Etymologically
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vriend

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Pronunciation

Forms

vriend m (plural vrienden, diminutive vriendje n, feminine vriendin)[1] With the vowel shortened before the nasal cluster the word is also vrind all over the language area, with rounding vrund, and in the east vreend.[2] Middle Dutch also had vrint, vrent and vrunt.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch vrient, inherited from Old Dutch friunt, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *friund, inherited from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz (“friend, loved one”).[5][1][6] The same word is Old Saxon friund, Old High German friunt (modern German Freund), Old Frisian friūnd (modern West Frisian freon), Old English frēond (modern English friend), Old Norse frændi (modern Swedish frände (“kinsman”)) and Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 (frijonds).[5][6][3][7]

It is an old present participle of Proto-Germanic *frijōną (“to love”), the verb that became vrijen, and so meant “the one who loves”; vijand “enemy” is a participle of the same kind.[5][8][9][10] In several of the old languages it also meant “kinsman”, as it still did in Middle Dutch, and De Vries thinks “friend” first meant someone who had been given the standing of a blood relative by a ritual.[3][8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch friunt “friend, beloved” is first found around 1100 in the Leiden Willeram, a paraphrase of the Song of Songs: Ezzet, mine friunde, drinket ande werthet drunkan, “eat, my friends, drink and be drunk”.[5][11][12] The Middle Dutch form appears in 1201–1225 in Floyris, where Floyris listens to siner uriende worte, his friend's words.[5][13]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch vrient meant a friend, an ally, a fellow believer or guild brother, a spouse, and a relative.[13][1] There was also an adjective vrient “friendly, well-disposed”, used mostly by poets and later dropped.[4][13][2] The kinship sense explains the proverb beter een goede buur dan een verre vriend, which goes back to Proverbs 27:10, where the Bible has “brother”, and remnants of it survive in dialects.[14][15]

In religious language believers were called friends of God or of Christ.[2] The word widened to acquaintances and to company in general, as in a play of 1513 where a host welcomes een deel vrienden.[2] Today it can also mean a boyfriend, a contact in a social network on the internet, and a supporter who gives money to an institution.[16][1][17] Valse vrienden, words that look alike in two languages but differ in meaning, translates French faux amis.[18]

In the Dutch East Indies vriend was the answer to a sentry's challenge; this is the source of Indonesian prin or pring and Makassarese parêng.[19] The word also lives on in Negerhollands, Berbice Dutch frindi and Afrikaans vriend.[19][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Old Dutch friunt in the Leiden Willeram.[5][12]
  • 1201–1225 – Middle Dutch vriende in Floyris.[5][13]
  • c. 1240 – Vrint glosses Latin amicus in Limburg.[13][7]
  • 1513 – Vrienden for a host's guests.[2]
  • 1516 – O ihesu lieue vrint “O Jesus, dear friend”.[2]
  • 1909 – Vrindjes for a child's playmates.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A friend, someone one is bound to by affection and personal preference: Ze is mijn beste vriendin, hij mijn oudste vriend.[16][1][17]
  2. A boyfriend: Haar vriend komt morgen eten.[16][1][17]
  3. A contact in a social network on the internet.[16]
  4. A donor or supporter of an institution: de Vrienden van het Concertgebouw.[16]
  5. (ironic) A way of addressing someone one is not on good terms with: Zo, vriend, nu is het genoeg.[17]

Word family

  • vriendin
  • vriendschap
  • vriendelijk
  • vriendeloos
  • vriendjespolitiek
  • bevrienden
  • ontvrienden
  • boezemvriend
  • jeugdvriend
  • huisvriend
  • dierenvriend
  • allemansvriend

Usage notes

Even goede vrienden is a shrug at a refusal, “no hard feelings”.[16] Vrind is the common spoken form.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 421
  8. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  9. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
  10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  12. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  15. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  16. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  17. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  18. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  19. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)