bel Dutch · revision 37300

+ Dutch has two main nouns spelled ''bel'': “bell”, an old Germanic word, and “bubble”, a younger variant of [[bal]] and [[bol]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Wiktionary)

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+ {{homograph|1|bell}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1236, Middle Dutch (Ghent)|origins=gem-pro *bellǭ}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /bɛl/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''bel''' ''f'' (plural bellen, diminutive belletje n)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The bell is [[inh|dum|belle]], [[inh|odt|bella]], [[inh|gem-pro|*bellǭ|alt=*bello-|t=bell]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[gml|belle]], [[fy|bel]] and [[ang|belle]] (modern [[en|bell]]); [[non|bjalla]] (modern [[sv|bjälla]]) was borrowed from Old English.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) The Germanic form is usually traced to ⟨*belzō⟩, with ⟨ll⟩ from ⟨lz⟩, and compared with [[lt|balsas|t=voice, sound]] and [[lv|balss]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|65) It probably goes back to [[ine-pro|*bʰel-|t=to sound, roar, bark]], the root of [[de|bellen|t=to bark]] and of Dutch [[balken]] and [[bulderen]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary) De Vries thinks the detour through ⟨*belzō⟩ unnecessary: Germanic had a group of sound words ⟨bel-, bal-, bol-, bul-⟩ for various noises.^(De Vries 1971)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Ghent rule of 1236 says that when the meal is ready ''so mot men de belle luden'', “then the bell must be rung”.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001) A Limburg word list of 1240 gives ''schelle, belle'' for Latin ''nola'' “small bell”.^(VMNW)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle Dutch the town crier rang a bell instead of beating a basin, and a man who had squandered his property and lost control of it was announced ''metter bellen''; hence ''in de belle sijn'' (1568) “to be bankrupt”.^(MNW) ''Der valscher bellen volghen'', to follow the false bell, meant to be led astray (1351).^(MNW)

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+ The house bell pulled by a cord appears in the 17th century: ''aan de bel trekken'' (1660), and figuratively, by 1896, “to ask someone for help”.^(WNT) The modern figurative sense “to raise the alarm about something” is noted in 1975.^(Reinsma 1975) Ringing doorbells without an errand was already a nuisance in 1646.^(WNT) The word was also used of lepers' bells, altar bells and the bell on an inn sign.^(WNT) Which of ''bel'' and ''schel'' is used differs from place to place; in Surinamese Dutch ''bel'' is the church bell, a sense once general in the Netherlands and still usual in Zeeland.^(WNT)^(Van Donselaar 1989)

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+ The [[belhamel]], first recorded in 1562, was the castrated ram that wore the bell and led the flock.^(EWN)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997) ''De kat de bel aanbinden'' goes back to Aesop's fable of the mice who decided to hang a bell on the cat, but found none willing to do it.^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)

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+ Dutch passed the word to Indonesian ''bél'', Javanese ''bel'', Papiamentu and Sranan Tongo ''bèl'', and French ''bélière'', the ring that holds a bell's clapper.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1236 – ''Belle'' “bell” in a Ghent rule.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1240 – ''Belle'' glosses Latin ''nola'' in Limburg.^(VMNW)

+ * 1351 – ''Der valscher bellen volghen'' “to be led astray”.^(MNW)

+ * 1562 – [[belhamel|alt=Belhamel]] “leader”.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1568 – ''In de belle sijn'' “to be bankrupt”.^(MNW)

+ * 1660 – ''Aan de bel trekken'', to pull a house bell.^(WNT)

+ * 1896 – ''Bij iemand aan de bel trekken'' “to ask someone for help”.^(WNT)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A device with a button or pull that gives a sound signal, especially a [[deurbel|alt=doorbell]] or a bicycle [[m|en|bell]]: ''Er ging twee keer een bel.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)

+ # A hollow metal instrument that rings when struck by a clapper or hammer.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An earring or nose ring; see [[oorbel]].^(ANW)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[belhamel]]

