te Dutch · revision 37064

+ {{homograph|1|at, to; too}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 900, Old Dutch (place names)|origins=ine-pro *de}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /tə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''te'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The preposition is [[inh|dum|te]], [[inh|odt|te]] (once [[m|odt|ti]]), [[inh|gem-pro|*ta|t=to]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) It is an old weakened form of the adverb [[toe]]: in the West Germanic languages the adverbs kept their full vowel, while the prepositions that grew out of them carried less stress and were reduced, as [[met]] stands beside the adverb [[mede]].^(EWN) The same short form is [[osx|te]], [[m|osx|ti]], [[ofs|te]] and [[goh|za]], [[m|goh|zi]], [[m|goh|ze]], and the full form [[osx|tō]], [[goh|zuo]] (modern [[de|zu]]) and [[ang|tō]] (modern [[en|to]] and [[en|too]]).^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|380) [[got|𐌳𐌿|tr=du]] has another origin.^(MNW)

+

+ Outside Germanic the sources compare [[cu|до|tr=do|t=to, up to]], Old Latin [[m|la|endo|t=in]] and the Greek ending [[m|grc|-δε|tr=-de]] of [[m|grc|οἴκονδε|tr=oíkonde|t=homeward]], pointing to [[ine-pro|*de]] beside [[m|ine-pro|*do]].^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|380)

+

+ The adverb meaning “too” is probably the same word: the shift had already taken place in West Germanic, as [[ang|tō]], [[osx|ti]] and [[goh|zi]] show, though how it came about is unclear.^(EWN) Johannisson (followed by Kluge and De Vries & De Tollenaere) instead equates it with the Middle Dutch verbal prefix [[m|dum|te-|t=apart, to pieces]] of [[m|dum|tebreken|t=to break to pieces]], whose destructive or intensifying sense would have passed from participles to adjectives.^(EWN)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|380)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old Dutch ''te'' first appears around 900 in place names, as in ''te Amuthon'' “at Muiden”.^(EWN)^(ONW) The Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century use it for direction, “to”, and before a verbal noun, as in ''te etoni'' “to eat”.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001) Because the word points to a direction or goal, the EWN takes that to be its first meaning.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From “towards, to” the preposition spread by analogy into many uses with no idea of a goal, most of them already in West Germanic or Old Dutch times; it always took the dative.^(EWN)^(VMNW) One of its West Germanic uses was ''te'' before the infinitive used as a noun, which ended in ''-e'' in the dative;^(EWN) Middle Dutch gradually lost that ending, and ''te'' became the sign of the infinitive.^(EWN)

+

+ In frequent combinations ''te'' was cut to ''t-'' already in Middle Dutch, giving [[samen]], [[sedert]], [[tegen]], [[thans]] and [[thuis]], and with the article it became [[ten]] (from ''te den'') and [[ter]] (from ''te der'').^(EWN) In modern Dutch ''te'' before a noun has largely given way to [[naar]], [[in]], [[op]] and [[bij]], and lives on in formal style and in fixed phrases that keep old dative endings.^(EWN)^(WNT)

+

+ The sense “too, excessively” is found from 1236, as in ''niet te dicke'' “not too often”, and Middle Dutch also used ''al te'' simply for “very”, a sense that could easily turn into “too much”.^(EWN)^(VMNW) Dutch ''te'' passed into Negerhollands ([[m|dcr|toe]] “to”, [[m|dcr|tu]] “too”) and into Petjo.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 900 – Old Dutch ''te'' appears in place names such as ''te Amuthon'' “at Muiden”.^(EWN)^(ONW)

+ * 901–1000 – The Wachtendonck Psalms use ''te'' for “to” and before a verbal noun.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1151 – An Old Dutch rhyming text from Werden uses ''te'' for “too, excessively”.^(ONW)

+ * 1200 – Middle Dutch ''te(n)'' is recorded in Limburg.^(VMNW)^(EWN)

