maar

Forms

maar^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch maer (also mare, mar, mer), shortened from nemaer, earlier neware, by contraction and the assimilation of /nw-/ to /m-/.^[2][3][4][5] This older form is from Middle Dutch ne (“not”) + ware (“were”): the negative particle (see nee) and the past subjunctive of zijn, so it first meant “were it not (that)”.^[2][3][5] The same formation is Old Saxon ni wāri “unless”, Old High German ni wāri (modern German nur “only”), Old Frisian ne wēre, nēre (modern West Frisian mar) and Old English ne wǣre.^[2][3][4] It is not related to English mere.^[1]

Old Saxon also had newan “unless, except that”, whose descendant Middle Low German man “but, only” developed in the same way.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the earliest records, from Limburg around 1200, maer (dat) means “were it not (that), except (that)”: a text says that a woman need not have complained, were it not that she feared for her soul, and another that someone could speak no language but Greek.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The clause with neware or maer first stated the real exception to a merely possible main clause, “it would have happened, were it not that…”; from there the word came to mean “except”, and then expressed contrast or restriction.^[2][7] By 1236 a Ghent rule uses nemar and mar for “but”, and the adverb “only” is found from 1220–40.^[2][5] The full and the short form stood side by side, sometimes in one sentence (1287); in Early Modern Dutch neware had become obsolete.^[2]

Used as a noun, maer “an objection” is the title of a 14th-century poem, and Dutch still speaks of mitsen en maren “ifs and buts”, with the verb maren “to keep raising objections”.^[7][8]

Dutch maar “but” was borrowed widely: into Frisian, Papiamentu (ma), Sranan Tongo (ma, formerly mara), Negerhollands (maer) and several varieties of Malay, and it lives on in Afrikaans maar.^[9][1]

Timeline

• 1200 – Middle Dutch maer “except, were it not that” is recorded in Limburg.^[2][5][6]
• 1220–40 – The adverb mer “only” is recorded.^[2]
• 1236 – Nemar and mar “but” in a Ghent rule for brothers and sisters.^[2][5]
• 1287 – Neware and mar stand in the same passage.^[2]
• c. 1350 – Van maer, the noun “objection” as the title of a Flemish poem.^[7]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. but, introducing a contrast or objection: Het is klein, maar gezellig.^[1][5][10]
2. But then, yet.^[1]

Adverb

1. only, just: Het kost maar een euro.^[1][2]
2. A softening particle, often with an imperative: Kom maar binnen.^[1]

Noun

1. An objection, a reservation, in mitsen en maren “ifs and buts”.^[8][7]

Word family

• maren

Related words

• nee
• zijn
• German nur

Usage notes

Several unrelated words were once spelled maar.^[11][3] In Groningen a maar is a canal or drainage ditch, Middle Dutch mare “water, pool”; it is compared with meer “lake” or traced to Gallo-Romance mara.^[12][3][13] Maar or mare “a night spirit, nightmare” is obsolete in the north but survives in Flemish and Brabant dialect, in nachtmerrie and in French cauchemar.^[11][14][9] The old word mare “news, rumour” was also written maar.^[11]

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 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
7. ^ a b c d Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
8. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
10. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b c 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
12. ^ Weijnen, A. A. (2003), Etymologisch dialectwoordenboek, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
13. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 237
14. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks