poot

poot¹ leg, paw

Pronunciation

• /poːt/^[1]

Forms

poot m (plural poten, diminutive pootje n)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the leg or paw is inherited from Middle Dutch pôte, also written poot and poet, whose origin is not fully clear.^[2][3][1] Within Germanic its only counterpart is Middle Low German pōte, the source of German Pfote, recorded in High German from the 16th century, and of Danish pote and Norwegian pote.^[2][4][1][5] Outside Germanic the same word appears with the same sense in Occitan pauta, Catalan pota, Galician pota and Old French pote, whose form ⟨powe⟩ gave Middle English powe, modern English paw.^[2][4][6] Van der Sijs counts the Dutch word, like the Romance ones, as borrowed from Vulgar Latin *pauta; the EWN leaves open whether Dutch and Middle Low German took it from Vulgar Latin or whether all these words come from a pre-Roman substrate language.^[2][7][8]

De Vries argued for the substrate: the word lives only in a western strip of the German-speaking area, from Lorraine and Luxembourg to the Rhine mouth, which points to an origin in the West, and Roman inscriptions from Arlon in southern Belgium name a family Pauto, Pauta, Pautina whose other names look pre-Celtic.^[4] Van Haeringen thought the geography of the word did not tell against an old loan from Romance.^[9] Franck–Van Wijk allowed a Germanic origin but found no satisfying Germanic etymology,^[6] and the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal took the word for Germanic and sound-imitative, of a family with poten and the English verb put, a view De Vries rejected.^[10][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the oldest Middle Dutch the word is used of animals: a Limburg text of 1276–1300 has the fox Reinaert get up op sine echterste tue poten “on his two hind legs”, and a West Flemish text of 1287 says that a wounded dog licks its own paw.^[11][2] It occurs as a surname, ian poet, in a list of Bruges craftsmen of 1281.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch used pote for animals less widely than Dutch does now and often said voet “foot” instead; the word could already mean a person's hand, as in a Holland text of 1432 in which a count puts his poot into an affair, that is, meddles in it.^[3][2] Kiliaan in 1599 gives both the animal's paw and the human hand.^[2][3]

In modern Dutch the word is the ordinary name for an animal's leg or foot, and in informal use a person's leg, foot or hand, and also a handshake, a person's handwriting or signature.^[12][10] The legs of furniture and other objects are poten too, as in stoelpoot and tafelpoot.^[12][1] Since the 1980s a branch or division of a company has also been called a poot.^[13] The clipped ruigpoot gave a separate word for a gay man (see poot²).^[2]

The Dutch word was borrowed into English as the now obsolete pote, for an animal's claw or its fur, and Papiamentu has duna pochi, a dog's “giving a paw”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1276–1300 – A Limburg text has Reinaert stand on his two hind poten.^[11]
• 1281 – Poet appears as a surname in Bruges.^[11]
• 1287 – A West Flemish text speaks of a dog licking its pot; the EWN and Van der Sijs date the word from here.^[2][7]
• 1432 – Poot is used of a man's hand, in a Holland text.^[3][2]
• 1573 – A dictionary glosses poot as the paw of a dog, cat or lion.^[10]
• 1599 – Kiliaan records poot, poote for both paw and hand.^[2]
• 1858 – A saying records that when the cat licks its paw, visitors will come.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leg or paw of an animal.^[12][1][10]
2. A print left by an animal's paw.^[12]
3. (informal) A person's leg or foot.^[12][1]
4. (informal) A person's hand; also a handshake, a person's handwriting or signature.^[12][1]
5. A leg of a piece of furniture or another object, on which it stands.^[12][1]
6. A downstroke of a written letter.^[12]
7. A branch or division of a company or organisation.^[13][14]

Word family

• koppoter
• hanenpoot
• ruigpoot
• potig
• achterpoot
• driepoot
• duizendpoot
• franjepoot
• geelpoothoornaar
• geelpootmeeuw
• groenpootruiter
• hazenpoot
• mankepoot
• miljoenpoot

poot² homosexual man

Pronunciation

• /poːt/^[1]

Forms

poot m (plural poten, diminutive pootje n)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a gay man is a clipping from Dutch ruigpoot, itself a compound of ruig “rough” and poot¹ “limb, hand”.^[2][1] Why ⟨ruigpoot⟩ should mean a homosexual is disputed.^[2] According to Joustra (1988) it described a man who, before sexual openness, used his hands in a public place to find out whether another man was “that way”, so that his were rough, improper, groping hands.^[2] According to Endt (1974) it refers to the gesture of tapping with one hand on the hairy, “rough” back of the other, which signals that a man is “of the little hand”, that is, gay.^[2][15]

Semantic evolution

The word is coarse and derogatory.^[1][12] Thieves' cant had van de poot zijn “to be gay”, and potenrammen means beating up gay men.^[15] Sranan Tongo borrowed the word as powt.^[5]

Timeline

• 1964 – Jan Cremer's Ik Jan Cremer speaks of twee jonge poten “two young queers”, as De Coster quotes it.^[15]
• 1970 – Ruigpoot and poot “gay man” are recorded, according to the EWN.^[2]
• 1974 – Van der Sijs dates poot “male homosexual” from here.^[7][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar, derogatory) A homosexual man.^[12][1][2]

Word family

• potenrammen