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Etymology and origin of the Dutch word week

Dutch has two words spelled week: the noun for a period of seven days and the adjective “soft”.[1][2] Both are formed from the root of wijken.[1][3]

week1 seven days

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1236, Middle Dutch (Ghent)
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *wikā via Middle Dutch, Old Dutch
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wikǭ

Pronunciation

Forms

week f (plural weken, diminutive weekje n)[2]

Etymology

The noun for seven days is inherited from Middle Dutch weke, inherited from Old Dutch *wica, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wikā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; turn”).[1][2][4] The same noun is Old Saxon wika, Old High German wehha (modern German Woche), Old Frisian wike and Old English wicu (modern English week), all “week”; Old Norse vika meant “sea mile” and took the sense “week” from Old English, and Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō) was the order of service in the temple.[1][3][4] The Middle Dutch noun could also mean “sea mile”, which goes back to the shift of rowers.[3][5]

It is a derivative of wijken, and in Germanic it meant “change, alternation, turn”.[1][4] The EWN holds that when the Germanic peoples adopted the Roman calendar the word took on the sense “recurring period of seven days” from Latin vicēs (“change, alternation”).[1] Franck and Van Wijk call the Latin model needless and unlikely, since the Latin word was never used for a week;[5][3] De Vries gives Trier's view that it was the period after which duties changed hands in a community, as in Gothic.[5][3] Kroonen derives the meaning from “shift”, close to Gothic “sequence”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle Dutch weke is first recorded in Ghent in 1236, in the phrase ene waruen ter weke “once a week”.[1][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The Middle Dutch noun meant the week of seven days, and the old sense “sea mile” is recorded beside it.[6][3] The variant weeck appears in 1458.[1] Special weeks were named by their feast: de goede week or stille week is the week before Easter.[8] In the 17th century the oath bij Gods heilige week was distorted to gans weken and used as an exclamation.[9]

Weekend was borrowed from English in 1911–1912, together with the Saturday afternoon off, and vorige week is a calque of German vorige Woche.[1][10] Dutch carried week abroad: Negerhollands, Berbice Dutch (weki), Sranan Tongo (wiki, from Dutch or English, passed on to Aukan and Saramaccan) and Arawak (wiki); through Afrikaans the word reached several Bantu languages of South Africa.[11][2]

Timeline

  • 1236 – Ene waruen ter weke “once a week” in a Ghent text.[1][6][7]
  • 1458 – The spelling weeck.[1]
  • 1911 – Week-einde (week end) in a Dutch newspaper.[1]
  • 1912 – De weekend in the NRC.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A week, a period of seven days: Ik ben over een week terug.[8][12][2]
  2. The working week, as opposed to the weekend: door de week.[12][8]
  3. A week given over to an event or cause.[12]

Word family

  • weekend
  • wekelijks
  • weekblad
  • weekdag
  • weekloon
  • weekbeurt
  • werkweek

week2 soft

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1240, Middle Dutch (Limburg)
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *waikw via Middle Dutch, Old Dutch
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *waikwaz

Pronunciation

Forms

week (comparative weker, superlative weekst)[2]

Etymology

The adjective “soft” is inherited from Middle Dutch weec, inherited from Old Dutch *wēc, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *waikw, inherited from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“pliable, weak”).[2][1] The same adjective is Old Saxon wēk, Old High German weih (modern German weich), Old Frisian wāk (“soft, gentle”), Old English wāc (“soft, yielding”) and Old Norse veikr (“weak”), the source of the English adjective weak.[1][3][5] Kroonen gives the stem as Proto-Germanic *waika-.[4]

It was formed with ablaut from the root of wijken, so it first meant “what gives way, yields”.[1][4] De Vries compares Sanskrit विजते (vijate, “shrinks back”) and Lithuanian vigrùs (“fast”), and gives Trier's idea that the word came from wattle walls, pliable twigs and kneadable clay.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch has only the verb wēken “to become soft”, in the Wachtendonck Psalms: “his words have grown softer than oil”.[1] The adjective appears in the Bernardus glossary of 1240 as weech for Latin mollis.[1][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In 13th-century Middle Dutch weec meant soft, and also slack, soft-hearted and boggy;[6][1] weke eiere were soft-boiled eggs (1253).[6][1] Later Middle Dutch used it of a gentle voice, of oats as a soft grain beside rye, wheat and barley, of a thatched roof beside a tiled one, and of wet weather.[13] Used as a noun, weke meant “the poor”, as in rike ende weke “rich and poor”.[6]

The verb weken “to soak” and the noun de week, in phrases such as iets in de week zetten “to put something to soak”, belong here.[2][8] Een kwestie in de week leggen, to raise a question so that others can think it over, is a recent figurative use.[8][14]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – The Old Dutch verb geuueicoda “grew soft”.[1]
  • 1240 – Weech for mollis in the Bernardus glossary.[1][7]
  • 1253 – Weke eiere “soft-boiled eggs”.[1][6]
  • 1287 – A lobster is boiled until it becomes weec.[1][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. soft, tender, giving way to pressure: Het brood is week geworden.[2][6]
  2. Soft-hearted, weak, easily moved.[2]

Noun

  1. Soaking, in phrases such as in de week zetten and in de week leggen.[8]

Word family

  • weken
  • weekdier
  • weekhartig
  • weekheid
  • verweken

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
  7. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  8. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  9. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
  10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  12. ^ a b c Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  13. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  14. ^ Reinsma, R. (1999), Neologismen, Den Haag: Sdu

Related etymologies

  • voor · also from Proto-Germanic
  • kunnen · also from Proto-Germanic
  • zullen · also from Proto-Germanic
  • weten · also from Proto-Germanic
  • willen · also from Proto-Germanic
  • als · also from Proto-Germanic
  • doen · also from Proto-Germanic
  • met · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Week.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/nl/week. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·