rijp

rijp¹ ripe

Pronunciation

• /rɛi̯p/^[1]

Forms

rijp (comparative rijper, superlative rijpst)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “ripe” is inherited from Middle Dutch ripe, inherited from Old Dutch rīp, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rīpī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *rīpi-.^[2][1][3] The same word is Old Saxon rīpi, Old High German rīfi (modern German reif), Old Frisian rīp and Old English rīpe (modern English ripe).^[2][3]

It probably first meant “fit to be picked or harvested”: the EWN, Franck–Van Wijk and the WNT connect it with Old English rīpan (“to reap”), rip (“harvest, sheaf”) and the Norwegian dialect verb ripa (“to pluck off”).^[2][4][5] Kroonen calls it a vṛddhi-gerundive to a verb *rīpan- (“to harvest”).^[3] Further back it is often linked with Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)reip- (“to tear”), the root of repel, but the EWN calls its further origin uncertain.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old Dutch the adjective first shows up in the derivative rīpitha “ripeness”, in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2] The adjective itself is recorded around 1100 in the Willeram, in thie bittera figon … thie riphon ande thie suozen, “the bitter figs, the ripe ones and the sweet ones”.^[2][7] In Middle Dutch, rip glosses Latin maturus in a Limburg text of about 1240.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used above all of fruit and crops: a West Flemish text of 1285 speaks of grapes that were all ripe at once, and West Flemish texts of 1287 use it of honey ready to be gathered, of brood ready to hatch and of an abscess about to burst.^[2][8] The WNT's early modern quotations have ripe rice (1602) and a ripe apple (1573).^[5]

The word was then extended to whatever has reached full growth and is ready for its purpose: a child ready to be born (1822) or a fish's eggs ready to be fertilised (1858).^[5] Today it is also said of people and situations that have reached a certain stage of development.^[9]

Dutch carried the word to the Caribbean: it was borrowed into Negerhollands as riep, rip and rib, into Papiamentu as reip and reipu “half-ripe”, and into Saramaccan as lépi “ripe, especially in knowledge”;^[10][1] Sranan Tongo lepi may come from Dutch or English.^[10][1]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Old Dutch riphon “ripe” (of figs) is recorded in the Willeram.^[2][7]
• c. 1240 – Middle Dutch rip glosses Latin maturus in Limburg.^[8][2]
• 1285 – A West Flemish text speaks of grapes die te hant al ripe waren, “that were all ripe at once”.^[2][8]
• 1287 – West Flemish texts use it of honey, brood and an abscess.^[8]
• 1573 – Een rijpen appel, “a ripe apple”.^[5]
• 1785 – The proverb vroeg ryp, vroeg rot is quoted with vroeg gras, vroeg hooi.^[5][11]
• 1822 – Used of a child in the womb, ready to be born.^[5]
• 1858 – Used of a fish's eggs ready to be fertilised.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. ripe: of fruit and crops, fully grown and ready to be picked, harvested or eaten.^[9][1][5] De pruimen zijn nog niet rijp.^[9][1][5]
2. Of other things and of people: having reached a certain stage of development, mature.^[9][5] Als de tijd rijp is, when the moment has come.^[9][5]
3. Of an abscess: ready to be lanced.^[9][8]

Word family

• rijpen
• rijpheid
• onrijp
• halfrijp
• overrijp
• vroegrijp

rijp² hoarfrost

Pronunciation

• /rɛi̯p/^[1]

Forms

rijp m (uncountable, no diminutive)^[1]

Etymology

The word for hoarfrost is inherited from Middle Dutch ripe, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hrīpō.^[2][1] The EWN reconstructs it as Proto-Germanic *hrīpan-, and the same word is Old Saxon hrīpo and Old High German hrīffo (modern German Reif).^[2][1]

Beside it stood a form with /m/ and the same meaning, *hrīman-, which gave Middle High German rīm, Old English hrīm (modern English rime), Old Norse hrím and Dutch rijm.^[2][3] Kroonen explains both forms from a single paradigm: a nominative Proto-Indo-European *kréip-mōn, in which the /m/ remained and absorbed the labial, and a genitive *krip-(m)n-ós, which lost the /m/; there Kluge's law turned the /pn/ into a geminate, later shortened after the long vowel.^[3][2]

Outside Germanic no word of similar meaning is surely related, so the further origin is unclear.^[2] A link with the verb *hreinan- (“to touch”), as if hoarfrost were “what can be wiped off”, is called far-fetched by the EWN.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch ripe “hoarfrost” is first recorded around 1240, in a glossary from Limburg.^[2][7][8] A proverb of 1400–1450 runs Soo wie vreest den ripe, op hem sal vallen die snee, “whoever fears the hoarfrost, the snow will fall on him”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Kiliaan (1599) gives rijpe as a Saxon, Rhineland, Frisian and Holland word, beside rijm, and the split he noted has lasted: the Netherlands say rijp, Belgium rijm.^[2][6][5] In the early modern quotations of the WNT hoarfrost is a danger to crops, named with beetles, lightning and caterpillars in a lease of 1571, and the white rime spread over fields and hedges.^[5]

By comparison the word was also used for the thin waxy bloom on plums and grapes (1869).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1240 – Middle Dutch ripe “hoarfrost” is recorded in a Limburg glossary.^[2][7]
• 1400–1450 – The proverb Soo wie vreest den ripe, op hem sal vallen die snee.^[2]
• 1571 – A lease names ryp among the things that may damage a crop.^[5]
• 1599 – Kiliaan labels rijpe Saxon, Rhineland, Frisian and Holland.^[2]
• 1650 – De witte rijp spreads over field and hedge.^[5]
• 1869 – Used for the waxy bloom on plums and grapes.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. hoarfrost, rime: a white coating of ice crystals on grass, branches and the like.^[9][1][5] Vanochtend lag er rijp op de weilanden.^[9][1][5]

Word family

• berijpt