want

want¹ mitten

Pronunciation

• /ʋɑnt/^[1]

Forms

want f (plural wanten, diminutive wantje n)^[1]

Etymology

The mitten is inherited from Middle Dutch want, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wantu- (“mitten”).^[2][1][3] The same word is Low German want, West Frisian want and Old Norse vǫttr (“glove”) (modern Swedish vante); the North Germanic form was borrowed into Finnish dialects as vantus.^[2][3][4]

Glosses in medieval texts from Frankish and British territory record the word much earlier than Dutch does: Medieval Latin wandio (“glove”) in 745 and above all the plural wantos in the 9th century.^[2][5] A text dated 615, preserved in a 10th-century manuscript, speaks of hand coverings that “the Gauls” call by this name;^[2][5] NEW ascribes the line to Bede.^[2][5] The “Gauls” were probably the Franks, since no Celtic language has the word.^[2][4] From Frankish it entered Old French guant (modern gant (“glove”)), and French passed it on to Italian guanto and Spanish guante.^[2][6]

Its further origin is unclear.^[2][7] It is usually derived from the root of winden, but the consonants do not match: ⟨*d⟩ in the verb, ⟨*t⟩ in the noun.^[2][5] Kroonen explains the ⟨t⟩ from a geminate, ⟨*wanttu-⟩ from Proto-Indo-European *wondʰ-nú-, while Van Haeringen thinks such a form very unlikely, and NEW suggests a substrate word of the North Sea peoples.^[3][8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Want is probably found first as a byname, boudene wante, in 1294–1300.^[2][9] In the first half of the 14th century a man puts on a grey coat and twee ruwe wanten, “two rough mittens”, and accounts of 1343–1344 pay for caps, socks and mittens of beaver.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The word means a glove with a single compartment for the four fingers and one for the thumb, but it was often used for any glove.^[11][12] In Middle Dutch it was masculine; in modern Dutch it is almost always feminine.^[11]

Van wanten weten means to know one's business, to be well informed; in Amsterdam people said hij weet van wanten, hij doet een kousenwinkel, “he knows about mittens, he keeps a stocking shop”.^[13][14] In the south the phrase could mean “to be rich”, and in the Land of Aalst hij zal van wanten weten meant he would get a thrashing.^[13] In Zeeland wanteweven, literally “to weave mittens”, is to be unable to sit still.^[15]

Through French the Germanic word reached Greek, Esperanto and, through Italian, Arabic, and Munsee Delaware has waʼnt “mitten”.^[6]

Timeline

• 615 – A Latin text mentions wantos as a Gaulish word for gloves.^[2]
• 745 – Wandio “glove” in a medieval Latin gloss.^[2]
• 1294–1300 – Wante, probably as a byname.^[2]
• 1343–1344 – Wanten van bevere, beaver-fur mittens.^[2][10]
• 1539 – The earliest quotation in the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mitten, a glove with one part for the thumb and one for the other fingers.^[12][1]

want² rigging; coarse cloth

Pronunciation

• /ʋɑnt/^[1]

Forms

want n (plural wanten, diminutive wantje n)^[1]

Etymology

The rigging is inherited from Middle Dutch want, a northern by-form without the prefix of ghewant (“equipment, cloth”), inherited from Old Dutch giwant (“garment”).^{[2][4][16][1]} The longer word is Proto-Germanic *gawandą, a derivative of the root of winden with the prefix ge-, and meant literally “what is wound round something”; it is also the second part of ingewanden.^[2][1][5] The same word is Middle Low German want and Middle High German gewant (modern German Gewand “garment”).^[5][10]

