Etymologically
Log in

winnen

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 15:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈʋɪ.nə(n)/[1]

Forms

winnen[1] Older Dutch often had the past tense wan, kept for a long time in biblical language and still heard in dialect.[2] The usual forms are won and gewonnen.[3][2] A rounded form wunnen is recorded only for West Flanders.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch winnen, inherited from Old Dutch winnan (“to earn, obtain”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *winnaną (“to toil; to strive; to win”).[4][1][5] The same verb is Old Saxon winnan, Old High German winnan, Old Frisian winna (modern West Frisian winne), Old English winnan (modern English win) and Old Norse vinna, with meanings that range over “to fight, exert oneself, strive, obtain, win”;[4][6][7] Old High German, Old Saxon and Old English also have “to suffer”, and Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (winnan) means only “to suffer”.[4][6][7] All the West Germanic languages also had a form with the prefix *ga- meaning “to obtain by effort”, while 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gawinnan) again means “to suffer”.[4][7]

The further origin is uncertain.[4] If the first sense was “to gain by effort”, the Germanic verb, from an older ⟨*wenwan-⟩, fits the Indo-European root for “to desire” of waan and wennen, and this is the most widely held view.[4] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, desire, wish, love”) and compares Sanskrit वनोति (vanóti, “to win, defeat, procure”).[1][8] Franck and Van Wijk point out that “to suffer, toil, live with hardship” looks older, which would make “to obtain” secondary and the link with “to desire” very doubtful; the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal takes the same view.[7][4][2] Franck and Van Wijk also compared Latin cōnor (“I try, strive”), which Van Haeringen thinks belongs elsewhere.[7][9] De Vries reviews still other starting points, such as “to feed” and “to fence in”, and finds the meanings hard to reconcile.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Dutch verb appears around 1100 in the Egmond copy of Williram's paraphrase of the Song of Songs, in the sense “to earn, obtain”: the bride speaks of her bridegroom, ther mir pacem hauet gegen sinen uader gewunnon, who has won peace for her with his father.[5][4] Middle Dutch winnen is first recorded in Ghent in 1237, in the sense “to acquire”.[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch winnen meant getting something by work or struggle: to till land (Latin excolere is glossed winnen in 1240), to grow crops (coren winnen, 1285), to earn one's bread (om te winnene sijn brod, 1285), to mine quicksilver (1287), to take booty, to win a lawsuit, and also to beget or bear children.[4][10][6] The sense “to be the victor” is dated from 1350.[11][12]

In early modern Dutch the verb was common for earning wages, as in a 1734 text in which the speaker says he earns only forty guilders here.[2] Today the sense of earning survives in de kost winnen and in the extraction of raw materials such as ore, while the main sense is to win a match, game or contest.[13][1] The proverb de aanhouder wint, “he who perseveres wins”, is found in many 16th- and 17th-century variants, including de aenhouder verwint in Huygens.[14]

The verb went into the Dutch-based creoles: Negerhollands win, Berbice Dutch won “to obtain”, and Sranan Tongo wini “to win; profit”, from which Caribbean Javanese and Kari'na took it.[15][1] Afrikaans has wen.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Old Dutch winnan “to earn, obtain” in the Egmond Williram.[5][4]
  • 1237 – Middle Dutch winnen “to acquire” is first recorded, in Ghent.[10][11]
  • 1240 – The Bernardus glossary uses it for Latin excolere “to till” and lucrari “to gain”.[4][10]
  • 1285 – Coren winnen “to grow corn” and sijn brod winnen “to earn one's bread”.[4][10]
  • 1350 – The sense “to be the victor” is first recorded.[11]
  • 1681 – Winschoten lists de aanhouder, die wint and tijd gewonnen, is veel gewonnen among sailors' sayings.[16]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To win, to come out on top in a game, match or contest: Ons team won zondag met drie tegen één.[13][17][1]
  2. To gain, to make progress compared with someone or something, often with aan or op: aan populariteit winnen.[13]
  3. To make a profit, to save.[13]
  4. To obtain by effort; to extract raw materials such as ore, salt or gas from nature, or to harvest crops.[13][1][12]
  5. To gain for one's use or advantage;[13][12] iemand winnen voor is to win someone over to a cause.[13][12]

Word family

  • winst
  • winnaar
  • winnares
  • winning
  • gewin
  • overwinnen
  • terugwinnen
  • herwinnen
  • inwinnen
  • aanwinnen
  • winbaar

Usage notes

De aanhouder wint means that whoever keeps at it reaches the goal.[13][14] Zo gewonnen, zo geronnen says that what was earned without effort is soon spent again.[13] In cycling, in een fauteuil winnen (after French arriver dans un fauteuil) is to win without much effort.[18]

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. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
  5. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  6. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  8. ^ 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. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  12. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  14. ^ a b Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  15. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  16. ^ Winschoten, Wigardus à (1681), Seeman: behelsende een grondige uitlegging van de Neederlandse konst- en spreekwoorden, voor soo veel die uit de seevaart sijn ontleend, Leiden
  17. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  18. ^ Coster, Marc de (1999), Woordenboek van neologismen: 25 jaar taalaanwinsten, Amsterdam: Contact