Etymologically
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spijt

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Pronunciation

Forms

spijt f or n (uncountable, no diminutive)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch spijt, a shortening of despijt (“contempt, rancour”), borrowed from Old French despit (“contempt; resentment”) (modern French dépit), from Latin dēspectus (“a looking down on, contempt”), from dēspiciō (“to look down on, despise”), formed from dē- (“down from”) and speciō (“to look”).[2][1][3][4] The Latin verb is related to spieden.[2][5]

The unstressed first syllable was lost, as in other Middle Dutch loans such as seplîne from disciplîne.[3][6] It may have helped that ⟨de⟩ was heard as the article.[3][1] English spite and despite come from the same French word, and Middle Low German spît perhaps from Dutch.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The older despijt is recorded around 1350 for “scorn, contempt” and around 1400 for “resentment”.[2][7] Spijt itself appears in the early 15th century as “scorn, insult”: in sijn spijt meant “to mock him”.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the word first meant contempt shown to someone, as in grote spijt doen, “to treat with great contempt” (1481).[2][7] From the hurt received it turned to the feeling: “anger, rancour” around 1540 and “grief” in the early 16th century.[2][7] The sense “disappointment” is found in tot mijn spijt in 1840, and “regret, remorse”, the main modern sense, in 1901.[2]

In spijt van, “in spite of”, followed French en dépit de and is found in 1613.[8] The bare preposition spijt “despite” already existed in Middle Low German, while Kiliaan has only te spijte van.[3][6] The compound spijtoptant was coined in 1958 for Indonesian citizens of Dutch origin who wanted their Dutch citizenship back, and later meant anyone who regrets a choice.[2]

The word went into Negerhollands (spit), Sranan (speiti) and perhaps, via Low German, into German dialect Spiet.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – Despijt “contempt”.[2]
  • 1436 – Spijt is recorded in the Middle Dutch dictionary.[10]
  • 1481 – Grote spijt doen “to treat with contempt”.[2]
  • 1613 – In spijt van weer en wind “in spite of wind and weather”.[8]
  • 1840 – Tot mijn spijt “to my disappointment”.[2]
  • 1901 – Spijt “regret, remorse”.[2]
  • 1958 – Spijtoptant is first recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. regret, remorse: the feeling that something should have gone otherwise: Hij had spijt dat hij niet gebeld had.[11][1][12]
  2. tot mijn spijt, to my regret, unfortunately.[11]

Preposition

  1. (formal) despite, in spite of.[12][8]

Word family

  • spijten
  • spijtig
  • spijtoptant

Usage notes

Spijt hebben als haren op je hoofd is to regret something bitterly.[11] A separate, eastern dialect word spijt means the waste of flax left after the second hackling, recorded in 1688.[8][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 e Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  4. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  5. ^ a b Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
  6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  8. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  11. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  12. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org