schaats

Forms

schaats f (plural schaatsen, diminutive schaatsje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch schaetse (“stilt”), borrowed from Picard escache (“stilt”), the Picard form of Old French eschesse (13th century), earlier eschace (“crutch, wooden leg”) (1181–1190), modern French échasse (“stilt”).^[2][3][4][5] The French word goes back to Frankish *skakkja, belonging with a verb *skakan (“to walk jerkily”) that is related to schaken “to elope, abduct”.^[2][6] The Middle Dutch Dictionary compares Medieval Latin scacia (“wooden leg”) and schaic, glossed “leg”, and Old Saxon skakan (“to go away, pass”) and Old English sceacan (“to shake”).^[7][4]

The step from “stilt” to “skate” seemed hard to explain to De Vries, who considered a Frisian *skatja “long narrow piece of wood”, comparable to Old Norse skata (“skate (the fish)”), named after its long narrow tail.^[8] De Vries & De Tollenaere see no difficulty, since both are raised feet, and compare French patin, first a shoe with a raised sole and later a skate.^[6] Franck–Van Wijk thought the Zaan dialect form ⟨skees⟩ might point to a Germanic form with a long vowel, but Van Haeringen takes it as hypercorrect and finds that ⟨schetse⟩ in the Land van Hulst, like ⟨ketsen⟩ beside ⟨kaatsen⟩, supports the French loan.^[9][10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the byname of a Petrum Scache in 1281.^[2] As a common noun, scaets “stilt” is recorded around 1410, and in 1477 the Teuthonista glosses schaitze as a crutch, stilt or thick wooden sole; the Middle Dutch Dictionary gives the oldest sense as a wooden leg or crutch to lean on when walking.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “ice skate” is first recorded in 1567, as schaetze with the note that it is a Holland word.^[2][11][6] Kiliaan still gives three senses: “skate” in Frisian and Holland use, “stilt” in Flemish, and a carpenter's prop.^[9][8] The stilt sense lingered: in 1566 a man in Ghent walked on stilts so high that he could look in at the upper windows, and in 1606 de wereld gaat op schaatsen meant that everything in the world was going wrong.^[5] In the north it is now obsolete.^[5]

From 1599 the WNT has met schaetsen te rijden in a ban on skating.^[5] The skate itself is recorded from 1615.^[5][2] In 1657 a schaatse could also be a skater, and in 1714 a wooden snowshoe or ski.^[5] Before Dutch had a verb, people said Schaatzen Ryden (about 1750) or Schaatsryden (1776); the verb schaatsen is recorded from 1853.^[2] The phrase een scheve schaats rijden means to behave strangely or improperly.^[5][12][13]

English skate came from the Dutch word in the 1660s, as skeates: the Dutch singular was taken for a plural.^[14][15][8] Danish skøjte is from English or Dutch, and Indonesian has sekat;^[16][1] Afrikaans has skaats.^[16][1]

Timeline

• 1281 – The byname Scache is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1410 – Middle Dutch scaets “stilt” is recorded.^[2][7]
• 1477 – The Teuthonista has schaitze “crutch, stilt”.^[2]
• 1566 – The word still means “stilt”.^[5]
• 1567 – The sense “ice skate” is first recorded.^[2][11]
• 1599 – Met schaetsen rijden “to skate” is recorded.^[5]
• 1657 – The word is used of a skater.^[5]
• 1660s – English skate is borrowed from the Dutch word.^[14]
• 1714 – The word is used of a snowshoe or ski.^[5]
• 1853 – The verb schaatsen is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ice skate: a ground blade tied under the shoe, or a boot with the blade fixed to it.^[13][17][1]
2. (archaic) A stilt.^[1][5]

Word family

• klapschaats
• rolschaats
• schaatsen
• schaatsenrijden
• schaatssport
• sneeuwschaats
• kunstschaats

Related words

• English skate
• French échasse

Usage notes

Before schaats took over, Dutch had other words for a skate: Middle Dutch scolootse and scoverlinc, Kiliaan's schaverdijn, schuyverdijn, schoverlinck and schrickschoen, and in the north-east skeuvel.^[8][9][10] Schaverdijn is still Flemish, and schrikschoen is still used in South Brabant and Limburg dialects.^[9][10]

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 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. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 322
7. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
8. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
10. ^ a b c Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
11. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
12. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
13. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
16. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org