splitten

Forms

splitten^[1] Middle Dutch and West Flemish also have spletten.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch splitten, beside spletten.^[2][4][5] It is an intensive form of splijten with a short vowel and doubled ⟨tt⟩.^[4][5][3] In Wiktionary's reconstruction it is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *splittōn, inherited from Proto-Germanic *splittōną, from a pre-Germanic zero-grade iterative of *splītaną (“to split”).^[1] The same formation is Low German splitten and West Frisian splitte (“to split”), and Danish splitte was taken from Low German.^[4][5]

The derived splitsen is recorded after Kiliaan and may have been influenced by splissen.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Flemish text of 1301, in which the verb is used of cutting a body open from bottom to top; the MNW glosses the sense “split, cleave”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the verb also meant “pierce, cut open” (a Flemish text of 1491 has blasphemers' tongues duersteken ende ghesplet, pierced and slit) and “divide”: a Holland text of 1434 forbids dividing land, and a gesplit vonnisse was a split verdict, written down when the aldermen were evenly divided.^[2] Kiliaan already marked splitten as old beside splijten.^[2] In 1559 a text forbids anyone to splitten noch deylen land subject to rent, and in 1649 roofing slates are split as thin as paper.^[3] The WNT called the word not general, with regional spletten.^[3]

English split, recorded from 1576 or the 1580s, was probably taken from Middle Dutch splitten.^[4][5][6] The verb came back from English in the 1980s in the sense “break up”, first of pop groups, then of couples.^[7] In Surinamese school slang splitten means “leave, go off”.^[8] Dutch splitten lives on in Afrikaans split and Negerhollands split.^[1]

Timeline

• 1301 – Middle Dutch splitten is first recorded, in Flanders.^[2]
• 1434 – Splitten “divide” and gesplit vonnisse “split verdict” appear in Holland.^[2]
• 1491 – A Flemish text uses ghesplet “slit”.^[2]
• 1559 – Splitten noch deylen “split or divide” land.^[3]
• 1576 – English split is first recorded.^[4][5]
• 1649 – Slates are gesplit as thin as paper.^[3]
• 1986 – Splitten “break up” is used of pop groups, after English.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To split, cleave something.^[9][3]
2. To divide something into parts.^[9][3]
3. Of a thing: to split, come apart.^[9][3]
4. To break up, separate after a quarrel, of a couple or a band.^[10][9][7]

Word family

• split
• afsplitten
• opsplitten

Related words

• splijten
• splitsen

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 359
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Coster, Marc de (1999), Woordenboek van neologismen: 25 jaar taalaanwinsten, Amsterdam: Contact
8. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
9. ^ a b c d Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
10. ^ Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers