meisje

Forms

meisje n (plural meisjes)^[1] The older meisken was largely displaced by meisje in the northern Netherlands from the early 17th century.^[2] Flemish dialects keep meissen “girl, daughter, maid”.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Dutch meid + -je, a diminutive whose ⟨s⟩ is a relic of an older diminutive suffix.^[3][4] The Middle Dutch diminutives of the noun had several suffixes, with or without assimilation of its final consonant: Middle Dutch meisin, later weakened to ⟨meisen⟩, meitkijn, and forms with doubled suffixes such as meiskijn and ⟨meydsken⟩.^[3][5][6] When ⟨-tje⟩, with its variant ⟨-je⟩ after ⟨s⟩, became the standard diminutive suffix, ⟨meisje⟩ became the usual form.^[3] Holland already had ⟨meistgin⟩ in the 15th century.^[7][8]

The EWN rejects the idea that the ⟨s⟩ was inserted as a glide after velar consonants.^[3] The NEW and Van Haeringen, following an article by W. de Vries, trace the forms to suffixes ⟨-skijn⟩ and ⟨-sijn⟩ that first followed only velar consonants, so that the word would have been formed after jongske “little boy”.^[7][8] De Vries & De Tollenaere and Van Veen & Van der Sijs take the ⟨s⟩ to be affective.^[9][10] The base meid is itself a contraction of maagd.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Ghent text of 1236 already has knape of meicin “a serving boy or a maid”, with the diminutive meisin.^[3][5] Meiskijn is first found in West Flanders in 1285, in the observation that a newborn boy's first cry is a and a girl's e.^[5][3] The spelling meysjen appears in 1600.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal dates meisje from the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century.^[2] From the start it covered a female child, a marriageable young woman (1616) and a maidservant (1616, in the north only); later records add someone's daughters (1807), a sweetheart or fiancée (1782) and een meisje van plezier “a prostitute” (1784), like French fille de joie.^[2][11] Een meisje van drie kruisjes is a woman of thirty, the crosses standing for tens, perhaps after the marks cut on a cow's horns to show its age.^[12]

In Surinamese Dutch meisje is a familiar form of address for women of any age.^[13] The word went abroad as Sranan Tongo mèisye, Negerhollands meeschi and meisje, Skepi Dutch meski and Afrikaans meisie, which South African English took over; in German Meisje means a Dutch girl.^[14][1]

Timeline

• 1236 – Meicin “maid”, in Ghent.^[3][5]
• 1285 – Meiskijn “girl”, in West Flanders.^[5][3]
• 1343–1344 – Meytken “girl”.^[3]
• 15th century – The Holland form meistgin.^[7][8]
• 1600 – Meysjen is recorded.^[3]
• 1616 – Meisje for a young unmarried woman and for a maidservant.^[2]
• 1782 – Meisje “sweetheart”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A girl, a female child.^[11][15][1]
2. A young woman.^[11][15]
3. A girlfriend, someone's sweetheart.^[11][15][1]
4. A maid, a girl in domestic service.^[11][15]

Word family

• meis
• dienstmeisje
• schoolmeisje
• buurmeisje
• kamermeisje
• meisjesnaam
• meisjesachtig
• meisjesboek

Related words

• meid
• maagd
• jongen
• German Mädchen

Usage notes

Zaken gaan voor het meisje means that duty comes before pleasure.^[11] Meisje is neuter, like all diminutives: het meisje.^[1][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
7. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 245
10. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
11. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
12. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
13. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
14. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
15. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org