voordat Dutch · revision 37367

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1265, Middle Dutch (West Brabant)}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''voordat''' (conjunction, invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ In older Dutch the conjunction was usually written separately, ''voor dat''.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|nl|voor|dat]], a compound of the preposition and the conjunction.^(Wiktionary)^(ANW) It goes back to a phrase with the dative of the demonstrative between them, Middle Dutch [[m|dum|vore dien dat]] “before that, that”, from which the middle word was mostly dropped.^(VMNW)^(WNT)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) Franck and Van Wijk compare [[opdat]], and note that plain [[voor]] could also mean “before” as a conjunction, as could [[gml|vor]].^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Middle Dutch ''vore dat'', written separately, is first recorded in West Brabant in 1265, and in 1276 a Brabant text says that Mary appeared to a woman ''voer dat si starf'' “before she died”.^(VMNW) The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal did not find the form ''voordat'' in Middle Dutch and quotes it from 1524, in a rule that mussels may not be sold by the barrel before the mussel-catcher has kept his share.^(WNT)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The conjunction introduces a clause of time whose action follows that of the main clause.^(VMNW)^(WNT) With a negative main clause it says that something may only happen once something else has been done, which Van Dale gives as a separate sense.^(WNT)^(Van Dale 2014) Nineteenth-century texts strengthen it with ''nog'' or ''zelfs''.^(WNT) Negerhollands borrowed it as ''voor dat'', also in the sense “so that”.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1265 – Middle Dutch ''vore dat'' “before” is first recorded, in West Brabant.^(VMNW)

+ * 1276 – ''Voer dat si starf'' “before she died” appears in a Brabant text.^(VMNW)

+ * 1524 – The form ''voerdat'' is quoted in a rule on the sale of mussels.^(WNT)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1875 – ''Zelfs vóórdat'' “even before” is recorded.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # ''(subordinating)'' [[m|en|before]]: earlier than the time when: ''Bel even voordat je vertrekt.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(subordinating)'' before, until: saying that something must come first: ''Je mag niet weg voordat alles is opgeruimd.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[voor]]

+ * [[dat]]

+ * [[opdat]]

+ * [[alvorens]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}