lezen

Forms

lezen^[1] It is a strong verb of the fifth class.^[2][3] A weak past tense is occasionally found in regional use.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch lesen, inherited from Old Dutch lesan (“to gather; to read”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lesan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *lesaną (“to gather, pick”).^[4][1][2] The same verb is Old Saxon lesan, Old High German lesan (modern German lesen), Old Frisian lesa (modern West Frisian lêze), Old English lesan (modern dialectal English lease (“to glean”)), Old Norse lesa and Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽 (lisan), all of which first meant “to gather”.^[4][5][6] Outside Germanic it is related to Lithuanian lèsti (“to peck up”) and lasýti (“to pick out”), from Proto-Indo-European *les- (“to gather, pick up”).^[4][5][1] Kroonen reconstructs an old athematic present.^[6]

The sense “to read” arose only in continental West Germanic (Old Saxon, Old High German and Dutch) and reached Old Norse from German.^[4][5] Most scholars explain it from Latin legō (“to gather; to read”), which had the same two meanings.^[4][7][8][9] Franck and Van Wijk point out that the sense appears in the lands under strong southern influence and was apparently missing before the Anglo-Saxons left the continent.^[8] De Vries explained it instead from the picking up of rune staves for divination that Tacitus describes, but the EWN rejects this: those staves were not runes, and the verb used for that practice in Old Germanic was raden, which only in Old English, rǣdan, came to mean “to read” (modern English read).^[5][4] Kroonen thinks the development went through “to examine, analyse”, not through picking up letters.^[6] For reading aloud Gothic used 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰𐌽 (siggwan, “to sing”).^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Old Dutch Willeram paraphrase of about 1100 the verb means “to gather”: thie liset her ze sich, “those he gathers to himself”, and the beloved goes into his garden to gather lilies.^[2][4][10] The sense “to read” appears in the Rhenish Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200: wir that lesen offonbarliche, “we read that plainly”.^[4][2] The Bernardus glossary of 1240 translates Latin legere with lesen.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch lesen meant “to gather, pick, choose”, and also “to read, read aloud, recite (prayers), teach, tell, study”.^[5][8][12] A widow goes out of the town to gather wood (1285), roses are picked (1287), and people read old tales (1265–1270).^[4][11] Charters begin with a formula addressed to all who will sien lesen of horen lesen, “see or hear read” this letter (Bruges 1267).^[11] Reading aloud was common because few could read, which the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal gives as the reason for the many senses of that kind.^[3]

The old sense survives in aren lezen “to glean ears of corn”, in uitgelezen “choice, select” and in bloemlezing, modelled on Latin florilegium.^[12][13] In the northern Netherlands “to gather” is now only poetic.^[3] Other senses are “to sort out, clean” (1617), iemand de les lezen “to lecture someone”, reading thoughts or a hand, and the intransitive het leest als een trein “it reads very easily”.^[3][14] Modern jargon speaks of the police “reading” seized weapons and of a golfer “reading” the course.^[15]

The verb was borrowed widely: Sranan Tongo leisi, Papiamentu lesa, Berbice Dutch lesi, Negerhollands lees, Javanese lis and several Malay varieties, and through Afrikaans lees into Xhosa.^[16][1]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Old Dutch lesan “to gather” in the Willeram paraphrase.^[2][4][10]
• 1151–1200 – The sense “to read” in the Rhenish Rhyme Bible.^[4][2]
• 1240 – The Bernardus glossary translates legere with lesen.^[11]
• 1267 – A Bruges charter is addressed to all who will see or hear it read.^[11]
• 1287 – Rosen lesen “to pick roses” is recorded.^[4]
• 1513 – A merchant looks at a letter and reads it.^[3]
• 1617 – The sense “to sort out, clean” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) to read: to take in the content of something written or printed: Hij leest elke ochtend de krant.^[14][17][1]
2. (transitive) to read aloud.^[14][3]
3. (transitive) to read, deduce from signs: iemands gedachten lezen, iemand de hand lezen.^[14]
4. (archaic) to gather, pick: aren lezen.^[14][3][1]
5. (transitive) to sort, pick out the bad ones from the good.^[14][3]
6. (intransitive) to read in a certain way: Dit boek leest makkelijk.^[14]

Word family

• lezer
• lezing
• leesbaar
• belezen
• bloemlezing
• uitlezen
• voorlezen
• herlezen
• aflezen
• doorlezen
• liplezen
• leesboek
• leesbril
• leesteken
• lezenaar
• ontlezing

Related words

• raden
• German lesen
• Latin legō

Usage notes

In West Flemish, Brabantish and Zeelandic dialects lezen also means “to pray”, a transfer from reading the Bible, the Mass or a prayer book aloud.^[18][19][20] Among the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam it also meant “to pray”.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 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 e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
8. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
10. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ a b c d e 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
12. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
13. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 225
14. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
15. ^ Reinsma, R. (1999), Neologismen, Den Haag: Sdu
16. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
18. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2002), West-Vlaams etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de West-Vlaamse woorden, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
19. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks
20. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2007), Zeeuws etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de Zeeuwse woorden, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
21. ^ Beem, H. (1974), Uit Mokum en de mediene: Joodse woorden in Nederlandse omgeving, Assen: Van Gorcum