snappen

Forms

snappen^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch snappen (“to chatter”).^[2][1][3] The Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands takes it as probably one of the expressive words gathered under snuiven, for actions with a sudden, jerky breath.^[2][1] The same verb is Middle Low German snappen (“to snap, seize; to chatter”), Middle High German snappen (modern German schnappen) and West Frisian snappe.^[2][4] Its ⟨pp⟩ is an expressive doubling beside the single consonant of eastern Middle Dutch snapen (compare versnapering), Middle High German snaben and Old Norse snapa (“to snap at; to sniff”).^[2][4][5] Orel reconstructs Proto-Germanic *snappēnan and calls it of unknown origin.^[6] Older dictionaries put it in a wider family of words beginning with ⟨sn⟩, such as snavel, snakken and snoepen.^[4][7][8]

English snap is either borrowed from Dutch or Low German or a cognate.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in 1437, in the sense “to chatter”: a man full of idle words snapt altoos als een olimolen, die altoos rammelt “chatters all the time like an oil mill that always rattles”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Dutch record snappen only means to chatter or babble, although the sense of seizing must also have existed.^[3] The sense “to grab quickly” is recorded from 1573.^[2] From seizing a thing it came to mean catching a person: dats hem hebben gesnapt “that they have caught him” in 1685, of a man found with a married woman.^[2][8] A use for telling or saying something, lightly or unkindly, is found in 1616.^[8]

The modern main sense, “to understand”, is recorded from 1888.^[2][8] It is the same shift from grasping with the hand to grasping with the mind seen in begrijpen, vatten, English grasp and Latin comprehendō.^[2]

Dutch passed the verb on: English snap (Middle English snappe in 1495, if borrowed), Danish snappe, Swedish snappa “to grab” (from Dutch or Low German), Negerhollands snap “to gasp”, and Afrikaans snap.^[4][10][1]

Timeline

• 1437 – Snappen is first recorded, meaning “to chatter”.^[2][3][11]
• 1520s – English snap “to make a quick bite” appears.^[9]
• 1573 – The sense “to grab quickly” is recorded.^[2]
• 1616 – A record of the sense “to tell, say”.^[8]
• 1685 – The sense “to catch someone in the act” is recorded.^[2][8]
• 1888 – The sense “to understand” is recorded.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To catch someone; to get hold of; to catch in the act.^[12][1]
2. (informal) To understand, get: Ik snap niet waarom hij weg is.^[12][1]

Word family

• ontsnappen
• snap
• snapper
• gesnap
• opsnappen

Related words

• snavel
• snoepen
• snuiven
• German schnappen

Usage notes

In informal speech er geen bal van snappen and er geen jota van snappen mean to understand nothing at all.^[12]

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 i j k l m 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 Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
12. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers