klaar Dutch · revision 37248

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200, Middle Dutch (Limburg)|origins=la clārus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /klaːr/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''klaar''' (comparative klaarder, superlative klaarst)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|claer]], [[bor|la|clārus|t=bright, clear, famous]].^(EWN)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(De Vries 1971)^(Wiktionary) Van der Sijs gives [[fro|clar]] as a possible source beside the Latin word, and Franck–Van Wijk allow that the word came partly through French, the source of [[en|clear]].^(Van der Sijs 2005)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) The same Latin adjective was taken into [[gml|klār]] and [[gmh|klār]] (modern [[de|klar]]), and [[ofs|klāria|t=to make clear]] belongs with it; late [[non|klárr]] came from Middle Low German.^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(Van Haeringen 1936)

+

+ The Latin word goes back to [[ine-pro|*klh₁-ro-]], from the root of [[m|la|clāmō|t=to call out, proclaim]], the source of [[claim]]; it is probably related to [[hel#2]] “bright” and to [[loeien]].^(EWN)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The word appears first in Old Dutch place names, ''Klaerhout'' at Pittem in West Flanders (1159) and ''Clart'' near Warneton (1197).^(ONW) As a Middle Dutch adjective it is first found around 1200 in the Limburg life of Saint Servatius, where the saint comes ''schinende alse di sonne clare'' “shining like the bright sun”; a Lower Rhine text of about 1201 calls a spring ''gut ende clar'', good and clear.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle Dutch the word meant “bright, shining” of the sun, the day and fire, and also “clear” of water and wine, “pure, sincere”, “distinct, plain”, “famous” and, as an adverb, “wholly”.^(VMNW)^(MNW)^(De Vries 1971) The sense “ready”, which has become the commonest, developed only in Dutch and Low German, never in High German.^(MNW) Verdam finds it hinted at already in the Middle Dutch verb ''claren'' “to decide a lawsuit”, literally “to clear up a case”, and so “to settle, finish”.^(MNW)^(EWN) It is first clearly recorded in 1652, when the horses ''claer waren'' “were ready”, and the sense “finished, done” follows in 1866.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001) The adverb in ''klaar wakker'' “wide awake” is from 1876.^(EWN)

+

+ Pure gin was a ''klaare borrel'' (1776) or ''klaare jenever'' (1813).^(EWN) From 1848 it was simply ''klare''.^(EWN) The Netherlands' school crossing patrols took their name ''klaar-over'' from the call “ready? then cross!”, recorded in 1955.^(EWN) In Surinamese Dutch ''klaar'' also means “used up, over”, after a Sranan Tongo phrase.^(Van Donselaar 1989)

+

+ The word travelled widely in the sense “ready”: Indonesian and Javanese have [[m|id|kelar]], Papiamentu ''kla'' and ''klaar'', and West African Ewe ''klálò'' and Twi ''krádo''.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary) Danish and Swedish ''klar'' “clear” came from Dutch or Low German.^(Van der Sijs 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1159 – The place name ''Klaerhout'' is recorded at Pittem.^(ONW)

+ * c. 1200 – ''Clare'' “bright” of the sun, in the Limburg Servatius.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1240 – ''Claer'' and ''clere'' “shining, pure” in a Limburg text.^(EWN)

+ * 1652 – First clear record of the sense “ready”.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1776 – ''Klaare borrel'' “a glass of plain gin”.^(EWN)

+ * 1848 – ''Klare'' alone for plain gin.^(EWN)

+ * 1866 – ''Klaar'' “finished, done”.^(EWN)

+ * 1876 – ''Klaar wakker'' “wide awake”.^(EWN)

+ * 1955 – The call ''Klaar-over!'' of the school crossing patrols.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|clear]], [[m|en|transparent]]: ''klaar water''.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Pure, unmixed.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(chiefly Belgium, dated in the Netherlands)'' Clear, plain, [[m|en|obvious]].^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|ready]], prepared for use or action: ''Het eten is klaar.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|finished]], done, of a task or of the person doing it: ''Ben je al klaar met je huiswerk?''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(het klaar)'' The white of an egg.^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[opklaren]]

+ * [[klinkklaar]]

+ * [[kant-en-klaar]]

+ * [[klaarblijkelijk]]

+ * [[klaarkomen]]

+ * [[klaarmaken]]

+ * [[klaarpijpen]]

+ * [[klaarspelen]]

+ * [[klaarstomen]]

+ * [[klaarzetten]]

+ * [[klaren]]

+ * [[klip-en-klaar]]

+ * [[klaarheid]]

+ * [[klaarte]]

+ * [[verklaren]]

+ * [[onklaar]]

+ * [[klare]]

+ * [[klaar-over]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[claim]]

+ * [[en|clear]]

+ * [[de|klar]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Kant en klaar'' “all ready” pairs the word with an older adjective ''kant'' “neat”, from [[kanten]] “to trim the edges”.^(Stoett 1923) ''Klaar is Kees'' is said with satisfaction when a job is done, and ''zo klaar als een klontje'' means “perfectly clear”.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary) In the Netherlands the sense “clear, obvious” is now chiefly bookish; in the south it is still ordinary.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}