slaan

Forms

slaan^[1] Past sloeg, past participle geslagen.^[2] In Middle Dutch the principal parts were slaen, sloech, sloeghen, gheslaghen.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch slaen, inherited from Old Dutch slān, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *slahaną.^[1][3][4] The same verb is Old Saxon slahan (later Middle Low German slān), Old High German slahan (modern German schlagen, which took its ⟨g⟩ from the past participle), Old Frisian slā (modern West Frisian slaan), Old English slēan (modern English slay), Old Norse slá (modern Swedish slå) and Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan), all meaning “to strike, to kill” and the like.^[3][5][6]

The Etymologisch woordenboek calls its origin unknown, with no cognates outside Germanic unless Middle Irish slacc (“sword”) is one.^[3] Kroonen sees a word shared by Germanic and Celtic only, comparing slachta (“hit”) from *slak-to-, and suggests that the root was once imitative;^[4][5][7] De Vries adds Old Irish slacaim (“I strike”) and, with another final consonant, sligim (“I strike”).^[4][5][7] Franck–Van Wijk also wondered about a Sanskrit word for a spear.^[8]

In the infinitive and present the /h/ between vowels was lost in Dutch, while the /g/ of the past tense and participle comes from grammatical alternation.^[3] Analogy produced a participle gheslaen and an infinitive slaghen, which survives with its own sense in slagen “to succeed”.^[3] The nouns slag and slager show the same alternation, and slachten is also related.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, in Vuanda thana thu sluogi, “for him whom you struck”, in the sense “to strike, to beat”.^[3][9][10]

Semantic evolution

The original sense “to strike hard” is common Germanic and is still the centre of the Dutch verb.^[3] The derived sense “to kill” (by striking) is widespread too but has become obsolete in Dutch; it survives in slachten, slager and doodslag “manslaughter”.^[3] Old Dutch already used it for killing and for nailing to a cross, in the Reimbibel of 1151–1200.^[3][9] The verb's many derived and figurative senses are largely Middle Dutch already, so that no single line of development can be shown.^[3]

Middle Dutch used it more widely than today, also for hewing, stabbing and wounding, as in opening a vein for bloodletting or of a snake's bite.^[11][12] From 1254 it is used for ringing a bell, and in 1285 it meant to defeat an enemy.^[3][12] Later records add the beating heart (1548) and the striking clock (1600). From 1642 aan het … slaan means to start doing something.^[6] In West Flanders slaan could mean to succeed (1873).^[6]

De Vreese condemned the southern use of slaan for verslaan “to defeat (an army)” as a gallicism modelled on French battre.^[13] In Surinamese Dutch it also means to knock down with a vehicle and to earn money.^[2] The verb lives on in Afrikaans slaan and passed into Negerhollands as slaa or sla.^[1][14]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch sluogi “struck” is recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[3][9][10]
• 1151–1200 – The Reimbibel uses slan for killing and for nailing to the cross.^[3][9]
• 1220–1240 – Middle Dutch slaen is recorded, in a Lower Rhine text.^[12][15]
• 1254 – Doen slaen de clocke “have the bell rung”.^[3]
• 1285 – Sloeghen die romeine “defeated the Romans”.^[3][12]
• 1548 – It is used of the beating heart.^[6]
• 1600 – It is used of a clock striking the hour.^[6]
• 1642 – Aan 't schraapen … sloeghen “started scraping”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hit or strike with one or more quick movements: hij sloeg met zijn vuist op tafel.^[16][1]
2. In draughts and chess: to take a piece of the opponent.^[16][1]
3. To produce a sound by striking, as in alarm slaan “to raise the alarm”.^[16]
4. To work something by beating, as gold or cream: geslagen room is whipped cream.^[16]
5. To put something in a position or state by striking, as in iets aan gruzelementen slaan “to smash something to pieces”.^[16]
6. To make something by striking or swinging: een brug slaan “to build a bridge”, een kruis slaan “to make the sign of the cross”.^[16]
7. To beat or surpass a performance: dat slaat alle records.^[16][1]
8. To move or swing quickly and hard, as a door does.^[16]
9. To land suddenly in a position or state, as in tegen de grond slaan “to fall down”;^[16][1] aan het … slaan means to start doing something.^[16][1]
10. To make a sound by striking, as a clock does; of the heart, to pulse.^[16][1][6]

Word family

• beslaan
• kaalslaan
• slachten
• slag
• slagen
• gadeslaan
• aanslaan
• afslaan
• dichtslaan
• doodslaan
• doorslaan
• ineenslaan
• inslaan
• kapotslaan
• losslaan
• slager
• verslaan

Related words

• English slay
• German schlagen

Usage notes

Stoett explains een geslagen vijand “a sworn enemy” from the sense “full, complete” of geslagen, first said of time: een geslagen uur is a full hour.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
8. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
12. ^ a b c d 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
13. ^ Vreese, Willem de (1899), Gallicismen in het Zuidnederlandsch, Gent: Siffer
14. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
15. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 341
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
17. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme