Etymologically
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sterven

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈstɛrvə(n)/[1]

Forms

sterven[1] Seventeenth-century texts also have the past sturf and the past participle gesturven.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch sterven, inherited from Old Dutch stervan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sterbaną (“to become stiff; to die”).[1][3][4] The same verb is Old Saxon sterƀan, Old High German sterban (modern German sterben), Old Frisian sterva and Old English steorfan, whose modern descendant English starve narrowed to “die of hunger”.[4][5][6][7] Related nouns are sterbo (“pestilence, death”) and steorfa (“dying; corpse”).[4][5]

The original meaning was probably “to become stiff”: the related Old Norse stjarfi (“cramp that makes one rigid”), stirfinn (“stubborn”) and starf (“effort, toil”) point to it.[4][5][8] Further back there are competing explanations.[4][5] One starts from Proto-Indo-European *sterbʰ- (“to be stiff”), comparing Ancient Greek στέρφνιος (stérphnios, “stiff, firm”) and Old Irish ussarb (“death”).[4][5][1][9] The other starts from *(s)terp- (“to become numb”), comparing Latin torpeō (“to be numb, motionless”) and Lithuanian tirpti (“to grow numb”).[4][5][1] Both would be enlargements of the root also found in star and staar.[4][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Egmond Williram of about 1100, which says of Christ thaz her gecruciget warth ande her starf, “that he was crucified and died”.[3][10] The oldest Middle Dutch example is from the Lower Rhine region in 1201, ic sterue in ellende, “I die in exile”, and a Limburg glossary of about 1240 renders Latin moribundus as de stiruet, “who is dying”.[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch sterven was said of people, animals and also of trees and plants, of a natural death and of being killed.[6] It took a genitive of cause, couts ende hongers sterven “to die of cold and hunger”, or the phrases van honghere, van dorste and van rouwe sterven, from hunger, thirst or grief, all recorded in the 13th century.[6][11] The infinitive was used as a noun, dat sterven “death”, as early as about 1200.[11]

In modern Dutch the verb is used mainly of people, while doodgaan is often preferred in the present and simple past, and gestorven in the perfect.[2] The cause is given with aan (a disease, a wound), in the south usually with van.[2] The verb was taken into Negerhollands sterv, and Afrikaans has sterf and sterwe.[12][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – The Egmond Williram records the Old Dutch past starf “died”.[3][10]
  • c. 1200 – The noun sterven “death” appears in Limburg.[11]
  • 1201 – Ic sterue in ellende is the oldest Middle Dutch example of the verb.[11]
  • 1265 – Van hongre … steruen, to die of hunger, is recorded in Brabant.[11]
  • 1633 – Sterven aan a wound is recorded.[2]
  • 1672 – The verb is still used of cattle dying in Zeeland.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive, with zijn) to die, to stop living, chiefly of people: Haar grootvader stierf vorig jaar.[13][14][1]
  2. (intransitive) to die of something, with aan or van: Hij stierf aan een longontsteking.[2]
  3. (transitive) to die a death of the stated kind: een eervolle dood sterven.[13][6]
  4. (figurative) to fade away, die down.[15]

Word family

  • besterven
  • sterfelijk
  • sterveling
  • versterven
  • afsterven
  • uitsterven
  • wegsterven
  • sterfbed
  • sterfdag
  • sterfgeval
  • sterfhuis
  • sterfjaar
  • sterfte
  • stervende

Usage notes

Op sterven na dood “all but dead” is said of someone or something in a very bad way, and duizend doden sterven means to be terrified.[13] Gedenk te sterven, “remember that you must die”, is used on gravestones and in death notices.[13] A 19th-century oath ran ik mag sterven als het niet waar is, and sterf! is a modern curse expressing fury.[16] Hij is niet in de wieg gestorven means that someone reached a great age.[17]

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 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
  3. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  6. ^ a b c d Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  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. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 367
  9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  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 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
  12. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  13. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  14. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  15. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  16. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
  17. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme