niks Dutch · revision 37260

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1784}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /nɪks/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''niks'''^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|de|nix]], a colloquial and dialectal form of [[m|de|nichts|t=nothing]].^(WNT)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(Wiktionary) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal finds it in the Netherlands from the 18th century, perhaps borrowed earlier, and notes that the German derivation was already proposed in 1843.^(WNT)

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+ The same form is old in Yiddish, recorded in a prayer-book rhyme of 1544.^(Van de Kamp 2006)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first records date from 1784: ''Ik geloof nix aan den Satan'', “I don't believe in Satan at all”, and, in the same year, someone who confided ''dat hy niks geloofde'', “that he believed nothing”.^(WNT)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(Aarts 2017)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the start ''niks'' meant both “nothing” and “not at all”, and it was used to strengthen another negative, as in ''niks niemendal'' (1865).^(WNT) In jest it could be a noun, ''een mooie niks'', a pretty nothing.^(WNT) From it Dutch formed [[niksen]] “to do nothing” and [[niksnut]] “good-for-nothing”.^(WNT) Today it is the informal word for ''niets'', with phrases such as ''voor niks'', free, and ''drie keer niks'', nothing at all.^(Van Dale 2014) In The Hague the curse ''krijg nou niks!'' amounts to a wish that the other may die.^(Van Sterkenburg 2001)

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+ Dutch or German speakers carried the word abroad: American English [[m|en|nix]] “no, nothing” comes from Dutch or German, Danish ''niks'' and Swedish ''nix'' from Dutch or Low German; it lives on in Sranan ''nèks'', Berbice Dutch ''neks'' and Javindo ''neks'', and through Afrikaans it reached South African English.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1784 – ''Nix'' and ''niks'' are first recorded.^(WNT)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)

+ * 1843 – The derivation from German ''nix'' is proposed.^(WNT)

+ * 1865 – ''Niks niemendal'' “nothing whatsoever”.^(WNT)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(informal)'' [[m|en|nothing]].^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(ANW)

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+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(informal)'' Not at all, in no way: ''niks geen zin hebben'', not to feel like it at all.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

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+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(informal, predicative)'' Dull, uninteresting, or unpleasant: ''dat is niks'', that's no good.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[niksen]]

+ * [[niksnut]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[niets]]

+ * [[niet]]

+ * [[de|nichts]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The phrase ''mir niks, dir niks'', “just like that, without ceremony”, came into Dutch from Yiddish.^(Van de Kamp 2006) In the south, for example in Antwerp and Bruges, there is also a diminutive ''nikske''.^(WNT)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}