Etymologically
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pijn

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Pronunciation

Forms

pijn f (plural pijnen, diminutive pijntje n)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch pîne, inherited from Old Dutch pīna (“punishment; suffering”), borrowed from Late Latin pēna, a Christian term borrowed from the Church's word for punishment, especially the punishment of hell.[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is classical poena (“penalty”), itself from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “penalty, fine”).[2][3] The loan was shared with Old Saxon pīna, Old High German pīna (modern German Pein), Old Frisian pīne and Old English pīn; Old Norse pína came from Middle Low German.[3][5]

The long ⟨ī⟩ is the regular outcome of Latin ⟨ē⟩ in such early loans, as in krijt, spijs and zijde.[3][6][7] Later Middle Dutch pene, from the language of law, is a fresh borrowing of the same Latin word.[3][5][6] Because punishments were often corporal, the word came to mean bodily pain.[2]

Avestan kaēnā (“punishment, revenge”), Lithuanian káina (“price, value”) and Old Church Slavonic цѣна (cěna, “price”) are related to it; all come from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoi-nā, a derivative of the root *kʷei- (“to punish, pay”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Dutch word is recorded in the Werden fragments of about 1151, both as “punishment”, in a passage saying that the damned had no greater punishment than living in darkness, and as “suffering”, of the pain Christ bore for mankind.[4] In early Middle Dutch it meant “hard toil” (1201–1225, mit pine wart ic dar braht “with great effort I was brought there”), and a Ghent text of 1236 uses it for a penance.[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch pine covered punishment (sunder pine “unpunished”, 1240), the torments of hell (1265–1270), bodily pain and grief, and also misery and hard work;[2][8] pine van minnen was the pain of love (1270–1290).[2][8] It could mean a fine, as in a Dordrecht text of 1278, and the death penalty.[8][10] Kiliaan in 1599 still gave “punishment, bodily pain, misery, heavy labour”.[2]

In the language of the courts pijn was torture used to extract a confession: iemand ter pijne stellen was to put someone to the rack, and buiten pijn en banden bekennen “to confess without torture or chains”, once a legal formula, survives only in jest.[6] The phrase het is de pijne niet waard “it is not worth the trouble” keeps the sense “effort”.[10][5] The sense “punishment” has long been obsolete, and modern Dutch uses the word for physical and mental pain.[6][11]

The word passed into Negerhollands (pien, pin), Berbice Dutch (pin), Sranan Tongo (pen) and Aukan (pin), and Afrikaans has pyn.[12][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1151 – Old Dutch pīna “punishment; suffering” appears in the Werden fragments.[4]
  • 1201–1225 – Middle Dutch pine means “great effort”.[2]
  • 1236 – A Ghent text uses pine for a penance.[8][9]
  • 1240 – The Bernardus glossary has sunder pine “unpunished”.[2]
  • 1265–1270 – Der hellen pine “the torment of hell” is recorded.[2]
  • 1270–1290 – Pine van minnen “the pain of love” is recorded.[2]
  • 1349 – The verb pinen “to torture” is recorded.[2]
  • 1599 – Kiliaan defines pijne as punishment, pain, misery and hard work.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. pain, an unpleasant or unbearable bodily feeling: Na de val had hij pijn in zijn knie.[11][13][1]
  2. Mental suffering, grief, sorrow: de pijn van het afscheid.[11][13][1]

Word family

  • pijnigen
  • pijnlijk
  • pijnloos
  • pijnstiller
  • pijngrens
  • pijnbank
  • hellepijn
  • hoofdpijn
  • buikpijn
  • kiespijn
  • maagpijn
  • tandpijn
  • pijnboom
  • German Pein

Usage notes

Iemand pijn doen is to hurt someone, in body or feelings, and pijn in het haar hebben is to have a hangover.[11] A separate, rare noun pijn means “pine tree”: it is Middle Dutch pijn, from Latin pīnus (“pine”), and is found mainly in compounds such as pijnboom, first recorded around 1240 as pînbôm.[3][6][7] De Vries places that borrowing in the Lower Rhine area, from northern Gaul.[3] Van Dale and the ANW mark it as an old name for the pine, and poets also used it for a ship, after Latin usage.[11][13][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 g Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  5. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  6. ^ a b c d e f 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
  7. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 286
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  10. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  12. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  13. ^ a b c Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org