spijt Dutch · revision 37157

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing, clipping|attested=early 15th century, Middle Dutch|origins=la speciō}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /spɛi̯t/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''spijt''' ''f or n'' (uncountable, no diminutive)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|spijt]], a shortening of [[m|dum|despijt|t=contempt, rancour]], [[bor|fro|despit|t=contempt; resentment]] (modern [[fr|dépit]]), from [[la|dēspectus|t=a looking down on, contempt]], from [[m|la|dēspiciō|t=to look down on, despise]], formed from [[m|la|dē-|t=down from]] and [[m|la|speciō|t=to look]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(Van der Sijs 2005) The Latin verb is related to [[spieden]].^(EWN)^(Vercoullie 1925)

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+ The unstressed first syllable was lost, as in other Middle Dutch loans such as [[m|dum|seplîne]] from [[m|dum|disciplîne]].^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971) It may have helped that ⟨de⟩ was heard as the article.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(Wiktionary) English [[m|en|spite]] and [[m|en|despite]] come from the same French word, and [[gml|spît]] perhaps from Dutch.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The older ''despijt'' is recorded around 1350 for “scorn, contempt” and around 1400 for “resentment”.^(EWN)^(MNW) ''Spijt'' itself appears in the early 15th century as “scorn, insult”: ''in sijn spijt'' meant “to mock him”.^(EWN)^(MNW)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle Dutch the word first meant contempt shown to someone, as in ''grote spijt doen'', “to treat with great contempt” (1481).^(EWN)^(MNW) From the hurt received it turned to the feeling: “anger, rancour” around 1540 and “grief” in the early 16th century.^(EWN)^(MNW) The sense “disappointment” is found in ''tot mijn spijt'' in 1840, and “regret, remorse”, the main modern sense, in 1901.^(EWN)

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+ ''In spijt van'', “in spite of”, followed French ''en dépit de'' and is found in 1613.^(WNT) The bare preposition ''spijt'' “despite” already existed in Middle Low German, while Kiliaan has only ''te spijte van''.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971) The compound ''spijtoptant'' was coined in 1958 for Indonesian citizens of Dutch origin who wanted their Dutch citizenship back, and later meant anyone who regrets a choice.^(EWN)

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+ The word went into Negerhollands (''spit''), Sranan (''speiti'') and perhaps, via Low German, into German dialect ''Spiet''.^(Van der Sijs 2010)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1350 – ''Despijt'' “contempt”.^(EWN)

+ * 1436 – ''Spijt'' is recorded in the Middle Dutch dictionary.^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1481 – ''Grote spijt doen'' “to treat with contempt”.^(EWN)

+ * 1613 – ''In spijt van weer en wind'' “in spite of wind and weather”.^(WNT)

+ * 1840 – ''Tot mijn spijt'' “to my disappointment”.^(EWN)

+ * 1901 – ''Spijt'' “regret, remorse”.^(EWN)

+ * 1958 – ''Spijtoptant'' is first recorded.^(EWN)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|regret]], [[m|en|remorse]]: the feeling that something should have gone otherwise: ''Hij had spijt dat hij niet gebeld had.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(WikiWoordenboek)

+ # ''tot mijn spijt'', to my regret, unfortunately.^(Van Dale 2014)

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+ ===Preposition===

+ # ''(formal)'' [[m|en|despite]], in spite of.^(WikiWoordenboek)^(WNT)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[spijten]]

+ * [[spijtig]]

+ * [[spijtoptant]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|spite]]

+ * [[en|despite]]

+ * [[fr|dépit]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Spijt hebben als haren op je hoofd'' is to regret something bitterly.^(Van Dale 2014) A separate, eastern dialect word ''spijt'' means the waste of flax left after the second hackling, recorded in 1688.^(WNT)^(Vercoullie 1925)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}