maken

Forms

maken^[1] Dialectal strong past tense miek.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch maken, inherited from Old Dutch makon, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *makōn.^[3][1][4] The same verb is Old Saxon makōn, Old High German mahhōn (modern German machen), Old Frisian makia (modern West Frisian meitsje) and Old English macian (modern English make), all meaning “to make, build, create”.^[3][5][6] In the early stages it is found only in West Germanic, and Old Norse maka is a loan from Middle Low German.^[3][5][7]

It is probably derived from a Germanic root ⟨*mak-⟩ “fitting, suitable”, which is also behind gemak, mak and makker.^[3][1] Kroonen derives the verb from the adjective Proto-Germanic *maka- (“fit, suitable”), with an original sense “to match, put together”, and Franck and Van Wijk likewise started from “to join” and compared Old Irish mám (“yoke”).^[8][7]

The EWN connects the root with Ancient Greek μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), Old Church Slavonic мазати (mazati, “to smear”) and Breton meza (“to knead”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂eǵ- (“to smear”): the sense would have developed from daubing walls with clay in house-building, compare Latin māceria (“clay wall”).^[3][5][9][6] A trace of that sense survives in Icelandic maka (“to smear”).^[3][5] Van Haeringen defended the comparison with Greek words for kneading against Franck and Van Wijk, while Kroonen thinks “to match” the more likely first meaning, which makes these comparisons obsolete.^[10][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms Old Dutch makon means “to make”: stric macodon fuoti mina “they made a snare for my feet”.^[3][4] The Leiden Willeram of about 1100 also uses it for “to create”, “to cause” and “to make (someone) so”.^[4] The first Middle Dutch record is from the Lower Rhine area in 1201, of making a great fire.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the start Middle Dutch maken covered making, putting into a state, causing and repairing: a Ghent text of 1237 speaks of who caused (ghemaket) a wound, and there are wedwe maken “to make a widow” (1240), hi der nonnen makde sur har leuen “he made the nun's life bitter” (1265–70) and vanden houden kocghe te makene “for mending the wooden cog” (1284).^[3][11] It also meant to lay down laws or taxes, as in Ghent in 1237.^[11] The MNW suggests that the original sense may have been “to join, arrange”, and notes dat bedde maken “to make the bed”, then not only a maid's task.^[12] The WNT has the sense “to bequeath” (1785), now usually vermaken, and the billiards term een bal maken “to pocket a ball” (1839).^[2]

In the 1960s het maken “to make it, to succeed” was taken from American English.^[13][14] From the 1980s maken was used with abstract objects such as art, policy or theatre.^[15] In Jewish Dutch sjabbes maken and zich niets weten maken “to pretend not to know” follow Yiddish.^[16][17]

Danish, Norwegian and Swedish borrowed the verb from Dutch or Low German, and it is the source of French maquiller “to make up; to falsify”, so that maquilleren, borrowed from French, is a doublet of the Dutch verb.^[18][1] It also lives on in Negerhollands (maak, mak), Skepi Dutch and Javindo.^[18][1]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Stric macodon fuoti mina “they made a snare for my feet” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[3][19]
• c. 1100 – Makon “to create, to cause” in the Leiden Willeram.^[4]
• 1201 – Middle Dutch makete ein vur grot “made a great fire”, Lower Rhine area.^[11]
• 1237 – Ghemaket “caused”, of a wound, in Ghent.^[3]
• 1284 – Te makene “to mend”, of a ship.^[3][11]
• 1785 – Maken “to bequeath”.^[2]
• 1839 – Een bal maken at billiards.^[2]
• 1964 – Het maken “to succeed”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To repair, fix what is broken: Kun jij mijn fiets maken?^[20][1]
2. To make, create, produce: Ze maakt een tekening van het huis.^[20][1]
3. To put into a state or position, make so: Die muziek maakt me vrolijk.^[20][1]
4. Of amounts, to come to: Drie keer vier maakt twaalf.^[20][21]
5. (het maken) To succeed, make it.^[13][14]

Word family

• maker
• maaksel
• makelij
• maakbaar
• vermaken
• aanmaken
• afmaken
• klaarmaken
• meemaken
• opmaken
• uitmaken
• goedmaken
• namaken
• kleermaker

Related words

• doen
• gemak
• mak
• makker
• maquilleren
• English make
• German machen

Usage notes

Stoett explains iemand kunnen maken en breken as being far stronger than someone, and iemand voeten maken as chasing someone off.^[22] De Vreese condemned the Southern Dutch de gulden maakt honderd cent, after French faire, as a gallicism.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
4. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 238
7. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
10. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
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. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
13. ^ a b c Reinsma, R. (1975), Signalement van nieuwe woorden, Amsterdam: Elsevier
14. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
15. ^ Reinsma, R. (1984), Neologismen, Utrecht: Spectrum
16. ^ Beem, H. (1974), Uit Mokum en de mediene: Joodse woorden in Nederlandse omgeving, Assen: Van Gorcum
17. ^ Beem, H. (1975), Resten van een taal: woordenboekje van het Nederlandse Jiddisch, Assen: Van Gorcum
18. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
19. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
20. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
21. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
22. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
23. ^ Vreese, Willem de (1899), Gallicismen in het Zuidnederlandsch, Gent: Siffer