Etymologically
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spelen

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈspeːlə(n)/[1]

Forms

spelen (weak verb: speelde, gespeeld)[2][3] Middle Dutch also wrote spuelen and spoelen.[4] The dialect form speulen is still used.[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch spêlen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *spilōn (“to play; to dance”), a verb formed in West Germanic from the noun *spil (“play, game”), the ancestor of spel.[1][6][2] The same verb is Old Saxon spilon, Old High German spilōn (modern German spielen) and Old Frisian spilia.[7][8] De Vries regards it as a continental West Germanic word, from which Old English spilian was borrowed.[7]

The origin is unknown.[9][8][6] Because the word is found in so few languages, De Vries finds any link outside Germanic very doubtful, and he and Kroonen reject a comparison with Latvian spīlēt (“to clamp, pinch”) as too remote in meaning.[7][6] Its oldest sense was probably “to dance”, as Old High German spiliman (“dancer”) and spiliwīp (“female dancer”) suggest.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch spelen is first recorded in Ghent in 1236, in a text about men who play at dice or other worldly games.[2][10] The Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek dates its oldest record to the early 13th century in the Lower Rhine region, and around 1240 a Limburg glossary gives spelen for Latin ludere “to play” and spaciari “to walk for pleasure”.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb meant “to amuse oneself”, “to frolic” (of animals), “to play a game” and “to play music”, and also, as a euphemism, “to have sex”.[2] The sense “to go out for pleasure” lived on into the 17th century with verbs of motion, as in uit spelen rijden “to ride out for pleasure”, and survives in spelevaren “to go boating”.[5][4] The modern dictionaries also list acting a part or performing a play, and figurative uses such as de baas spelen “to act the boss”.[11]

Iemand in de kaart spelen, to play a card so that another can win, and so to help someone unintentionally, is used by newspapers of 1913 and 1914.[12][11] In Surinamese Dutch spelen can also mean “to deceive”.[3] Van der Sijs derives Danish spille, Norwegian spille and Swedish spela from Dutch or Low German; the verb went into Negerhollands and Berbice Dutch;[13][1] Afrikaans has speel.[13][1]

Timeline

  • 1236 – Middle Dutch spelen “to play (at dice)”, in Ghent.[2][10]
  • c. 1240 – Spelen glosses Latin ludere in Limburg.[2]
  • 1270 – Young pelicans are said to play around their father's eyes, in a Lower Rhine text.[2]
  • 1559 – Wt spelen gaen, to go out for pleasure.[5]
  • 1913 – In de kaart spelen “to play into someone's hands” in newspapers.[12]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To play, to amuse oneself with games or toys: de kinderen spelen buiten, the children are playing outside.[11][1][14]
  2. To play a game or sport: we spelen een potje schaak, we play a game of chess.[11][1]
  3. To play a musical instrument or perform a piece of music.[11][1]
  4. To act a role or perform a play; to pretend to be: de baas spelen, to act the boss.[11][1]
  5. To be under way, to happen: het verhaal speelt in Gent, the story is set in Ghent.[11]
  6. To handle something carelessly: met iemands gevoelens spelen, to toy with someone's feelings.[14]

Word family

  • speler
  • speling
  • speels
  • speelgoed
  • speelman
  • speeltuin
  • speelkaart
  • speelfilm
  • speelruimte
  • bespelen
  • afspelen
  • verspelen
  • spelevaren
  • spelemeien

Usage notes

Spelen is also the plural of spel in the sense “games, contests”, as in de Olympische Spelen.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  3. ^ a b Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
  4. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  5. ^ a b c 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum
  9. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  10. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  12. ^ a b Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  13. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  14. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org