vlieten

Forms

vlieten (past vloot, past participle gevloten), a strong verb^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch vlieten, inherited from Old Dutch flietan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fleutan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fleutaną.^[1][4][5] Old Dutch also has the third person flutit, and a Williram text of about 1100 has fliezende with a High German ⟨z⟩ for /t/.^[4][6]

The same verb is Old Saxon fliotan (later Middle Low German vlēten), Old High German fliozan (modern German fließen), Old Frisian fliāta, Old English flēotan (modern English fleet) and Old Norse fljóta (modern Swedish flyta), all meaning “to flow, float” and the like.^[4][5]

Kroonen calls it a strong verb of the root Proto-Indo-European *pleud-.^[5] The Etymologisch woordenboek follows the LIV in taking this root as an extension with a dental of *pleu- (“to swim, float”), whence Latin pluit (“it rains”) and Lithuanian pláuti (“to rinse; to flood”); another extension of the same root, *pleuk-, gave vliegen.^[4] De Vries adds plústi (“to stream, flow”).^[6]

From the same verb come vliet and, with other ablaut grades, vloot, vlot and vlotten.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record, a gloss of 891 from the Lower Rhine and Westphalia, reads Visc flot aftar themo uuatare, “a fish floated along the water”.^[7][4] In the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms the verb is used of melting wax, also uuahs that flutit, “as wax that melts”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the verb meant to flow, of rivers and of tears (1265), to float (1220–1240, children carried along by a river), to swim (1270) and to sail (1294).^[3][4] The Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek notes that it was used above all of still water, and that vlietende sant meant quicksand.^[8]

Like vlieden, the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal observes, the verb had reached its full range of senses in Middle Dutch, and after the 17th century it shrank, apart from some regional use, to a purely literary word, now hardly used at all; ordinary Dutch says stromen or vloeien.^[2] Van Dale labels it formal, for flowing and for passing away like something fleeting.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 891 – Old Dutch flot “floated” is first recorded, in a gloss from the Lower Rhine and Westphalia.^[7][4]
• 901–1000 – The Wachtendonck Psalms use flutit of melting wax.^[4][7]
• c. 1100 – Fliezende “flowing” is used of a spring.^[4][7]
• 1220–1240 – Middle Dutch vlieten is recorded, of children floating down a river.^[4][11][3]
• 1265–1270 – Tears uloten “flowed” from a woman's eyes.^[4][3]
• 1294 – A Bergen-op-Zoom text uses the verb for sailing.^[3]
• 1567 – The world is called a sea die altijt vliet “that always flows”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (formal) To flow or stream gently.^[9][10][1]
2. (formal) To pass away like something fleeting.^[9][10]

Word family

• vervlieten
• vliet

Related words

• vloot
• vlot
• vlotten
• vliegen
• English fleet
• German fließen

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
8. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
9. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
10. ^ a b c WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen