kans Dutch · revision 37340

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1340, Middle Dutch (Flanders)|origins=la cadō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kɑns/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''kans''' ''f'' (plural kansen, diminutive kansje n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|canse]], [[bor|fro|cance]], the Picard form of what became standard [[m|fr|chance]], from [[la-vul|*cadentia|t=a throw at knucklebones; a fall]], a derivative of [[m|la|cadō|t=to fall]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(De Vries 1971)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004) The word first meant the fall of the dice.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971) Dutch has /k/ because it took the Picard form, not the central French one with ⟨ch⟩, as with [[kar]] and [[kasteel]].^(WikiWoordenboek) The Latin verb is related to [[sa|शद्|tr=śad-|t=to fall]], from the root [[ine-pro|*ḱeh₂d-]].^(EWN)

+

+ Middle Dutch had a by-form ⟨kens⟩, and ⟨canse⟩ could also mean “cadence”.^(MNW)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) The same Latin word came into Dutch twice more, through Italian as [[cadens]] and through Italian and French as [[cadans]]; [[sjans]] is the French form.^(EWN) [[gml|kanze]] probably came from Dutch, while [[gmh|schanze]] and [[en|chance]] are from central French.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The word may be in the name ''Kanseken'' as early as 1292.^(EWN) It is certain in a Flemish text of 1340, where a player who knowingly throws an ace for a six must forfeit the ''canze'', the throw; the same text uses it for a chance of good fortune that was missed.^(MNW)^(EWN)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From “a throw of the dice” the Old French word had already come to mean a chance event and then a lucky one, the sense Dutch borrowed.^(EWN) In the 16th and 17th centuries ''de kans wagen'' was to risk a throw and so to try one's luck (1588).^(WNT) The plural ''kansen'', “prospects of something happening”, was taken from French and appears in 1716, of two players each with an equal chance of winning; the singular then took over the abstract sense “probability” (1903).^(EWN)^(WNT) The plural survives in phrases such as ''de kansen keren'' and ''gelijke kansen''.^(EWN)

+

+ Dutch or Low German gave Danish and Swedish ''kans'' “opportunity”, and Dutch gave it to Indonesian and the Malay of Ambon and Kupang; in Petjoh ''kans maken'' was to court a girl.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary) In Surinamese Dutch ''kans'' can mean “risk”, after English ''chance''.^(Van Donselaar 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1292 – Perhaps in the name ''Kanseken''.^(EWN)

+ * 1340 – ''Canze'' “throw of the dice” and “chance of luck” in Flanders.^(MNW)^(EWN)

+ * 1564 – Gambling for a stiver ''igelijcke canse'', each throw.^(WNT)

+ * 1588 – ''De kansse waghen'', to try one's luck.^(WNT)

+ * 1716 – ''Kanssen'' “probabilities” of winning a game.^(EWN)

+ * 1903 – ''De kans'' as the probability that something will happen.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|chance]], [[m|en|probability]]: the likelihood that something will happen: ''er is weinig kans op regen''.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(WikiWoordenboek)

+ # An [[m|en|opportunity]], a favourable occasion: ''zij greep haar kans''.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(sport)'' An opportunity to score.^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[buitenkans]]

+ * [[kansarm]]

+ * [[kansberekening]]

+ * [[kansloos]]

+ * [[kansparel]]

+ * [[kansrekening]]

+ * [[kansrijk]]

+ * [[kansspel]]

+ * [[kansverdeling]]

+ * [[overlevingskans]]

+ * [[trefkans]]

+ * [[krijgskans]]

+ * [[levenskans]]

+ * [[sterftekans]]

+ * [[huwelijkskans]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cadans]]

+ * [[cadens]]

+ * [[sjans]]

+ * [[fr|chance]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Dikke kans dat …'' means “it is very likely that …”, and ''de kans van je leven'' is the best chance one will ever get.^(Van Dale 2014) In Belgium the older form ''kanse'' was still in use in 1919.^(WNT)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}