leuk

Forms

leuk (comparative leuker, superlative leukst)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unclear.^[2] The word is usually connected with lauw “lukewarm”, but the EWN finds the relation between the two in sound and formation unexplained.^[2][3][4] Words with a long ⟨u⟩ in the neighbouring languages are probably related: Low German lūk (“lukewarm, flat, calm”), obsolete West Frisian lûk (“sly, clever”) and Middle English leuke (“lukewarm”), which survives in English lukewarm.^[2][5][6] Eastern Dutch dialect forms with the same vowel do not match the ⟨eu⟩ of the standard word regularly.^[2]

De Vries reconstructs the base as Proto-Germanic *hlū̆k(i)a-, a derivative of the root *ḱleu- that he also finds in that adjective and in lui “lazy”; he and Franck–Van Wijk compare Low German lȫks (“lazybones”).^[5][6] From the related Germanic words the EWN concludes that the first meaning was probably “lukewarm, half warm”, a sense Dutch records only rarely.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, from 1709, is the phrase zich leuk houden “to keep quiet”: Wy houden ons gelijk een Muis Tot nog toe zoo leuk, “so far we have kept as still as a mouse”.^[2][3][4] The sense “lukewarm” appears in 1810, in a remedy for cattle of rubbing the skin with leuk water en zout, lukewarm water and salt.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and especially the 19th century leuk meant “calm, unruffled”, often with a hint of mockery at the way things are, a sense that survives in doodleuk and leukweg “coolly, as if nothing were the matter”.^[2][3][1] Stoett explains zich leuk houden, to act as if one knows nothing, from the old sense “lukewarm”, and points to Bredero's leuckerlaauwe “lukewarm” of the early 17th century; in parts of North and South Holland leuk still meant “lukewarm” or “warm” in his time.^[7][3]

From the calm, dry humour of such a person came “funny, amusing”: leuk en vermakelijk is recorded in 1886, and in 1897 Koenen's dictionary has een leuke vent, a wag.^[2][8] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal still described this sense in 1915 as colloquial and typical of Holland.^[3] The modern senses “nice, pleasant” and “attractive, pretty” followed;^[2][9] Van Dale records the second in 1984.^[2][9] The EWN suggests that these meanings arose unpredictably in the speech of students or the young, as gaaf and onwijs did in the 20th century.^[2]

Timeline

• 1709 – Zich leuk houden “to keep still” is first recorded.^[2][3]
• 1810 – Leuk water “lukewarm water” in a remedy for cattle.^[2][3]
• 1838 – The adverb leukweg “coolly” appears.^[3]
• 1886 – Leuk en vermakelijk “funny and amusing”.^[2]
• 1898 – The current sense “funny, nice” is dated to this year.^[8][4]
• 1984 – Van Dale records leuk “attractive, pretty”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. funny, amusing, witty.^[10][9]
2. Attractive, pretty, good-looking.^[10][1]
3. nice, pleasant, enjoyable: een leuke avond, a pleasant evening.^[10][1]
4. (obsolete) Calm, unruffled.^[1][3]
5. (obsolete or regional) lukewarm.^[1][3]

Word family

• doodleuk
• leukweg
• leukjes
• leukerd
• leukheid
• opleuken

Related words

• lauw
• lui
• English lukewarm

Usage notes

Dat is allemaal leuk en aardig, maar … introduces an objection to what someone has said.^[10] A separate southern noun leuk meant the inspection of dykes and waterways; it survives in compounds and in geleuck (1558), which the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal and De Vries derive from an unattested verb *leuken “to look at”, compared with Old English lōcian “to look”.^[3][5] Another leuke, a hatch, belongs with luik.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
5. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
8. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
9. ^ a b c WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
10. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers