pakken

Forms

pakken^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch packen, formed from Dutch pak + -en: a verb made from the noun pak “pack, bundle”, so that it first meant “to pack, to load”.^[2][3][4][1] The sense “to take hold of, grab” grew out of it only in the 16th century;^[2][4] Middle Dutch did not have it yet.^[2][4]

The same verb is Middle Low German packen, also ⟨pāken⟩, which passed into German packen in the 16th century, and Swedish packa belongs with it; West Frisian pakke (“to take, grip”) is a close relative.^[2][3][1] In the sense “to grab” the word is used all over the Dutch language area, though eastern dialects also have vatten and krijgen for it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first shows up inside a compound: pacgaren “packing twine” is part of a byname in pieter pacgarnes huus, “the house of Pieter Packing-twine”, recorded in 1295.^[2][5] The verb itself appears in a text of 1443–1451 about the men who used to load goods for Bruges.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the verb meant “to pack, to put up in bales” and “to load”, and the reflexive hem packen meant “to take oneself off”;^[6] Kiliaan glosses pact u van hier with Latin apage “be gone”.^[6] From the start of the 16th century it also meant “to take in hand”, as in laets die hem packen “let him take some (of the food)” in 1512.^[2] In West Flanders pakken came to mean “to steal”: a record from Kortrijk of 1555 says a young man left a house having ghepact something, and the dialect still uses it so.^[2][7] The Chronologisch woordenboek dates the sense “to grab” to 1660.^[8]

Packing one's belongings meant leaving, and so zijn biezen pakken “to pack one's rushes” became “to clear off”, recorded in 1726.^[9] In the 20th century pakken began to push out nemen: one pakt a beer or a train, which sounds brisker than nemen.^[10] In sports slang hij pakt means “he uses doping”, a sense Van Dale recorded in 1999.^[10]

Van der Sijs lists the word among Dutch loans in several languages: German packen “to grab” and Danish pakke and Swedish packa “to pack” came from Dutch or Low German, and Sranan Tongo has paka “to pack, grab” and Indonesian pakem “to grip”, of a brake.^[11]

Timeline

• 1295 – The compound pacgaren “packing twine” is recorded in a byname.^[2][5]
• 1443–1451 – Packen “to load” in a text about goods for Bruges.^[2][6]
• 1512 – The sense “to take in hand”.^[2]
• 1555 – Ghepact “stolen” in a record from Kortrijk.^[2][7]
• 1660 – The sense “to grab”.^[8]
• 1726 – Zijne biezen te pakken “to clear off”.^[9]
• 1999 – Van Dale records pakken “to use doping”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pack, put things into a box, bag or wrapping: Ze pakte de borden in kranten.^[12][1]
2. To fill a container with things: Heb je je tas al gepakt?^[12]
3. To move, impress someone: Dat liedje pakte haar.^[12]
4. To take something in order to use it: We pakken de bus naar het station.^[12][1]
5. To grab, take hold of.^[12][1][13]
6. To catch, arrest: De dief werd bij de grens gepakt.^[12][13]
7. To put at a disadvantage, cheat.^[12]
8. (Belgium, informal) To shock, affect deeply.^[12]
9. (intransitive) To get a grip, of a brake or glue: De remmen pakken niet.^[12]
10. (vulgar) To have sex with.^[1]

Word family

• pakhuis
• pakpapier
• pakkend
• pakkans
• inpakken
• aanpakken
• afpakken
• oppakken
• uitpakken
• verpakken
• vastpakken

Related words

• pak
• vatten
• English pack

Usage notes

Zijn biezen pakken “to clear off” and het te pakken hebben “to have a bad cold” or “to be madly in love” are fixed phrases.^[12][9]

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 Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 278
5. ^ a b 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 c d Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
7. ^ a b Debrabandere, Frans (2002), West-Vlaams etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de West-Vlaamse woorden, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
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 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
10. ^ a b c Reinsma, R. (1999), Neologismen, Den Haag: Sdu
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
13. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org