The final ⟨d⟩ was hardened to ⟨t⟩, as in kruit and vaalt, but the form with ⟨d⟩ remained in use for a long time.^[5][11] Kiliaan labels ⟨wand⟩, ⟨want⟩ in the sense “cloth, garment; net” as Saxon, Frisian and Sicambrian, that is, eastern and northern.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest certain record is from 1322, when toll is due on ghesneden wande, cut cloth; a Dordrecht list of 1284 may already have the word.^[2][17] The prefixed form ghewant meant “equipment, gear”, as of looms in 1277, and a ship's gear: in 1318–1320 een scip met al sinen ghewande, “a ship with all its equipment”, and in 1343–1346 opstaende ghewant, the standing rigging.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “ropes of a ship” grew out of the general “equipment of a ship”.^[2][10] For the short form it is first recorded in 1494–1512, when all ships have to take down their tackle and standing wandt, and in 1516 for cables of geslagen want.^[2][18][9] The fishermen's sense “nets, fishing gear” is also old: Kiliaan glosses the word as “net”.^[4][12]

The sense “coarse woollen cloth” is now obsolete except in Drenthe, where it was the cloth of the farmers' winter clothes, and the phrase goed in zijn want zitten meant to be well dressed, or to be in good health.^[11] In Zeeland want is also a horse's harness, as in parewant “horse tackle”.^[15]

As a seafaring word it passed into German, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (Swedish vant), Polish, Estonian, Lithuanian and Russian (Russian ванта (vánta) “shroud”), and Russian passed it on to Bulgarian and Ukrainian.^[6][4][5]

Timeline

• 1277 – Ywande “looms, weaving gear”.^[2][17]
• 1318–1320 – Ghewant “a ship's equipment”.^[2]
• 1322 – Want “cloth” in a toll regulation.^[2]
• 1494–1512 – Want “rigging”.^[2][18]
• 1516 – Geslagen want, cables.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) rigging, all the ropes on board: staand want for the fixed ropes that support the masts, lopend want for the ropes that work the sails.^[12][1]
2. (fishing) Fishing gear, the nets together: want schieten, to set the nets.^[12][1]
3. (obsolete) Coarse woollen cloth.^[11][1]

Word family

• wantladder
• viswant
• hoekwant
• stagwant

want³ because, for

Pronunciation

• /ʋɑnt/^[1]

Forms

want^[1]

Etymology

The conjunction is inherited from Middle Dutch want, inherited from Old Dutch wanda, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwandê.^[2][1] The same word is Old Saxon hwanda, Old High German hwanta (“because; why”) and Old Frisian hwande (modern West Frisian want).^[2][5][4] It is a formation on the adverb Proto-Germanic *hwan (“when”) of wanneer, comparable with Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴 (þandē, “as, because, as long as”).^[5][4][9] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷom-dʰe-, from the interrogative stem *kʷo- (see hoe), the ⟨m⟩ having become ⟨n⟩ before the dental.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century use uuanda as a conjunction of reason: ecco becanda uuanda got min bist, “see, I have known you, because you are my God”.^[2][18] The Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200 tells that the city gate slammed shut want her that cruce niet otmutliche ne drôg, “because he did not carry the cross humbly”, and Middle Dutch want follows in 1220–1240.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From Old Dutch on the main function of want has been to give a reason.^[2] The word order after it varied: in Old and Middle Dutch it could be followed by a main clause, as after modern want, or by a subordinate clause, as after omdat.^[2] Middle Dutch also used it for “so that”, “when” and, in the east, “until”, and in South Brabant and the Hageland it still means “if”.^[5][10][4]

Around 1900 Willem Kloos began to use want between two adjectives (een onvolmaakt, want verpolitiekt bestuur), a construction other writers and journalists copied and critics took for a Germanism after German weil.^[19] Dutch lent the conjunction to Negerhollands and Sranan Tongo, and West Frisian has it as well.^[6]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch uuanda “because” in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2][18]
• 1151–1200 – Want in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible.^[2]
• 1220–1240 – Middle Dutch want.^[2][17]
• 1909 – A critic notes Kloos's use of want between adjectives.^[19]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. For, because, as: introduces a main clause giving a reason: ik blijf thuis, want ik ben moe.^[1][20]