vrouw Dutch · revision 37147

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=1151–1200, Old Dutch|origins=ine-pro *pro-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vrɑu̯/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vrouw''' ''f'' (plural vrouwen, diminutive vrouwtje n or vrouwetje n or vrouwke n)^(Wiktionary)

+ The fuller form ''vrouwe'' is kept for a lady of rank and in fixed names.^(WNT)^(Wiktionary) A shortened ''ver'' was used before women's names in Middle Dutch and survives in [[juffer]], from ''joncfer''.^(MNW)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|vrouwe]], [[inh|odt|frouwa|t=lady]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*frauwjā]], [[inh|gem-pro|*frawjǭ|t=lady]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|frūa]], [[goh|frouwa]] (modern [[de|Frau]]), [[ofs|frouwe]] (modern [[fy|frou]]) and [[non|Freyja]], the name of the Norse goddess.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971) It is the feminine of a word for “lord”, [[gem-pro|*frawan-]], seen in [[osx|frō]], [[goh|frō]], [[ang|frēa]] and [[got|𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰|tr=frauja]]; that word has been replaced everywhere by [[heer]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ The original meaning was “the foremost, the noble one”: the Germanic word goes back to [[ine-pro|*pro-wo-]], derived from [[m|ine-pro|*pro-|t=before, in front]].^(EWN) Related words outside Germanic include [[cs|pravý|t=right, true]].^(De Vries 1971)^(WikiWoordenboek)

+

+ Franck–Van Wijk thought the Dutch, Low German and Frisian forms could hardly go back to the same base, and took them as an early loan from High German, together with the word for “lord”.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) De Vries thinks this possible.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old Dutch ''frouwa'' first appears in the Reimbibel, a rhymed Bible text of the late 12th century: ''sancta maria thie heilige urowe'', “Saint Mary, the holy lady”.^(EWN)^(ONW) In Old Dutch it is used only of female saints.^(ONW) Early Middle Dutch ''vrouwe'' meant a noblewoman or ruler, as in ''onse vrouwe grafenede margriete van vlaendren'', “our lady, Countess Margaret of Flanders” (1240–1260).^(EWN)^(VMNW) A text of 1250 already uses it of a woman who has just given birth.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word first meant a woman of rank, a mistress or ruler, as the feminine of [[heer]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) Already in Middle Dutch it widened to any adult woman and, in particular, a married woman.^(EWN) The sense “wife” is dated from 1512.^(Van der Sijs 2001)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997) In the early modern period ''vrouw'' replaced [[wijf]] as the neutral word for a woman, while ''wijf'' became pejorative.^(WNT)^(Wiktionary) The old aristocratic sense passed to [[dame]] and survives in ''vrouwe'' and [[jonkvrouw]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ''Onze (Lieve) Vrouw'', the Virgin Mary, is behind many 16th-century names of feasts, churches and plants.^(WNT) ''Moeder de vrouw'', the housewife, is recorded in 1886.^(WNT) The playing card called ''vrouw'', the queen, is dated from 1720.^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ English borrowed the word as [[m|en|vrouw]] or [[m|en|vrow]], a Dutch wife, in the 1610s.^(Etymonline)^(Van der Sijs 2010) Danish and Norwegian [[m|da|frue]] are from Dutch or Low German, and the card name went as far as Acehnese, Buginese and Sinhala.^(Van der Sijs 2010) It lives on in Afrikaans [[m|af|vrou]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1151–1200 – Old Dutch ''frouwa'' “lady” appears in the Reimbibel.^(EWN)^(ONW)

+ * c. 1240 – Middle Dutch ''vrouwe'' is recorded.^(EWN)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|422)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1250 – ''Vrouwe'' is used of a woman in childbed.^(EWN)

+ * 1512 – ''Vrouw'' in the sense “wife”.^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1526 – ''Onser lieuer vrouwen dach'', a feast of the Virgin Mary.^(WNT)

+ * 1610s – English ''vrouw'' “Dutch wife”.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1720 – ''Vrouw'' as the queen in a pack of cards.^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|woman]], an adult female person: ''Er stonden twee vrouwen bij de bushalte.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|wife]]: ''Hij ging met zijn vrouw naar Parijs.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The [[m|en|queen]] in a pack of playing cards.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WikiWoordenboek)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mevrouw]]

+ * [[vroedvrouw]]

+ * [[bijvrouw]]

+ * [[huisvrouw]]

+ * [[topvrouw]]

+ * [[vrouwelijk]]

+ * [[vrouwlief]]

+ * [[juffrouw]]

+ * [[jonkvrouw]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vroon]]

+ * [[vrouwe]]

+ * [[heer]]

+ * [[de|Frau]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}