leren

leren¹ to learn, to teach

Pronunciation

• /ˈleːrə(n)/^[1]

Forms

leren^[1] The older spelling is leeren.^[1][2]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle Dutch lêren, inherited from Old Dutch lēren (“to teach”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną (“to teach”).^[3][1][4] The same verb is Old Saxon lērian, Old High German lēren (modern German lehren), Old Frisian lēra, Old English lǣran and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (laisjan), all meaning “to make know”, while Old Norse læra was borrowed from Old English or Middle Low German.^[3][5][6]

It has the form of a causative, with the ⟨o⟩-grade of the root and the suffix ⟨*-jan-⟩, and with grammatical change of ⟨s⟩ to ⟨r⟩ in West and North Germanic.^[3][7] The verb it was made from survives only in Gothic, in the preterite-present 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍃 (lais, “I know”) and in the second part of 𐌻𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lubjaleis, “skilled in poisons”).^[3][5][2] For the sense “to acquire knowledge” West Germanic formed a new present stem ⟨*liz-nō-⟩, which gave Middle Low German lernen, lernēn (modern lernen), lirnia and leornian (modern English learn).^[3][5] Its Middle Dutch counterpart ⟨leernen⟩ is found only once, and ⟨leren⟩ took over its sense.^[5][2]

No related verbs are known outside Germanic.^[3] The usual view derives the base from a noun “track, furrow” (see leest), with a development from “to make follow a track” to “to make know”.^[3][5][7] Van Veen and Van der Sijs compare Latin līra (“ridge thrown up by the plough”) and Lithuanian lysė (“garden bed”).^[7] Benveniste (1947) found no trace of such a development in the old Germanic languages and denied the link; if he is right, the verb was probably derived from the noun leer “teaching”, which is usually taken as derived from the verb.^[3] Kroonen takes it as the causative of *lisan-, but the EWN sees no link with lezen.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century have Got thu lerdos mi fan iuginde minro, “God, you have taught me from my youth”.^[4][3][8] In Middle Dutch a Limburg glossary of 1240 glosses with leren both Latin rudire and magistrare “to teach” and discere “to learn”.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Old Dutch records the verb means “to teach”: the Rhyming Bible fragments from Werden say that the apostles went out and taught about God.^[4] The WNT finds the oldest sense to be “to make know”, of which “to teach” is a special case.^[2] Middle Dutch also had “to learn”, as in dat walsch te leerne, “to learn French” (1265–1270), and “to tell”, as in a story dat ic v sal leeren, “that I shall tell you”.^[3][9]

The proverb al doende leert men, “one learns by doing”, is found from the 16th century, in Servilius.^[10][11] In Jewish use leren is to study the Torah and the Talmud, after Yiddish lernen.^[12][13] In Surinamese Dutch it also means to teach, to be a teacher, a use that is obsolete in the standard language.^[14]

Danish and Norwegian lære and Swedish lära may come from Dutch or Low German.^[15] The verb was also taken into Negerhollands (leer), Berbice Dutch (lere) and Sranan (leri, also “school subject”), and into Saramaccan (léi).^[15][1] Afrikaans has leer.^[1]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch lerdos “you taught” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[4][8]
• c. 1100 – Lerda “taught” in the Egmond Williram.^[4]
• 1240 – Middle Dutch leren glosses Latin discere and magistrare.^[9][3]
• 1265–1270 – Dat walsch te leerne “to learn French”.^[3]
• 16th century – Servilius records al doende leertmen.^[10]
• 1595 – Dogs ter Jacht geleert “trained for hunting”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To learn, to acquire knowledge or a skill: mijn zus leert Spaans.^[11][1]
2. To teach: opa heeft ons leren vissen.^[11][1]
3. Uit het hoofd leren: to learn by heart.^[11]
4. (Judaism) To study the Torah and the Talmud.^[12]

Word family

• leraar
• lerares
• leerling
• lering
• geleerd
• aanleren
• afleren
• verleren
• bijleren
• leerkracht
• leerplicht
• leerjaar
• leergeld

leren² leathern

Pronunciation

• /ˈleːrə(n)/^[1]

Forms

leren (not comparable)^[1] The fuller form is lederen, now somewhat archaic.^[1][2]

Etymology

The adjective “leathern” is from Dutch leer + -en, the contracted form of lederen.^[1][3] Middle Dutch had lederijn, also ⟨lederen⟩ and already ⟨leren⟩, formed with the suffix of material adjectives on ⟨leder⟩, the older form of the noun, which later lost its ⟨d⟩ between vowels.^[3][16] The suffix, Middle Dutch ⟨-ijn⟩, goes back to Proto-Germanic *-īn- and is still productive.^[3] The same adjective is Middle Low German liderîn, Old High German lidirîn (modern German ledern) and Old English liðerin (modern English leathern).^[2][16]

The noun leer goes back to *leþrą, related to Old Irish lethar and Welsh lledr, from Proto-Indo-European *letro-.^[3] Its further origin is unknown, and the Germanic and Celtic words may have been borrowed one from the other.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The EWN's first record is lederne budel “leather purses” (1367–1372).^[3] The Middle Dutch dictionary quotes a Flemish account in which the aldermen have 100 leederine eemers, a hundred leather buckets, made for use at fires.^[16] The contracted form appears in leren wamboysen “leather doublets” (1452–1501).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Kiliaan gives both lederen and leren.^[16] The WNT quotes a leeren Wambas and leeren Broek in 1600, a leather fire bucket in 1644 and a roomy leather armchair in 1837.^[2] Figuratively the adjective can mean “dry like leather”.^[2] Today leren is the usual form, and lederen sounds old-fashioned.^[1]

Timeline

• 1367–1372 – Lederne budel “leather purses”.^[3]
• 1378 – Leederine eemers “leather buckets”.^[3]
• 1452–1501 – The contracted leren wamboysen.^[3]
• 1600 – Een leeren Wambas.^[2]
• 1644 – Een leeren brandemmer “a leather fire bucket”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of leather, leathern: hij droeg een zwarte leren jas.^[11][1]
2. (figurative) leathery, dry like leather.^[2]