lezen Dutch · revision 37396

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Old Dutch (Willeram)|origins=ine-pro *les-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈleːzə(n)/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Netherlands: [ˈleɪ̯zə(n)]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lezen'''^(Wiktionary)

+ It is a strong verb of the fifth class.^(ONW)^(WNT) A weak past tense is occasionally found in regional use.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|lesen]], [[inh|odt|lesan|t=to gather; to read]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*lesan]], [[inh|gem-pro|*lesaną|t=to gather, pick]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(ONW) The same verb is [[osx|lesan]], [[goh|lesan]] (modern [[de|lesen]]), [[ofs|lesa]] (modern [[fy|lêze]]), [[ang|lesan]] (modern dialectal [[en|lease|t=to glean]]), [[non|lesa]] and [[got|𐌻𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽|tr=lisan]], all of which first meant “to gather”.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Kroonen 2013) Outside Germanic it is related to [[lt|lèsti|t=to peck up]] and [[m|lt|lasýti|t=to pick out]], from [[ine-pro|*les-|t=to gather, pick up]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Wiktionary) Kroonen reconstructs an old athematic present.^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ The sense “to read” arose only in continental West Germanic (Old Saxon, Old High German and Dutch) and reached Old Norse from German.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971) Most scholars explain it from [[la|legō|t=to gather; to read]], which had the same two meanings.^(EWN)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(Van der Sijs 2005) Franck and Van Wijk point out that the sense appears in the lands under strong southern influence and was apparently missing before the Anglo-Saxons left the continent.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) De Vries explained it instead from the picking up of rune staves for divination that Tacitus describes, but the EWN rejects this: those staves were not runes, and the verb used for that practice in Old Germanic was [[raden]], which only in Old English, [[m|ang|rǣdan]], came to mean “to read” (modern [[en|read]]).^(De Vries 1971)^(EWN) Kroonen thinks the development went through “to examine, analyse”, not through picking up letters.^(Kroonen 2013) For reading aloud Gothic used [[m|got|𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰𐌽|tr=siggwan|t=to sing]].^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the Old Dutch Willeram paraphrase of about 1100 the verb means “to gather”: ''thie liset her ze sich'', “those he gathers to himself”, and the beloved goes into his garden to gather lilies.^(ONW)^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001) The sense “to read” appears in the Rhenish Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200: ''wir that lesen offonbarliche'', “we read that plainly”.^(EWN)^(ONW) The Bernardus glossary of 1240 translates Latin ''legere'' with ''lesen''.^(VMNW)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle Dutch ''lesen'' meant “to gather, pick, choose”, and also “to read, read aloud, recite (prayers), teach, tell, study”.^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(MNW) A widow goes out of the town to gather wood (1285), roses are picked (1287), and people read old tales (1265–1270).^(EWN)^(VMNW) Charters begin with a formula addressed to all who will ''sien lesen of horen lesen'', “see or hear read” this letter (Bruges 1267).^(VMNW) Reading aloud was common because few could read, which the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal gives as the reason for the many senses of that kind.^(WNT)

+

+ The old sense survives in ''aren lezen'' “to glean ears of corn”, in ''uitgelezen'' “choice, select” and in [[bloemlezing]], modelled on Latin ''florilegium''.^(MNW)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|225) In the northern Netherlands “to gather” is now only poetic.^(WNT) Other senses are “to sort out, clean” (1617), ''iemand de les lezen'' “to lecture someone”, reading thoughts or a hand, and the intransitive ''het leest als een trein'' “it reads very easily”.^(WNT)^(Van Dale 2014) Modern jargon speaks of the police “reading” seized weapons and of a golfer “reading” the course.^(Reinsma 1999)

+

+ The verb was borrowed widely: Sranan Tongo [[m|srn|leisi]], Papiamentu [[m|pap|lesa]], Berbice Dutch [[m|brc|lesi]], Negerhollands ''lees'', Javanese [[m|jv|lis]] and several Malay varieties, and through Afrikaans [[m|af|lees]] into Xhosa.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – Old Dutch ''lesan'' “to gather” in the Willeram paraphrase.^(ONW)^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1151–1200 – The sense “to read” in the Rhenish Rhyme Bible.^(EWN)^(ONW)

+ * 1240 – The Bernardus glossary translates ''legere'' with ''lesen''.^(VMNW)

+ * 1267 – A Bruges charter is addressed to all who will see or hear it read.^(VMNW)

+ * 1287 – ''Rosen lesen'' “to pick roses” is recorded.^(EWN)

+ * 1513 – A merchant looks at a letter and reads it.^(WNT)

+ * 1617 – The sense “to sort out, clean” is recorded.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(transitive)'' to [[m|en|read]]: to take in the content of something written or printed: ''Hij leest elke ochtend de krant.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive)'' to read aloud.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

+ # ''(transitive)'' to read, deduce from signs: ''iemands gedachten lezen'', ''iemand de hand lezen''.^(Van Dale 2014)

+ # ''(archaic)'' to [[m|en|gather]], pick: ''aren lezen''.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive)'' to sort, pick out the bad ones from the good.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' to read in a certain way: ''Dit boek leest makkelijk.''^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lezer]]

+ * [[lezing]]

+ * [[leesbaar]]

+ * [[belezen]]

+ * [[bloemlezing]]

+ * [[uitlezen]]

+ * [[voorlezen]]

+ * [[herlezen]]

+ * [[aflezen]]

+ * [[doorlezen]]

+ * [[liplezen]]

+ * [[leesboek]]

+ * [[leesbril]]

+ * [[leesteken]]

+ * [[lezenaar]]

+ * [[ontlezing]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[raden]]

+ * [[de|lesen]]

+ * [[la|legō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In West Flemish, Brabantish and Zeelandic dialects ''lezen'' also means “to pray”, a transfer from reading the Bible, the Mass or a prayer book aloud.^(Debrabandere 2002)^(Debrabandere 2010)^(Debrabandere 2007) Among the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam it also meant “to pray”.^(Beem 1974)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}