voos

Forms

voos (comparative vozer, superlative meest voos or voost)^[1] Older spellings are vooisch and voosch;^[2][3] vooghs appears only in older dictionaries, first in Kiliaan (1599).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is not found in Middle Dutch.^[2] It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fausaz (“rotten”).^[1][4] The same word is Middle Low German vōs, Low German vosch and German dialect fosch.^[2][5] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal sets up two Germanic bases, *fausa- and *fauska-.^[2][6] If the modern word comes from the older voosch, it matches Old Norse fauskr and fauski (“rotten wood”) (compare Norwegian fausk), from the second base; if not, it continues the first, which De Vries finds in Swiss German gefosen (“rotten”).^[3][6][7]

Late Old Norwegian feyra (“porous bone tissue”) and Norwegian dialect føyr (“spongy”) may belong here, from a variant *fauza-, and Franck–Van Wijk also compared Latin pūs (“pus”).^[3][7][6] Orel derives the adjective from the verb Proto-Germanic *fūaną (“to rot”).^[4][1] De Vries, Franck–Van Wijk and Van Veen relate it further back to vuil.^[6][7][8]

The spelling ⟨vooghs⟩ was perhaps suggested by the mistaken belief that the word came from Latin fungōsus (“spongy”).^[2] Norwegian fos is from Dutch.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vries and De Tollenaere date voos to before 1540.^[3] The oldest quotation in the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, of 1568, describes the soft, spongy substance of the lung around its vessels.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was physical: not firm, full of holes, soft and spongy.^[2] It was used of roots and fruit without firm flesh and so without taste (een voose rape, 1573), of soft, marshy peat soil (1578), of light, loose turf (1588), of soft wood and bark (1722) and of brittle ice (1804).^[2] Anatomists called the spongy part of the ethmoid het vooze gebeente (1690), and bookbinders say a book that has taken in damp is zo voos als een turf (1951).^[2] Van der Sijs dates the sense “rotten” to 1579.^[9]

From vegetables the word passed to people: een vooze raap is a worthless person (1684).^[2] Modern Dutch uses it for fruit and plant parts without firm flesh, for anything without inner strength, and for what is morally rotten, as in alles wat vies en voos is.^[10]

Van der Sijs lists Frisian foas “rotten”, the English word fuzzy, Scots fozie, German dialect fosch, Danish dialect fus and Norwegian fos as borrowings from Dutch.^[11]

Timeline

• 1568 – Voose is first quoted, of the spongy tissue of the lung.^[2][8]
• 1573 – Een voose rape is a tasteless turnip.^[2]
• 1578 – It is used of soft, marshy ground.^[2]
• 1579 – The sense “rotten” is recorded.^[9]
• 1599 – Kiliaan records the spelling vooghs.^[2]
• 1684 – Een voose raap is said of a worthless husband.^[2]
• 1690 – Het vooze gebeente names part of the skull.^[2]
• 1951 – Bookbinders' zo voos als een turf is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of fruit and plant parts: without firm flesh, spongy or pithy: een vooze appel.^[10][2][1]
2. Without inner strength, weak, hollow.^[10][1]
3. Morally rotten, corrupt.^[10][1]

Word family

• voosheid
• vozig

Related words

• vuil
• vuns

Usage notes

A separate voos, also voois, is an old loan of French voix “voice”, obsolete in the standard language since the 18th century but still known in Flanders.^[2][12] From it comes the Flemish phrase op de voos zijn, “to be on the right track”, which Debrabandere explains as “to be in the right key”.^[5] In Brabant voos can also mean lazy, or sultry of weather.^[5]

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 o p q r s t 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 Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 419
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks
6. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ a b c Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
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 Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
12. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org