scheppen

scheppen¹ create

Etymology tree of scheppen¹

inherited borrowed derived

Proto-West Germanic *skappjan

Dutch scheppen

German schaffen

Pronunciation

• /ˈsxɛ.pə(n)/^[4]

Forms

scheppen^[4] Strong verb: past tense schiep, past participle geschapen;^[3] Middle Dutch also had weak forms such as schaepte, gheschaept.^[3]

Etymology

The word for “create” is inherited from Middle Dutch scheppen, inherited from Old Dutch skeppen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skapjan- (“to make, create”).^[3][4][5] The Germanic verb was strong, of the sixth class, with past stems that give modern ⟨schiep⟩ and ⟨geschapen⟩, so that the ⟨j⟩ stood only in the present tense.^[3] The same verb is Old Saxon skeppian, Old High German scephen (modern German schöpfen, now obsolete in this sense but kept in Schöpfung (“creation”)), Old Frisian skeppa, Old English scieppan, Old Norse skepja and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌺𐌰𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaskapjan), all meaning “to make, create”.^[3][6][7] English shape belongs with them.^[4]

Mixed forms arose by analogy: Old High German scaffōn (“to arrange, order”) (modern schaffen), and in Middle Dutch the weak schaepte, gheschaept, already in the Old Dutch participle gescaphat of about 1100.^[3] Dutch schaffen continues the same Germanic verb.^[4]

Its further origin is very uncertain.^[3] Because words for “make” sometimes come from woodworking, the EWN suggests it may belong to the root of schaven “to plane”, and Franck–Van Wijk derive “make” from “carve with a chisel”.^[3][2] Kroonen tentatively follows Lehmann in deriving it from the iterative Proto-Germanic *skappōną (“to scrape”), though the shift from “hollow out” to “form” is not evident.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The EWN's first record is the Old Dutch weak participle gescaphat, in the Willeram paraphrase of about 1100.^[3] The Old Dutch Dictionary quotes texts of 1151, perhaps from Werden, in which God had created alle thinc “all things” in six days.^[5] In Middle Dutch the verb is first found in a Limburg glossary of 1240, where it glosses Latin creare and formare: it meant both making things and God's creating from nothing.^[8][3][9]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch used scheppen for making things as well as for divine creation, and also for giving a thing its shape; the participle with an adverb described how a thing or a person was formed, as in a text of 1260 from East Flanders praising a well-shaped maiden.^[8] In the cloth trade of Bruges in 1284 it meant to cut cloth, especially for hose, and an ordinance of 1550 still forbids tailors to scheppen, snyden, naeyen “cut, cut out, sew” clothes; this use is now obsolete.^[8][10] A phrase het is so ghescapen “matters stand thus” is found from 1265.^[8]

In 1634 a writer defines true creating as God calling something out of nothing, and the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal records this narrower sense and the transferred use of the artist and the imagination.^[10] In elevated style it also came to mean “to cause, bring about”, and in 1642 it rendered Latin creare in the sense “elect, appoint (magistrates)”.^[10] Moortgat noted in 1925 that Dutch uses the verb almost only in a favourable sense, so that phrases copied from German schöpfen, such as “to create a contrast”, are germanisms.^[11]

The derivative schepsel “creature” is found from 1477.^[3] The verb went to Afrikaans as skep and to Negerhollands as skaep (“to create”).^[4][12]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Old Dutch participle gescaphat appears in the Willeram paraphrase.^[3]
• 1151 – Texts in the Old Dutch Dictionary say that God created all things in six days.^[5]
• 1240 – Middle Dutch scheppen glosses Latin creare and formare in Limburg.^[8][9]
• 1284 – In Bruges the verb is used for cutting cloth for hose.^[8]
• 1477 – The derivative schepsel “creature” is recorded.^[3]
• 1550 – An ordinance forbids tailors to scheppen clothes.^[10]
• 1642 – Scheppen renders Latin creare “to appoint (magistrates)”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To create, bring into being out of nothing, said especially of God.^[13][10][4]
2. To create as an artist or thinker does; to make something new and original.^[10]
3. (formal) To bring about, cause, give rise to.^[10]
4. Geld scheppen: to increase the money supply, by printing notes or granting loans.^[13]