+ * 1236 – ''Te dicke'' “too often” is the first Middle Dutch record of the sense “too”.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1931 – The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal notes that ''te'' before a noun survives in northern Dutch mostly in fixed phrases and formal style.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Preposition===

+ # ''(formal)'' At, [[m|en|in]], with the name of a place: ''Hij woont te Leiden.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)

+ # For, with a view to, in fixed [[uitdrukking|alt=phrases]] such as ''te koop'' “for sale” and ''te huur'' “to let”.^(Van Dale 2014)

+ # ''(archaic)'' At a point in [[m|en|time]].^(Van Dale 2014)

+ # [[m|en|to]], the particle before an [[m|en|infinitive]]: ''Het is moeilijk te zeggen.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # With the verbs ''hangen'', ''liggen'', ''lopen'', ''staan'' and ''zitten'': ''Ze zat te lezen.''^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|too]], more than is wanted or proper: ''De soep is te heet.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Stressed and used without the qualification, more than that qualification states.^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ten]]

+ * [[ter]]

+ * [[terecht]]

+ * [[tegelijk]]

+ * [[tegelijkertijd]]

+ * [[tegemoet]]

+ * [[teleurstellen]]

+ * [[telkens]]

+ * [[teloorgaan]]

+ * [[terdege]]

+ * [[terloops]]

+ * [[ternauwernood]]

+ * [[thuis]]

+ * [[samen]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|the (with a comparative)}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1200, Middle Dutch (Limburg)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /tə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''te'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The comparative particle is [[inh|dum|de]], later [[m|dum|te]], the old instrumental case of the demonstrative [[die]], always followed by an adjective or adverb in the comparative.^(EWN)^(MNW)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|380) The regular form with /d/ is still found now and then in the earliest Middle Dutch, but the word mostly came after [[m|dum|des]], the genitive of the same pronoun, and the phrase [[m|dum|des de]] was assimilated to [[m|dum|deste]].^(EWN)^(MNW) Under the influence of the adverb meaning “too”, which also stood before adjectives and adverbs, it was usually spelled [[des te]].^(EWN)

+

+ The same use is [[osx|thiu]], [[goh|des diu]] (modern [[de|desto]]), [[ang|þȳ]], [[m|ang|þē]] (modern [[en|the]]) and [[got|𐌸𐌴|tr=þē]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(MNW) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal leaves open which of the Middle Dutch instrumental forms [[m|dum|die]] and [[m|dum|di]] lies behind it.^(WNT) Van Haeringen preferred to equate the Middle Dutch particle with [[goh|diu]] and [[osx|thiu]].^(Van Haeringen 1936)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The oldest record, from Limburg around 1200, is ''deste bat'' “all the better”, in a text urging a sister to serve him all the better.^(EWN)^(VMNW) The original sense was “by that, thereby”.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The particle survives only before a comparative, in ''des te'' and ''zoveel te'', and in the compound [[niettemin]] “nevertheless”.^(EWN)^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal notes that writers sometimes added ''daarom'' or ''er om'' for clarity once the sense of ''te'' had faded, as in a 1644 line ''te beter om'' “the better for it”.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1200 – ''Deste bat'' “all the better” is recorded in Limburg.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1253 – A Ghent charter has ''ombe de meerre vastheden'' “for (all) the more certainty”, with the older form ''de''.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1521 – The earliest quotation in the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # Before a [[m|en|comparative]]: the, all the, so much the, as in ''des te beter'' “all the better”.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[niettemin]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[toe]]

+ * [[en|to]]

+ * [[de|zu]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Many fixed phrases keep old dative forms after ''te'': ''te berde brengen'', ''te elfder ure'', ''ten koste van'', ''ter zake''; in ''te voet'' and ''te paard'' the endings have gone.^(EWN) In oaths such as ''te drommel'', ''te'' is a distortion of the article ''de''.^(Van Sterkenburg 2001) The intensifier in ''te maf'' “splendid” was recorded as a new phrase in 1984.^(Reinsma 1984)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}