meisje Dutch · revision 37237

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1285, Middle Dutch (West Flanders)|origins=nl maagd}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmɛi̯.ʃə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''meisje''' ''n'' (plural meisjes)^(Wiktionary)

+ The older ''meisken'' was largely displaced by ''meisje'' in the northern Netherlands from the early 17th century.^(WNT) Flemish dialects keep ''meissen'' “girl, daughter, maid”.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|nl|meid|-je]], a diminutive whose ⟨s⟩ is a relic of an older diminutive suffix.^(EWN)^(WikiWoordenboek) The Middle Dutch diminutives of the noun had several suffixes, with or without assimilation of its final consonant: [[dum|meisin]], later weakened to ⟨meisen⟩, [[m|dum|meitkijn]], and forms with doubled suffixes such as [[m|dum|meiskijn]] and ⟨meydsken⟩.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(MNW) When ⟨-tje⟩, with its variant ⟨-je⟩ after ⟨s⟩, became the standard diminutive suffix, ⟨meisje⟩ became the usual form.^(EWN) Holland already had ⟨meistgin⟩ in the 15th century.^(De Vries 1971)^(Van Haeringen 1936)

+

+ The EWN rejects the idea that the ⟨s⟩ was inserted as a glide after velar consonants.^(EWN) The NEW and Van Haeringen, following an article by W. de Vries, trace the forms to suffixes ⟨-skijn⟩ and ⟨-sijn⟩ that first followed only velar consonants, so that the word would have been formed after [[jongske]] “little boy”.^(De Vries 1971)^(Van Haeringen 1936) De Vries & De Tollenaere and Van Veen & Van der Sijs take the ⟨s⟩ to be affective.^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|245)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997) The base [[meid]] is itself a contraction of [[maagd]].^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Ghent text of 1236 already has ''knape of meicin'' “a serving boy or a maid”, with the diminutive ''meisin''.^(EWN)^(VMNW) ''Meiskijn'' is first found in West Flanders in 1285, in the observation that a newborn boy's first cry is ''a'' and a girl's ''e''.^(VMNW)^(EWN) The spelling ''meysjen'' appears in 1600.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal dates ''meisje'' from the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century.^(WNT) From the start it covered a female child, a marriageable young woman (1616) and a maidservant (1616, in the north only); later records add someone's daughters (1807), a sweetheart or fiancée (1782) and ''een meisje van plezier'' “a prostitute” (1784), like French ''fille de joie''.^(WNT)^(Van Dale 2014) ''Een meisje van drie kruisjes'' is a woman of thirty, the crosses standing for tens, perhaps after the marks cut on a cow's horns to show its age.^(Stoett 1923)

+

+ In Surinamese Dutch ''meisje'' is a familiar form of address for women of any age.^(Van Donselaar 1989) The word went abroad as Sranan Tongo ''mèisye'', Negerhollands ''meeschi'' and ''meisje'', Skepi Dutch ''meski'' and Afrikaans [[m|af|meisie]], which South African English took over; in German ''Meisje'' means a Dutch girl.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1236 – ''Meicin'' “maid”, in Ghent.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1285 – ''Meiskijn'' “girl”, in West Flanders.^(VMNW)^(EWN)

+ * 1343–1344 – ''Meytken'' “girl”.^(EWN)

+ * 15th century – The Holland form ''meistgin''.^(De Vries 1971)^(Van Haeringen 1936)

+ * 1600 – ''Meysjen'' is recorded.^(EWN)

+ * 1616 – ''Meisje'' for a young unmarried woman and for a maidservant.^(WNT)

+ * 1782 – ''Meisje'' “sweetheart”.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|girl]], a female child.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A young woman.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)

+ # A [[m|en|girlfriend]], someone's sweetheart.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|maid]], a girl in domestic service.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[meis]]

+ * [[dienstmeisje]]

+ * [[schoolmeisje]]

+ * [[buurmeisje]]

+ * [[kamermeisje]]

+ * [[meisjesnaam]]

+ * [[meisjesachtig]]

+ * [[meisjesboek]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[meid]]

+ * [[maagd]]

+ * [[jongen]]

+ * [[de|Mädchen]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Zaken gaan voor het meisje'' means that duty comes before pleasure.^(Van Dale 2014) ''Meisje'' is neuter, like all diminutives: ''het meisje''.^(Wiktionary)^(ANW)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}