veeg

veeg¹ swipe, smear; rebuke

Pronunciation

• /veːx/^[1]

Forms

veeg f (plural vegen, diminutive veegje n)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a swipe or smear is a deverbal noun from Dutch vegen “to sweep, wipe”.^[2][3][1][4] Middle Dutch has no record of it.^[2] Comparable nouns are Low German fäg (“stroke, wipe”), West Frisian feech and German Fege.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record, of 1561, is the phrase Twas met een veech ghedaen “it was done in one sweep”, given as the Dutch for Latin simul et dictum et factum “no sooner said than done”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a single wiping or sweeping movement, such as a stroke of a broom or a brush; from it came phrases for speed, met een veeg and the obsolete metter veeg “at once”.^[2] By extension a veeg was a swinging blow, a slap round the ears (1645), and a rebuke or reproach (1650).^[2] Oorveeg “box on the ear” is usually explained as an older oorvijg reshaped after veeg.^[2]

The phrase een veeg uit de pan krijgen literally means getting a scrape of fat or one's share of the food out of the pan; it is recorded only in transferred senses, first “to get one's share of something” (1681) and then, after the sense “blow”, “to get a sharp remark or a rebuke”, its usual meaning now.^[2] The older form of the phrase had streek, recorded from about 1612.^[2]

Concrete senses followed: the smudge or streak a wipe leaves (1710), and a band of colour on a surface, as on the sky at dawn.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1561 – Twas met een veech ghedaen “it was done in one sweep” is the oldest record.^[2]
• 1616 – Metter veech means “at once”.^[2]
• 1645 – Veegh is used of a slap.^[2]
• 1650 – Een veegh is a reproach.^[2]
• 1681 – Hij kreeg een veeg uit de pan is explained as “he had his share of the profit”.^[2]
• 1710 – A dictionary gives veeg as “stain” (French tâche).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A single wipe or sweep, a stroke made by sweeping or wiping.^[5][2][1]
2. A smear or streak left by wiping; a dirty mark.^[5][2][6]
3. A slap or swinging blow.^[2][6]
4. A sharp remark or rebuke, mostly in een veeg uit de pan (krijgen, geven).^[2]

veeg² doomed, fey

Etymology tree of veeg²

inherited borrowed derived

Proto-West Germanic *faigī

Dutch veeg

Pronunciation

• /veːx/^[1]

Forms

veeg (comparative veger, superlative veegst)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “doomed” is inherited from Middle Dutch veghe (also veighe, veych), inherited from Old Dutch *fēgi, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *faigī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *faigja- (“doomed to die”).^[7][1][8] The same word is Old Saxon fēgi, Old High German feigi (modern German feige “cowardly”), Old Frisian fach, Old English fǣge (modern English fey, now mainly Scots) and Old Norse feigr, all first meaning “doomed to die”.^[7][8][3] Kroonen reads its form and sense as a gerundive, “who is to die”.^[8]

The EWN and the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal derive it, with grammatical change of /h/ to /g/, from Proto-Germanic *faiha- (“hostile”), the source of Middle Dutch vee “hostile” and of vete “feud”: under old Germanic law a man who broke the peace became an outlaw and so was doomed to die.^[7][2][4] Kroonen also allows a direct link with Proto-Indo-European *peik- (“to carve, paint”), so that the first sense would have been “marked for death”;^[8][9][3] Franck–Van Wijk and De Vries weigh the same comparison and the one with Lithuanian “stupid”, and find neither sure.^[8][9][3]

The form with ⟨ee⟩ is Flemish in origin: in other dialects Germanic /ai/ before an umlaut factor gave ⟨ei⟩, as in Middle Dutch ⟨veighe⟩ and 16th-century ⟨veig⟩.^[9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Van der Sijs dates the word to 1276–1300, and the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal places its oldest use, in the sense “doomed to die”, at the end of the 13th century.^[10][2] A Brabant text of 1340 has a speaker defy threats with want in ben noch niet veyge “for I am not doomed yet”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the usual sense was “near death, dying”; a Flemish text of 1351 speaks of the signs by which one knows den veigen, the man about to die.^[11][7] In the 16th century a person was said to be veeg when he behaved strangely, as if death were near, especially a miser who suddenly grew generous: Me vrauwe es veeghe, of huer jaecht de doot “my lady is fey, as though death were chasing her” (1526).^[2][7] From the 17th century the word was also said of things, “foreboding ruin, ominous”: vege teikens “ill omens” (1648).^[7][2]

The form veig was common in the 16th century and still used by Hooft about 1645, but after the 17th century the standard language has only veeg;^[2] West Flemish also has vee.^[2] The word is now dated and survives mainly in een veeg teken “an ill omen” and het vege lijf redden “to escape with one's life”, the latter recorded in 1808.^[7][12][2] The cognates went other ways: German feige came to mean “cowardly” and Swiss feig “slow, lazy”, and in Antwerp veig meant “nauseating in smell or taste”.^[8][11]

Timeline

• 1276–1300 – Middle Dutch veghe “doomed to die” is first recorded.^[10][12]
• 1340 – Want in ben noch niet veyge “for I am not doomed yet”, in a Brabant text.^[11]
• 1351 – A Flemish text names the signs of den veigen, the dying man.^[11][7]
• 1526 – Me vrauwe es veeghe is said of strange behaviour before death.^[2][7]
• 1561 – Ghy sijt noch niet veech “you are not fey yet” is said to someone who arrives just as people speak of him.^[2]
• 1569 – Zo veeg als een luis op een kam “as doomed as a louse on a comb” is recorded.^[2]
• 1648 – Vege teikens are “ill omens”.^[7]
• 1808 – Het veege lijf gered “saved their lives” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated) doomed to die, fey.^[7][1][2]
2. (dated) Near death, dying.^[1][2]
3. Foreboding disaster, ominous, in een veeg teken.^[7][12]
4. In het vege lijf redden: to escape with one's life.^[7][12]