a garment.[2]
- 1613 – The saying leder om leder “tit for tat” is recorded.[9]
- 1810 – Iemand achter het leer zitten “to keep after someone” is recorded.[2]
Meanings
Noun
Word family
- leren2
- leerlooier
- leerlooien
- leertouwer
- leerbereider
- leerhandel
leer2 doctrine, teaching
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- 901–1000 Wachtendonck Psalms
- Inherited from
- Proto-West Germanic *laiʀu via Middle Dutch, Old Dutch
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Germanic *laizō
Pronunciation
- /leːr/[1]
Forms
leer f (plural leren, diminutive leertje n)[1]
Etymology
The word for doctrine is inherited from Middle Dutch lêre, inherited from Old Dutch lēra, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *laizō.[1][3] It is a noun from the same root as the verb leren1 “to teach”.[3][5][11]
The same word is Old Saxon lēra, Old High German lēra (modern German Lehre), Old Frisian lāre and Old English lār, the source of English lore.[3][5][11] Franck–Van Wijk take the verb Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (laisjan, “to teach”) and its cognates as a causative of 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍃 (lais, “I know”), whose root first meant “to track”, rather than as a derivative of the noun.[11]
Earliest recorded meaning
Old Dutch lēra appears in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, in biuēt the lēra “receives the teaching”.[3] Middle Dutch lere follows in a West Flemish text of 1285, in a warning against the teaching of the Pharisees.[3][6]
Semantic evolution
In Middle Dutch the word meant the teaching of a master or a school, as when a text of 1374 cites Aristotle's lere.[3] The WNT's quotations from 1609 on show the act of teaching, especially in religion, what a master teaches, the body of knowledge of a science or art (naer de leer der Medicijnen “according to medical science”, 1643), and the doctrine of a church or sect.[2] Van der Sijs dates the sense “doctrine” to 1569.[7]
Today the word mostly means either all that can be learnt about a subject, its theory, as in compounds such as klankleer “phonology” and voedingsleer “dietetics”, or a body of accepted rules, as in “the Reformed doctrine”.[3] In de leer zijn “to be an apprentice” is recorded from 1854.[3] Een leer omhelzen “to embrace a doctrine” is a loan translation of French embrasser une doctrine.[12] The proverb de natuur gaat boven de leer, “nature is stronger than teaching”, already had a Middle Dutch form vore leringe gaet nature.[9]
Danish and Norwegian lære and Swedish lära “doctrine” come from Dutch or Low German, and Negerhollands had leer “instruction”.[10][11]
Timeline
- 901–1000 – Old Dutch lēra “teaching” is recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[3]
- 1285 – Middle Dutch lere appears in West Flanders.[6][3]
- 1374 – Lere is used of Aristotle's teaching.[3]
- 1569 – The sense “doctrine” is first recorded.[7]
- 1609 – Leer is used of the act of religious teaching.[2]
- 1643 – De leer der Medicijnen “medical science” is recorded.[2]
- 1854 – In de leer zijn “to be apprenticed” is first recorded.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- A theory or body of rules forming a more or less closed whole, in a science or an art; also a field of learning.[8][1]
- Doctrine: the teaching or creed accepted by a religious community.[8][2][1]
Word family
- leerstelling
- leerstuk
- leerstellig
- dwaalleer
- geloofsleer
- zedenleer
- klankleer
- vormleer
- evolutieleer
- voedingsleer
Related words
Usage notes
A third word spelled leer, “ladder”, is used in Flemish, Brabant and Limburg dialects, and Van Dale still lists it.[13][14][8] It is contracted from Middle Dutch leedere by the loss of /d/; the WNT takes it as the same word as ladder and finds the form in both the southern and the northern Netherlands, while Debrabandere derives it from leiden “to lead”.[2][13][15]
Van leer trekken “to draw (the sword)” matches German vom Leder ziehen; there leer meant the scabbard.[12][16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y 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
- ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f g 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
- ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
- ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
- ^ a b c Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
- ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
- ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
- ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
- ^ a b Debrabandere, Frans (2005), Oost-Vlaams en Zeeuws-Vlaams etymologisch woordenboek, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
- ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks
- ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2011), Limburgs etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woorden uit beide Limburgen, Zwolle: Wbooks
- ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Leer.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/nl/leer. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.
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