Etymologically
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moeder

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Pronunciation

Forms

moeder f (plural moeders or gemoederen, diminutive moedertje n, masculine vader)[1] The contracted form moer is recorded from 1615; the popular moeier is obsolete, and children say moe and moes.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch moeder, inherited from Old Dutch muoder, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mōder, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (“mother”).[3][1][4] The same word is Old Saxon mōdar, Old High German muoter (modern German Mutter), Old Frisian mōder (modern West Frisian moer), Old English mōdor (modern English mother) and Old Norse móðir.[3][4][5]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”), the source also of Latin māter (whence French mère), Ancient Greek μήτηρ (mḗtēr) and Lithuanian mótė, and of words for “mother” in Sanskrit, Old Irish, Old Church Slavonic, Armenian and Tocharian.[3][5][6] Like vader it is an Indo-European kinship term in ⟨*-ter-⟩.[3] The Indo-European stress on the root should have given a Germanic ⟨*mōþer-⟩, as broeder has ⟨þ⟩; the ⟨d⟩ is explained by analogy with the word for “father”.[3] Kroonen puts it the other way round: the stress moved to the suffix already in Proto-Germanic, after the word for “father”, as also happened in Sanskrit.[4]

The intervocalic ⟨d⟩ dropped from late Middle Dutch on, giving moer, and shortening gave the pet forms moe and ⟨moeke⟩.[3] Unlike broer beside ⟨broeder⟩, the contracted form did not replace the full one in the standard language, and survives only in derived senses: ⟨moer⟩ “nut (of a screw)”, ⟨moerstaal⟩ “mother tongue” and phrases such as ⟨naar zijn moer⟩ “broken”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch muoder first appears in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, in kindon muodir minro “to my mother's children”.[3][7][8] The first Middle Dutch record is from a Lower Rhine text of about 1201–1225: din muoter is uil siec “your mother is very ill”.[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Dutch the word was used figuratively, of the heavenly Jerusalem as the mother of the church and of the synagogue as mother of the early church.[7] Middle Dutch moeder also meant the womb (1285), as in baarmoeder, the Virgin Mary as Mother of God, and a woman at the head of an institution or household (1377–1378).[3][10] The devil's mother was proverbial: de duivel en zijn moer is recorded in 1612.[2] Daar helpt geen lievemoeder aan “no pleading will help” is found in the late medieval Proverbia communia as liefmoederen.[11]

Modern Dutch uses moeder also for something likened to a mother: Moeder Aarde, or a parent company, a moederbedrijf.[12][13] In Frisian the corresponding moer is a distant word beside the everyday mem.[3]

The word passed into Negerhollands (muder), Skepi Dutch and Sranan Tongo, where mudru once meant “mother” and now the leader of a singing and dancing group; the Danish idiom der hjælper ingen kæremor copies the Dutch one.[14][1]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch muoder in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[3][8]
  • c. 1100 – Figurative use for Jerusalem and the synagogue in the Leiden Willeram.[7]
  • c. 1201–1225 – Middle Dutch muoter in a Lower Rhine text.[3][9]
  • 1237 – Moeder in a Ghent charter, beside vader.[9][6]
  • 1285 – The sense “womb”.[3]
  • 1377–1378 – The head of a household or house.[3]
  • 1612 – De duivel en zijn moer.[2]
  • 1615 – The contracted form moer.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. mother, a woman who has given birth to or raised one or more children: Zijn moeder komt uit Gent.[12][13][1]
  2. A person or thing compared to a mother, as the source or origin of something; a parent company.[12][13][15]
  3. A woman who heads an institution, especially a convent.[12][13]
  4. A woman seen as the protector or figurehead of a group or movement.[13]

Word family

  • baarmoeder
  • grootmoeder
  • moe
  • moederkoek
  • moedervlek
  • moer
  • moesje
  • moederkoren
  • moedernaakt
  • aartsmoeder
  • draagmoeder
  • moedertaal
  • moederlijk
  • stiefmoeder

Usage notes

Zo moeder, zo dochter is “like mother, like daughter”.[12] In older Dutch moeder could also mean the dregs of wine or vinegar, a form of modder.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 l m n o 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 251
  7. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  8. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  12. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  13. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  14. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  15. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org