kamer Dutch · revision 37327

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=901–1000, Old Dutch (Wachtendonck Psalms, in a compound)|origins=la camera}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkaː.mər/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''kamer''' ''f'' (plural kamers, diminutive kamertje n)^(Wiktionary)

+ In West Flemish dialects it is masculine, as it sometimes was in Middle Dutch.^(MNW)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|camere]], [[inh|odt|*kamara]], [[bor|la|camera|t=vault; room]], which Latin had taken from [[grc|καμάρα|tr=kamára|t=covered wagon; vaulted room]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997) Medieval Latin also used the word for a court or council room.^(EWN) The origin of the Greek word is unclear: it may be related to [[la|camur|t=curved]], while Franck and Van Wijk thought it was Carian.^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ The neighbouring languages borrowed the Latin word in the same way: [[osx|kamara]], [[goh|chamara|t=room, palace, treasury]] (modern German [[m|de|Kammer]]), [[ofs|kamer]] and, through Low German or Frisian, [[non|kamarr|t=privy]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) The EWN dates the loan to between about 150 and 400 AD: Germanic houses then had a single hall ([[zaal]]), while Roman villas and settlements had separate rooms, which probably reached the Germanic world, like [[keuken]], [[kelder]] and [[zolder]], through monasteries and castles.^(EWN) The same Latin word was borrowed again much later as [[camera]].^(EWN)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is the Old Dutch compound ⟨betekameren⟩, “bedchamber”, in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century.^(EWN) The simple word appears in the Lower Rhine Floyris of 1201–25, which speaks of ''hundirt cameren'', “a hundred rooms”, each with a lady to serve.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle Dutch ''camere'' was first of all a room with a fireplace, and the MNW suggests that it went from “vault” to “ceiling” and then to the living space between two ceilings.^(MNW)^(VMNW) It also meant a prison, a treasury, a shop (1248, Antwerp), a one-room dwelling, a privy, as in ''ter cameren gaen'' “to relieve oneself” (1240, 1285), and a council or aldermen's room (1272, Bruges).^(VMNW)^(EWN)^(MNW) Separate rooms became common in ordinary houses only from the 14th century on.^(EWN)

+

+ The sense “council room” lived on in names such as ''weeskamer'' (orphans' board) and ''assurantiekamer'', which denoted both the room and the body that met there.^(EWN) From it came the political sense: the Batavian constitution of 1798 divided the legislature into ''de Eerste Kamer en Tweede Kamer'', a loan-translation of French ''chambre''.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)^(Van der Sijs 2005) In older houses ''de mooie kamer'' or ''beste kamer'' was the front room kept for Sundays and visitors.^(WNT)^(ANW)

+

+ Dutch ''kamer'' was borrowed into Indonesian and Malay as [[m|id|kamar]], into Javanese, Sranan Tongo ([[m|srn|kamra]]) and Papiamentu ([[m|pap|kamber]]), and into Russian as [[m|ru|ка́мера|tr=kámera]] in the sense “lock chamber”.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(De Vries 1971)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 901–1000 – The Wachtendonck Psalms have the compound ⟨betekameren⟩ “bedchamber”.^(EWN)

+ * 1201–1225 – ''Hundirt cameren'' in the Floyris, the first record of the simple word.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1240 – A Limburg glossary uses ''camere'' for a dwelling and for a privy.^(VMNW)

+ * 1248 – ''Camere'' means a shop in an Antwerp record.^(VMNW)

+ * 1272 – The word is used of the aldermen's council room in Bruges.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1798 – The legislature is divided into a First and a Second Chamber.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # a [[m|en|room]] in a house or building, for living, sleeping or working: ''Het huis heeft vier kamers en een zolder.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # a rented room, especially a student's room: ''Hij zoekt een kamer in Groningen.''^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(often capitalised)'' a [[m|en|chamber]], a body that meets to deliberate or judge: a house of parliament, a division of a court, a chamber of commerce.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # a closed space or cavity in the body of a person, animal or plant, or in a device, such as the chamber of a gun.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(Van der Sijs 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[kamermuziek]]

+ * [[kamerbreed]]

+ * [[achterkamer]]

+ * [[badkamer]]

+ * [[eetkamer]]

+ * [[folterkamer]]

+ * [[gaskamer]]

+ * [[hotelkamer]]

+ * [[kamerstuk]]

+ * [[logeerkamer]]

+ * [[meldkamer]]

+ * [[kamerlid]]

+ * [[kamerheer]]

+ * [[kamenier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[camera]]

+ * [[kameraad]]

+ * [[de|Kammer]]

+ * [[en|chamber]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''De Kamer'' alone means the Tweede Kamer in the Netherlands and the Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers in Belgium.^(WikiWoordenboek)^(Van Dale 2014) ''Kamers te huur hebben'', “to have rooms to let”, is a joking phrase for being not quite right in the head.^(Stoett 1923) ''Kamer honderd'' is a jocular name for the toilet.^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}