Word family

• schepper
• schepping
• schepsel
• herscheppen
• wanschapen

scheppen² scoop

Pronunciation

• /ˈsxɛ.pə(n)/^[4]

Forms

scheppen^[4] Now a weak verb: past tense schepte, past participle geschept; formerly often strong, under the influence of the verb for “create”.^[10]

Etymology

The word for “scoop” is inherited from Middle Dutch scheppen, inherited from Old Dutch skeppen, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skapjan- (“to draw with a hollow vessel”), a weak verb formed to the noun *skapa- (“vessel, hollow object”).^[3][7][2] The same verb is Old Saxon skeppian (Middle Low German scheppen) and Old High German scepfen (modern German schöpfen (“to scoop, draw”)).^[3] Van Haeringen notes that no past tense of the Old Saxon verb is recorded, so its weak inflection there is not certain.^[14]

The noun survives in Old High German skaf (“vessel; corn measure”) and Old Norse skapker (“vessel from which beer cups were filled”), and the EWN connects it with Dutch schap.^[3][7] The verb is probably related to schoep and schop, and in the sense “hollowed-out object” it may belong to the root of schaven in the sense “to hollow out”.^[3] Wiktionary instead explains the modern verb as formed from the noun schep with the infinitive ending, while the EWN takes ⟨schep⟩ as a later derivative of the verb.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Old Dutch, in the Willeram paraphrase of about 1100 from Egmond: thar uz man thaz wazzar mit arbeyde schephet “from which one draws the water with toil”.^[3][5][9] Middle Dutch has Daer schip si in “from there she drew” in 1265–1270 and the imperative Schept “draw (it out)!” in 1291–1300.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the verb meant to draw water and, figuratively, to draw or take something in; a West Flemish text of 1287 says the wild ass takes water into its nostrils.^[8] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal describes the core sense as lifting liquid, grain or a soft mass with a hollow or flat tool, and records special uses: taking a share of a sack of grain as miller's toll or tax (1566), lifting pulp with the mould in paper-making, whence geschept papier “hand-made paper” (1922), and shovelling snow away (1819).^[10] From the throwing movement came “to fling up, raise (dust)” (1896), and in a fight “to catch on the neck and throw over one's back” (1909).^[10] In the south geld scheppen meant to earn a great deal of money (1907).^[10]

The noun schep followed: Middle Dutch sceppen “shovels” (1300–1350), scheppe “scoop” (1477), schep “scoopful” (1566) and the diminutive schepje as a small measure (1782).^[3] Today the verb also says that a vehicle hits a pedestrian and throws them up.^[13][4]

The verb was borrowed as English skip (“to transfer sugar in refining”), into South African English as skep “to ladle” via Afrikaans, and into Sranan Tongo as skepi (“to scoop”).^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Old Dutch schephet “draws (water)” appears in the Willeram paraphrase.^[3][9]
• 1265–1270 – Middle Dutch schip “drew” is recorded.^[3]
• 1291–1300 – The imperative Schept is recorded.^[3][8]
• 1566 – Schep “scoopful” is recorded, and the verb is used of taking toll grain from a sack.^[3][10]
• 1613 – Children are described scooping water with their hands.^[10]
• 1907 – Geld scheppen “to make a lot of money” is recorded in the south.^[10]
• 1922 – Geschept papier “hand-made paper” is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To scoop, ladle or shovel up a liquid or loose material, or move it away so.^[13][10][4]
2. Water scheppen: of a vessel, to dip so deep into the waves that water comes over the side.^[13]
3. Of a vehicle, to hit someone and throw them up into the air.^[13][4]

Word family

• schep
• opscheppen
• schepijs
• scheplepel
• schepnet
• onderscheppen
• putjesschepper
• schepbord