snaar

Forms

snaar f (plural snaren, diminutive snaartje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch snaer (also ⟨snare⟩), inherited from Old Dutch snara, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *snarhōn-.^[2][1][3] The same word is Middle Low German snāre, Old High German snaraha and Old Norse snara (“noose, loop”) (Swedish snara), from which come Old English snearu (“snare”) and English snare.^[2][4][5] Old Saxon snāri “strings” has a long vowel, like the Roermond dialect form.^[4][6]

The EWN derives the noun from the strong verb Proto-Germanic *snerhan- “to twist, bind”, seen in Old High German snerhan (“to bind together”); the weak verb ⟨*snarhijan-⟩ “to ensnare” survives in Swedish snärja.^[2][4][7] It considers ablaut with the words for “sinew” under nerveus, from Proto-Indo-European *sneh₁ur-, as another possibility.^[2] De Vries traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *(s)nerk- (“to twist, contract”).^[4] Franck–Van Wijk connected it with naaien and, by ablaut, with snoer, a link De Vries finds much less likely.^[6][4][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a Latin text of 951–1000 that names the lyre, Old Dutch snarin glosses fidibus “(with) strings”.^[3][2] In Middle Dutch a Brabant text of 1265–70 says that sweet strings sounded many melodies (Oc ludden daer met suten snaren Die mengerhande melodien), and a text of 1270–90 compares life to a fiddler trying whether his strings agree.^[2][9][10]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant above all the string of a musical instrument, though Middle Dutch also used it for a cord.^[11][3] A Brabant text of 1340 speaks of a sound “like stretched strings”, and the diminutive snaerkijn appears in 1440 in a story of how Mercury found the lyre on a dried shell.^[11]

Figurative uses followed in Early Modern Dutch: de snaren stellen, to tune the strings, came to mean to make preparations (1652), and er is een snaar ontsteld (1726) that something is wrong.^[8] By 1735 one could touch the right string in a person, and de snaren der ziel “the strings of the soul” are recorded in 1868.^[8] Een gevoelige snaar raken, to touch a sensitive spot, translates French toucher la corde sensible.^[12] Later the word was used for the strings of a tennis racket, for driving cords, and in physics for a string.^[13][1]

In Brabant dialect snaar became the handle of a flail or a scythe, probably from the cord that tied the flail to its handle.^[14][15] Indonesian senar “string of an instrument or racket” comes from Dutch.^[16][1]

Timeline

• 951–1000 – Old Dutch snarin “strings” is recorded as a gloss.^[3][2]
• 1265–70 – Middle Dutch snaren sound melodies in a Brabant text.^[2][9][10]
• 1340 – Alse gespannen snaren “like stretched strings” is recorded.^[11]
• 1440 – The diminutive snaerkijn is recorded.^[11]
• 1612 – Boys play op de Rommelpot en Snaer.^[8]
• 1652 – De snaren stellen “to make preparations” is recorded.^[8]
• 1726 – Daar is een snaar ontstelt “something is wrong” is recorded.^[8]
• 1868 – De snaren der ziel is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A string of gut, metal or plastic on a musical instrument.^[13][1][8]
2. A string of a tennis racket.^[13]
3. A cord or band that drives a wheel, pulley or shaft.^[13]
4. (physics) A string, as in string theory.^[1]

Word family

• snarig
• snaarinstrument
• snaartheorie
• pianosnaar
• vioolsnaar
• darmsnaar
• snarenspel

Related words

• snoer
• English snare

Usage notes

A second Middle Dutch snare, “daughter-in-law” and “sister-in-law”, is first recorded in a West Flemish text of 1285.^[9][10] It is a by-form of snoere and is related to nurus (“daughter-in-law”), but its aa instead of the expected oo has never been explained;^[9][4][7][8] De Vries thought of a change of sound in an affective word, perhaps under the taboos that surrounded relatives by marriage.^[9][4][7][8] The sense “daughter-in-law” is obsolete;^[8][4] “sister-in-law” lived on in dialects of Holland, Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, and the word was also used for a girl or a loose woman.^[8][4] De Vries thinks it disappeared from the standard language because it clashed with the string word and because compounds with schoon- took its place.^[4]

Alles op haren en snaren zetten means to do everything possible to get one's way.^[17][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 349
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
9. ^ a b c d e 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
10. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ a b c d Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
12. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
13. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
14. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks
15. ^ Weijnen, A. A. (2003), Etymologisch dialectwoordenboek, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
16. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme