Etymologically
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vrouw

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Pronunciation

Forms

vrouw f (plural vrouwen, diminutive vrouwtje n or vrouwetje n or vrouwke n)[1] The fuller form vrouwe is kept for a lady of rank and in fixed names.[2][1] A shortened ver was used before women's names in Middle Dutch and survives in juffer, from joncfer.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch vrouwe, inherited from Old Dutch frouwa (“lady”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frauwjā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ (“lady”).[5][1] The same word is Old Saxon frūa, Old High German frouwa (modern German Frau), Old Frisian frouwe (modern West Frisian frou) and Old Norse Freyja, the name of the Norse goddess.[5][6] It is the feminine of a word for “lord”, Proto-Germanic *frawan-, seen in Old Saxon frō, Old High German frō, Old English frēa and Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰 (frauja); that word has been replaced everywhere by heer.[5][4]

The original meaning was “the foremost, the noble one”: the Germanic word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pro-wo-, derived from *pro- (“before, in front”).[5] Related words outside Germanic include Czech pravý (“right, true”).[6][7]

Franck–Van Wijk thought the Dutch, Low German and Frisian forms could hardly go back to the same base, and took them as an early loan from High German, together with the word for “lord”.[4] De Vries thinks this possible.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch frouwa first appears in the Reimbibel, a rhymed Bible text of the late 12th century: sancta maria thie heilige urowe, “Saint Mary, the holy lady”.[5][8] In Old Dutch it is used only of female saints.[8] Early Middle Dutch vrouwe meant a noblewoman or ruler, as in onse vrouwe grafenede margriete van vlaendren, “our lady, Countess Margaret of Flanders” (1240–1260).[5][9] A text of 1250 already uses it of a woman who has just given birth.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant a woman of rank, a mistress or ruler, as the feminine of heer.[5][4] Already in Middle Dutch it widened to any adult woman and, in particular, a married woman.[5] The sense “wife” is dated from 1512.[10][11] In the early modern period vrouw replaced wijf as the neutral word for a woman, while wijf became pejorative.[2][1] The old aristocratic sense passed to dame and survives in vrouwe and jonkvrouw.[5][1]

Onze (Lieve) Vrouw, the Virgin Mary, is behind many 16th-century names of feasts, churches and plants.[2] Moeder de vrouw, the housewife, is recorded in 1886.[2] The playing card called vrouw, the queen, is dated from 1720.[10]

English borrowed the word as vrouw or vrow, a Dutch wife, in the 1610s.[12][13] Danish and Norwegian frue are from Dutch or Low German, and the card name went as far as Acehnese, Buginese and Sinhala.[13] It lives on in Afrikaans vrou.[1]

Timeline

  • 1151–1200 – Old Dutch frouwa “lady” appears in the Reimbibel.[5][8]
  • c. 1240 – Middle Dutch vrouwe is recorded.[5][14][10]
  • 1250 – Vrouwe is used of a woman in childbed.[5]
  • 1512 – Vrouw in the sense “wife”.[10]
  • 1526 – Onser lieuer vrouwen dach, a feast of the Virgin Mary.[2]
  • 1610s – English vrouw “Dutch wife”.[12]
  • 1720 – Vrouw as the queen in a pack of cards.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A woman, an adult female person: Er stonden twee vrouwen bij de bushalte.[15][16][1]
  2. A wife: Hij ging met zijn vrouw naar Parijs.[15][1]
  3. The queen in a pack of playing cards.[15][7]

Word family

  • mevrouw
  • vroedvrouw
  • bijvrouw
  • huisvrouw
  • topvrouw
  • vrouwelijk
  • vrouwlief
  • juffrouw
  • jonkvrouw

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 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. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  4. ^ a b c d e Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  8. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c d e Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  11. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  14. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 422
  15. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  16. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org