telen

Forms

telen^[1] A dialect form teulen, once more widespread, survives mainly between the great rivers and in North Brabant.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch telen, inherited from Old Dutch tilon, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *tilōn, inherited from Proto-Germanic *tilōną.^[3][1] The same verb is Old Saxon tilōn (“to obtain”), Old Frisian tilia (“to beget, to till”) (modern West Frisian tylje), Old English tilian (“to strive, to obtain, to till”) (modern English till), Old High German zilōn (“to hurry, to strive, to see to”) (modern German zielen) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍉𐌽 (gatilōn, “to obtain”).^[3][4][5]

The Germanic verb is from Proto-Germanic *tila-, a noun seen in Middle Dutch til (“case, circumstance”), Old High German zil (“goal”) (modern German Ziel) and Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌻 (til, “suitable occasion”), beside the adjective 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (gatils, “fitting”) and the preposition Old Norse til (“to, towards”).^[3][4][5] The senses of the group are so far apart that the original meaning is unclear.^[3][4] Franck–Van Wijk start from “to stretch out (towards)” and connect it with tijd, and Kroonen finds the same root in the Germanic word for time.^[6][5]

Beyond Germanic the origin is unclear.^[3][7] The EWN tentatively compares Welsh eddyl (“aim”) and a western Indo-European form built on the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“to, at”), the source of Latin ad;^[3][4][8] Pokorny put it under a root *ad- (“to fix, to arrange”).^[3][4][8] The ONW records De Grauwe's view that the Old Dutch gloss for “to hurry” may instead be a compound of ⟨te⟩ with īlon (“to hasten”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch tilon appears only in 10th-century glosses of the Wachtendonck Psalms: tilo “hurry!” and tilont “they hasten” render Latin festinare and accelerare, and other forms render exercitari “to exert oneself”.^[3][9] The first Middle Dutch record, in a Limburg glossary of about 1240, glosses Latin colere “to till”.^[10][3]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch telen meant to bring forth, both crops and offspring, to carry out a plan, to raise and to till land.^[11][1] A West Flemish text of 1287 uses it of partridges hatching their young.^[10][3] Fruit-growing is vruchten telen in the Teuthonista of 1477, and a text of 1493 speaks of a woman bearing an heir.^[3][11]

In later Dutch the sense “to beget, to bear”, of people, survived mainly in poetry and was otherwise felt as coarse; of animals it is found in 1625, and of soil “to yield” in 1646.^[2] Modern Dutch uses the verb for growing crops and for breeding new kinds of animals.^[12][1] It lives on in Afrikaans teel, and Negerhollands took it as teel “to grow, to make”.^[1][13]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch tilon “to hurry, to strive” glosses the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[9][3]
• c. 1240 – Middle Dutch telen glosses Latin colere “to till”.^[10][14][7]
• 1287 – It is used of birds hatching their young.^[10][3]
• 1390 – A north-eastern text speaks of those who grow and farm a crop (the EWN's date; the MNW dates the passage 1336).^[3][11]
• 1477 – Vruchten telen “to grow fruit” is in the Teuthonista.^[3]
• 1606 – The dialect form teulen is first recorded.^[2]
• 1625 – The verb is used of animals breeding.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow or cultivate plants, especially crops.^[12][1][15]
2. To breed animals, especially new breeds.^[12][1]
3. (poetic) To beget or bear offspring.^[2]

Word family

• teelt
• teelbal
• teeltijd
• teler
• fruitteler
• groenteteler
• rietteler
• teelvocht

Related words

• tijd
• English till
• German zielen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
4. ^ a b c d e Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 381
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ a b c d 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 c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
12. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
14. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
15. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org