ons Dutch · revision 37104

+ {{homograph|1|us, our}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=901–1000, Wachtendonck Psalms|origins=ine-pro *n̥s}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɔns/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Netherlands: [õs]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ons''' (personal pronoun, object form of [[wij]]); possessive '''ons''', inflected '''onze'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The pronoun is [[inh|dum|ons]], [[inh|odt|uns]], [[inh|gem-pro|*uns|t=us]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|ūs]], [[goh|uns]] (modern [[de|uns]]), [[ofs|ūs]] (modern [[fy|ús]]), [[ang|ūs]] (modern [[en|us]]), [[non|oss]] and [[got|𐌿𐌽𐍃|tr=uns]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) Many Dutch dialects have the North Sea Germanic form without /n/ and with a lengthened vowel, as Old Saxon, Frisian and English do.^(EWN) Kloeke showed that such forms survive as relics from Holland to Flanders, while in the Saxon and Limburg dialects they are more likely to be recent.^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ The possessive grew out of the genitive of the personal pronoun.^(WNT)^(ONW) It is [[m|dum|onse]], Old Dutch [[m|odt|unsa]], as [[osx|ūsa]] and [[m|ofs|ūse]]; [[m|goh|unsēr]] (modern [[m|de|unser]]), [[m|ang|ūser]], [[m|ang|ūre]] (modern [[en|our]]) and [[m|got|𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂|tr=unsar]] add a suffix with /r/, from [[gem-pro|*unseraz|t=our]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(Orel 2003) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal thinks the possessive was at first not inflected at all.^(WNT)

+

+ The Germanic stem goes back to [[ine-pro|*n̥s]], the zero grade of the stem seen in [[la|nōs|t=we, us]], [[sa|नस्|tr=nas|t=us]] and [[sq|na|t=we]], which was originally the stem of the cases other than the nominative.^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|270) The same form underlies [[hit|anz-|t=us]].^(EWN) A longer [[ine-pro|*n̥smé]] gave [[grc|ἡμεῖς|tr=hēmeîs|t=we]], Aeolic [[m|grc|ἄμμε|tr=ámme|t=us]], and [[sa|अस्मे|tr=asmé|t=to us]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century, Old Dutch ''uns'' is the object form, as in ''uuaren ouir uns'' “they had the upper hand over us”, and the possessive appears in ''got hulpere unsa'' “God our helper”.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001) The Middle Dutch dictionary of the 13th century has the possessive ''onse'' from Limburg around 1200, and the personal pronoun ''ons'' from Ghent in 1236.^(VMNW)^(EWN)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In early Middle Dutch the nominative of the possessive was ''onse'' in all three genders, and ''onse'' with neuter nouns is still found in the 17th century; on the model of ''mijn'' and ''zijn'', an uninflected ''ons'' spread to masculine, feminine and plural nouns already in the Middle Ages.^(WNT) In the modern language ''onze'' stands before common-gender and plural nouns and ''ons'' before neuter ones, and 16th-century writers sometimes used ''onser'' after German ''unser''.^(WNT) Old case forms survive in ''te onzent'' “at our house” and ''om onzent wil'' “for our sake”, where a /t/ was added.^(WNT) ''Onze Lieve Heer'' and ''Onze Lieve Vrouw'' name God and the Virgin Mary.^(WNT)

+

+ In Afrikaans ''ons'' has replaced the subject form ''we'', but standard Dutch does not use it as a subject except in a few phrases, such as ''ons kent ons'' and the originally Zeeland saying ''ons bin zunig''.^(EWN) The pronoun passed into Negerhollands, where ''ons'' served for every case, number and gender, into Berbice Dutch (''ensi'' “we, us”), Skepi Dutch and Chinese Malay.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 901–1000 – Old Dutch ''uns'' and the possessive ''unsa'' appear in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Nu saga uns'' “now tell us” in the Leiden Willeram.^(EWN)

+ * 1200 – Middle Dutch possessive ''onse'' in Limburg.^(VMNW)

+ * 1236 – The personal pronoun ''ons'' in Ghent.^(VMNW)^(EWN)

+ * 1254 – ''Med onsen konegheleken zeghele'' “with our royal seal”.^(EWN)