+ * [[belleman]]

+ * [[bellen]]

+ * [[belknop]]

+ * [[beltrommel]]

+ * [[deurbel]]

+ * [[fietsbel]]

+ * [[oorbel]]

+ * [[rinkelbel]]

+ * [[tafelbel]]

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+ {{homograph|2|bubble}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|attested=1523}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /bɛl/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''bel''' ''f'' (plural bellen, diminutive belletje n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The bubble is first found in Early Modern Dutch, as ⟨belle⟩, and is probably a variant, perhaps first of the northern Netherlands, of [[bal]] and [[bol]] “round object”.^(EWN)^(WNT)^(Wiktionary) De Vries and others call it a young form with a different vowel beside those words.^(De Vries 1971)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|65)^(Vercoullie 1925) Middle Dutch had [[m|dum|bolle]] and [[m|dum|bulle|t=bubble, round object]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) Franck and Van Wijk think the word may have arisen in the dialects of Holland under the influence of the word for a bell, and that it may have absorbed a dialect form of ⟨bulle⟩, which comes either from [[la|bulla|t=bubble]] or from the same family as the word for a ball;^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971) De Vries holds that ⟨bulle⟩ need not be Latin at all.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In 1523 ''belle'' is the seed head at the top of a plant.^(EWN) The sense “air bubble” follows in 1576, and Kiliaan glosses ''belle'' “swelling” in 1599.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Early Modern Dutch also used the word for a ball and for the globe of the earth: in 1608 night “blindfolds this ball of the world”.^(EWN)^(WNT) This sense is obsolete, but the bubble in a liquid has remained the main meaning, as in ''bellen blazen'' “to blow soap bubbles”, a common children's game that was used figuratively by 1802.^(WNT)^(Van Dale 2014) In some regions ''bel'' is a swelling, and [[belroos]] “erysipelas” (1701, antedated to 1685) is a compound of this sense.^(EWN)^(WNT)

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+ A ''bel'' is also a large round glass on a stem.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal wondered in 1898 whether this was the same word as the bubble, or rather comparable with [[bol]] “round bowl” and [[en|bowl]];^(WNT)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(MNW) Franck and Van Wijk connect the Middle Dutch ''belle'' “cup” (1451) with the bell instead.^(WNT)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(MNW)

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+ Scots once had ''bell'' “bubble” from Dutch.^(Van der Sijs 2010)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1523 – ''Belle'' “seed head”.^(EWN)

+ * 1576 – ''Belle'' “air bubble”.^(EWN)

+ * 1599 – Kiliaan's ''belle'' “swelling”.^(EWN)

+ * 1608 – ''Bel'' “globe of the earth”.^(EWN)^(WNT)

+ * 1802 – ''Bellen blazen'' used figuratively.^(WNT)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bubble]] of gas or air in a liquid, or one enclosed in soapy water: ''Er stegen kleine bellen op uit het glas.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A large round [[m|en|glass]] on a foot and a short stem.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)

+ # ''(regional)'' A swelling.^(WNT)^(EWN)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[belroos]]

+ * [[luchtbel]]

+ * [[waterbel]]

+ * [[zeepbel]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bal]]

+ * [[bol]]

+ * [[en|bell]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ A third, obsolete ''bel'' meant “rag” and “slovenly woman”; it survives in [[lellebel]], [[morsebel]] and [[totebel]], and dialects from Groningen to the south still use it for “rag, tatter”.^(Weijnen 2003)^(Debrabandere 2010)^(Wiktionary) Its origin is unclear: Weijnen derives it from an adjective meaning “bad”, Debrabandere from the bubble.^(Weijnen 2003)^(Debrabandere 2010) The unit ''bel'', a tenth of which is the [[decibel]] (1938), is named after Alexander Graham Bell and is recorded in Dutch from 1950.^(Van der Sijs 2001)^(WikiWoordenboek)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}