maar Dutch · revision 37057

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1200, Middle Dutch (Limburg)|origins=dum neware}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /maːr/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''maar'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|maer]] (also [[m|dum|mare]], [[m|dum|mar]], [[m|dum|mer]]), shortened from [[m|dum|nemaer]], earlier [[m|dum|neware]], by contraction and the assimilation of /nw-/ to /m-/.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(VMNW) This older form is [[af|dum|ne|ware|t1=not|t2=were]]: the negative particle (see [[nee]]) and the past subjunctive of [[zijn]], so it first meant “were it not (that)”.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(VMNW) The same formation is [[osx|ni wāri]] “unless”, [[goh|ni wāri]] (modern [[de|nur]] “only”), [[ofs|ne wēre]], [[m|ofs|nēre]] (modern [[fy|mar]]) and [[ang|ne wǣre]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) It is not related to English [[m|en|mere]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Old Saxon also had [[m|osx|newan]] “unless, except that”, whose descendant [[gml|man]] “but, only” developed in the same way.^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the earliest records, from Limburg around 1200, ''maer'' (''dat'') means “were it not (that), except (that)”: a text says that a woman need not have complained, were it not that she feared for her soul, and another that someone could speak no language but Greek.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The clause with ''neware'' or ''maer'' first stated the real exception to a merely possible main clause, “it would have happened, were it not that…”; from there the word came to mean “except”, and then expressed contrast or restriction.^(EWN)^(MNW) By 1236 a Ghent rule uses ''nemar'' and ''mar'' for “but”, and the adverb “only” is found from 1220–40.^(EWN)^(VMNW) The full and the short form stood side by side, sometimes in one sentence (1287); in Early Modern Dutch ''neware'' had become obsolete.^(EWN)

+

+ Used as a noun, ''maer'' “an objection” is the title of a 14th-century poem, and Dutch still speaks of ''mitsen en maren'' “ifs and buts”, with the verb [[maren]] “to keep raising objections”.^(MNW)^(Van Dale 2014)

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+ Dutch ''maar'' “but” was borrowed widely: into Frisian, Papiamentu ([[m|pap|ma]]), Sranan Tongo ([[m|srn|ma]], formerly ''mara''), Negerhollands ([[m|dcr|maer]]) and several varieties of Malay, and it lives on in Afrikaans [[m|af|maar]].^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1200 – Middle Dutch ''maer'' “except, were it not that” is recorded in Limburg.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1220–40 – The adverb ''mer'' “only” is recorded.^(EWN)

+ * 1236 – ''Nemar'' and ''mar'' “but” in a Ghent rule for brothers and sisters.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1287 – ''Neware'' and ''mar'' stand in the same passage.^(EWN)

+ * c. 1350 – ''Van maer'', the noun “objection” as the title of a Flemish poem.^(MNW)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # [[m|en|but]], introducing a contrast or objection: ''Het is klein, maar gezellig.''^(Wiktionary)^(VMNW)^(WikiWoordenboek)

+ # But then, yet.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|only]], just: ''Het kost maar een euro.''^(Wiktionary)^(EWN)

+ # A softening [[partikel|alt=particle]], often with an imperative: ''Kom maar binnen.''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An objection, a reservation, in ''mitsen en maren'' “ifs and buts”.^(Van Dale 2014)^(MNW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[maren]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nee]]

+ * [[zijn]]

+ * [[de|nur]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Several unrelated words were once spelled ''maar''.^(WNT)^(De Vries 1971) In Groningen a ''maar'' is a canal or drainage ditch, Middle Dutch ''mare'' “water, pool”; it is compared with [[meer]] “lake” or traced to Gallo-Romance ''mara''.^(Weijnen 2003)^(De Vries 1971)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|237) ''Maar'' or ''mare'' “a night spirit, nightmare” is obsolete in the north but survives in Flemish and Brabant dialect, in [[nachtmerrie]] and in French ''cauchemar''.^(WNT)^(Debrabandere 2010)^(Van der Sijs 2010) The old word [[mare]] “news, rumour” was also written ''maar''.^(WNT)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}