Etymologically
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spreken

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈspreːkə(n)/[1]

Forms

spreken[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch spreken, inherited from Old Dutch sprecan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sprekaną (“to speak”).[2][1][3] The same verb is Old Saxon sprekan, Old High German sprehhan (modern German sprechen), Old Frisian spreka (modern West Frisian sprekke) and Old English sprecan, all meaning “to speak”.[2][4][3] It is a strong verb found only in the West Germanic languages.[2][4]

Beside it stand forms without ⟨r⟩: speken, spehhan and specan, the source of English speak.[5][2][4] The Philippa dictionary calls their relation to ⟨spreken⟩ unclear.[2] Van Haeringen took the shorter form to have come out of the longer one,[6] while De Vries thought the form with ⟨r⟩ the younger, strengthened by an emphatic ⟨r⟩.[4][7] Kroonen explains the variation by an old alternation in the past tense of the verb.[3]

Its further origin is uncertain.[2] The verb may first have meant “to crackle, rustle” and then “to talk”, as an Old Church Slavonic verb meaning “to make a noise” became the ordinary word for speaking in the Slavic languages; it would then belong with Old Norse spraka (“to crackle, rustle”) and Lithuanian spragėti (“to crackle”), from Proto-Indo-European *spreg-.[2][3][1] Others compare Welsh ffraeth (“eloquent”) or Albanian shpreh (“to express”).[2][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch sprecan is first recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century, in than sprecan sal ce hin in abulge sinro “then he shall speak to them in his wrath”.[2][8][9] Middle Dutch spreken appears in Limburg around 1200, and a text from the Lower Rhine of 1201 says gir sprekit alse ein gron kint, “you speak like a green child”.[2][10]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb already covered the power of speech itself, talking, speaking in court, and a document's wording: dus spraken die brieue, “thus the letters said” (1201).[10] Middle Dutch spreken met meant to converse, and also to keep company with a woman.[11] The infinitive was used as a noun from 1236 on, when a Ghent rule bids the brothers eat sonder spreken, “without speaking”.[10]

The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal records the verb for a telephone that “speaks” in 1881.[12] Spreken als een boek is said of stiff, bookish talk, or of a thing that is plain and beyond doubt; in the South it means simply to speak well.[13][12] The proverb spreken is zilver, zwijgen is goud replaced an older 't is een goed spreken, dat een goed zwijgen verbetert, recorded by Tuinman in 1727.[12] The compound spreekwoord (Middle Dutch sprecwort, 1290–1310) was probably modelled on German Sprichwort.[2]

Afrikaans has spreek, and Negerhollands spreek.[1][14] French dialects near the border took the verb as espreker “to babble, speak gibberish, speak Flemish”, and in Indonesian holand spréken mocks speaking Dutch.[14]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch sprecan in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[2][9]
  • c. 1200 – Middle Dutch spreken is first recorded, in Limburg.[2][10]
  • 1236 – The noun spreken “speaking” in a Ghent rule.[10]
  • 1290–1310 – Sprecwort “proverb” appears.[2]
  • 1727 – Tuinman records 't is een goed spreken, dat een goed zwijgen verbetert.[12]
  • 1881 – A telephone is said to spreken.[12]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To speak, to produce the sounds of speech: Het kind kon nog niet spreken.[15][1]
  2. (intransitive) To put thoughts into words, to say something, to talk about a subject.[15][16]
  3. (intransitive) Of things: to be convincing, to show itself plainly;[15] dat spreekt, that goes without saying.[15]
  4. (transitive) To say, to utter: het machtswoord spreken, to settle a matter with one's authority.[15]
  5. (transitive) To talk with someone, to see someone for a talk: Kan ik de directeur even spreken?[15][17]
  6. (transitive) To speak a language: Zij spreekt vloeiend Spaans.[15][16]

Word family

  • gesprek
  • spraak
  • spreuk
  • spreekwoord
  • bespreken
  • spreker
  • sprookje
  • verspreken
  • aanspreken
  • afspreken
  • inspreken
  • toespreken
  • uitspreken
  • vrijspreken

Usage notes

De Vreese distinguishes iemand spreken, to meet someone in order to talk, from met iemand spreken, to hold a conversation with someone; he notes that Southern writers used iemand spreken where only met fits, after French parler à.[17] A Middle Dutch weak verb spreken “to throw sparks” (1450), a form of sperken, is a separate word.[11]

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 n 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 Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  6. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  7. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 361
  8. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  12. ^ a b c d e 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
  13. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  14. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  16. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  17. ^ a b Vreese, Willem de (1899), Gallicismen in het Zuidnederlandsch, Gent: Siffer