+ * 1688 – ''Onse Godt dien wy eeren'' “our God whom we honour”.^(WNT)

+ * 1867 – ''Ten onzent'' “at our house”.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|us]], the object form of [[wij]]: ''Ze hebben ons gisteren gebeld.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|ourselves]], used reflexively: ''We vergissen ons soms.''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Determiner===

+ # [[m|en|our]], before a neuter singular noun: ''ons huis''; before other nouns ''onze'': ''onze kinderen''.^(Wiktionary)^(WNT)

+ # ''(predicative)'' Ours: ''Die tuin is van ons.''^(WNT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[onszelf]]

+ * [[Onze-Lieve-Vrouw]]

+ * [[Onze-Lieve-Heer]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|100 grams}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1240, Middle Dutch (Limburg)|origins=la ūnus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɔns/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Netherlands: [õs]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ons''' ''n'' (plural onsen or onzen, diminutive onsje n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The weight is [[inh|dum|unce]] (also [[m|dum|once]], [[m|dum|onse]]), [[bor|la|uncia|t=a twelfth of a pound, of a foot etc.]], probably by way of [[fro|once|t=small weight]], recorded around 1160.^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(Van der Sijs 2001) Franck and Van Wijk leave open whether it came through French or directly from Latin, and De Vries allows a French source for the Middle Dutch form ⟨onse⟩.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal doubts that the word came directly from the Latin and explains the neuter gender by analogy with [[pond]] and [[lood]].^(WNT) The Latin noun developed from an older [[m|la|*oinikiā]], a derivative of [[m|la|*oinos|t=unit]], which became [[m|la|ūnus|t=one]]; see [[een]].^(EWN)

+

+ The Latin word was also borrowed, in some cases through French, as [[gml|unse]] (whence [[sv|uns]]), [[goh|unza]] (modern [[de|Unze]]), [[ofs|enze]] and [[ang|unce]], [[m|ang|ynce]] (modern [[en|ounce]] and [[en|inch]]).^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Van Haeringen 1936) The modern [[fy|ûns]] was borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Middle Dutch ''unce'' first appears in 1240 in the Limburg glossary known as Bernardus, as a weight, the twelfth part of a pound.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Through most of its history an ''ons'' was the twelfth part of a pound, sometimes the sixteenth, and the apothecaries' weight kept that division.^(EWN)^(WNT) When the metric system came in, the name passed to a tenth of a kilogram, while ''pond'' passed to half a kilogram, so that a pound is now five ''ons''.^(EWN) Belgian Dutch no longer uses the word except in sayings.^(EWN) From early on it also meant a very small amount, as in a 1644 line saying that a whole group would not make up ''een half once'' of one man's courage.^(WNT) The diminutive ''onsken'' is found in 1483.^(EWN)

+

+ The proverb ''beter een ons geluk dan een pond wijsheid'' “better an ounce of luck than a pound of wisdom” is in Harrebomée's collection of 1861.^(WNT)^(Van Dale 2014) The word passed into Indonesian (''ons'', ''on''), Jakarta Malay, Papiamentu (''òns''), Surinamese Javanese (''os'') and Japanese (''onsu'').^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1240 – Middle Dutch ''unce'' in the Limburg glossary Bernardus.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1300–50 – ''Wel III uncen'' “a good three ounces”.^(EWN)

+ * 1351 – ''4 oncen wegende'' “weighing 4 ounces”.^(EWN)

+ * 1483 – The diminutive ''onsken''.^(EWN)

+ * 1644 – ''Een half once'' used of a tiny amount.^(WNT)

+ * 1861 – Harrebomée records ''beter een ons geluk dan een pond wijsheid''.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Netherlands)'' A weight of 100 [[gram|alt=grams]]: ''Doe maar twee ons kaas.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(EWN)

+ # ''(historical)'' An [[m|en|ounce]], a twelfth or sixteenth of a [[pond]].^(EWN)^(WNT)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wij]]

+ * [[een]]

+ * [[pond]]

+ * [[en|us]]

+ * [[de|uns]]

+ * [[en|ounce]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ons kent ons'' means “we know what to expect of each other”.^(Van Dale 2014) The phrase ''dan kun je wachten tot je een ons weegt'' means that one will wait in vain.^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}