Etymologically
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lopen

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈloːpə(n)/[1]

Forms

lopen[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch lopen, inherited from Old Dutch lōpan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hlaupan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”).[2][1][3] The same verb is Old Saxon hlōpan (“to run”), Old High German loufan (“to run”) (modern German laufen), Old Frisian hlāpa (“to run”) (modern West Frisian ljeppe (“to leap with a pole”)), Old English hlēapan (“to leap, run”) (modern English leap), Old Norse hlaupa (“to run, leap”) and Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌰𐌽 (ushlaupan, “to leap up”).[2][4][3] The noun loop belongs with it.[2]

Nothing outside Germanic is certainly related.[2][5] The Philippa dictionary and Kroonen compare Lithuanian klùpti (“to stumble”) and Latvian klupt (“to stumble, kneel”), but De Vries and the Philippa dictionary both find the gap in meaning between stumbling and running too wide for the comparison to be safe.[2][3][4] Kroonen explains the strong verb as made afresh from an iterative *hluppōną.[3]

The oldest meaning in Dutch, as in most Germanic languages, was probably “to run, to leap”.[2][6] Already in Middle Dutch the verb was mostly used without any thought of speed and shared many senses with gaan.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch loupon first appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century, in the line mendida also wrisil te louponi uueh “he rejoiced like a giant to run the way”.[2][8][9] About 1100 the Egmond Williram has louphen “to run” after the scent of “your ointments”.[2][8] In Middle Dutch a text from the Lower Rhine of 1220 says that a horse liep “ran” as its rider wished, and a Limburg word list of 1240 glosses Latin cursitare with lopen.[10][2]

Semantic evolution

From running the verb spread early to things that move: in 1264 a ditch loept “flows” along the north side of a field, and around 1265–1270 bitter tears ran from a woman's eyes.[2] The Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek notes that the Middle Dutch verb was already applied to abstract things and lifeless objects, such as a clock.[7] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal sets the fast sense, still the usual one in Brabant dialect, beside the ordinary sense “to walk”, and records sayings such as lopen als een haas “to run like a hare”.[6] In the Netherlands lopen has lost the idea of speed and means walking, with rennen for running; in Belgium the old contrast survives, so that Belgian gaan and lopen answer roughly to Netherlands lopen and rennen.[2][1]

In modern Dutch the verb also covers machines that work, time and business that go on, and roads that run in a direction.[11][12] Since about 1970 one can in de ziektewet lopen, live on sickness benefit.[13][11]

Dutch speakers took the verb abroad: Negerhollands had loop, lo and lu “to go”, Skepi Dutch in Guyana lop, and through Afrikaans loop it reached South African English as loop “to walk, go away”.[14][1]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch te louponi “to run” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[2][9]
  • c. 1100 – Louphen in the Egmond Williram.[2][8]
  • 1220 – Middle Dutch liep “ran”, of a horse, in a text from the Lower Rhine.[10]
  • 1240 – Lopen glosses Latin cursitare in a Limburg word list.[10][2]
  • 1264 – The verb is used of a ditch that flows.[2]
  • 1602 – A writer says that small children, as soon as they begin to walk, go to the water to learn to swim.[6]
  • 17th century – Bredero's warning loop niet in 't water, said to someone too taken with their own looks.[15]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (chiefly Netherlands) To walk, to go on foot: we liepen naar het station.[11][1]
  2. (chiefly Belgium) To run, to go fast on foot.[11][1]
  3. Of things: to move along, as a belt, a rope over a pulley, a train.[11]
  4. To flow, to stream; to drip or leak.[11][1]
  5. Of devices: to work, to be running.[11][1]
  6. Of time, contracts and business: to be in progress, to go on.[11][1]
  7. To stretch, to extend in a direction: het pad loopt langs de rivier.[11][1]
  8. To turn out, to develop: het liep anders dan gepland.[11][1]
  9. To be in a state, such as in de ziektewet lopen, to be on sickness benefit.[11][13]
  10. (with te) Forms a continuous aspect: hij loopt te zeuren, he keeps complaining.[1][12]
  11. (transitive) To attend, to follow: college lopen, to attend lectures.[11]

Word family

  • loop
  • loper
  • loops
  • geloop
  • loopbaan
  • loopgraaf
  • loopjongen
  • looppas
  • looprek
  • aflopen
  • verlopen
  • ontlopen
  • hardlopen
  • klaplopen

Usage notes

The imperative loop is used in curses meaning “go away!”, as in loop naar de duivel, and Bredero already has it; often it is weakened to “nonsense!”.[16] In Surinamese Dutch je mond loopt means that someone talks too much, a calque of Sranan Tongo.[17]

Another lopen, a neuter noun, was a dry measure for grain, salt and lime, also used of a land measure; it survives in dialects of north-western Brabant and Friesland.[4][6] Middle Dutch has it as lôpe, loop and lopin from 1351.[7][4] De Vries explains it as a diminutive of a noun meaning “basket”, as in lōp (“small wooden cask”), lēap (“basket”) and laupr (“basket”), while the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal calls its origin unknown.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 233
  6. ^ a b c d e 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
  7. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  8. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  10. ^ a b c 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
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  12. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  13. ^ a b Reinsma, R. (1975), Signalement van nieuwe woorden, Amsterdam: Elsevier
  14. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  15. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  16. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
  17. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho