week Dutch · revision 37429

+ Dutch has two words spelled ''week'': the noun for a period of seven days and the adjective “soft”.^(EWN)^(Wiktionary) Both are formed from the root of [[wijken]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)

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+ {{homograph|1|seven days}}

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

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʋeːk/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''week''' ''f'' (plural weken, diminutive weekje n)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun for seven days is [[inh|dum|weke]], [[inh|odt|*wica]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*wikā]], [[inh|gem-pro|*wikǭ|t=sequence; turn]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(Kroonen 2013) The same noun is [[osx|wika]], [[goh|wehha]] (modern [[de|Woche]]), [[ofs|wike]] and [[ang|wicu]] (modern [[en|week]]), all “week”; [[non|vika]] meant “sea mile” and took the sense “week” from Old English, and [[got|𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉|tr=wikō]] was the order of service in the temple.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Kroonen 2013) The Middle Dutch noun could also mean “sea mile”, which goes back to the shift of rowers.^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

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+ It is a derivative of [[wijken]], and in Germanic it meant “change, alternation, turn”.^(EWN)^(Kroonen 2013) The EWN holds that when the Germanic peoples adopted the Roman calendar the word took on the sense “recurring period of seven days” from [[la|vicis|alt=vicēs|t=change, alternation]].^(EWN) Franck and Van Wijk call the Latin model needless and unlikely, since the Latin word was never used for a week;^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971) De Vries gives Trier's view that it was the period after which duties changed hands in a community, as in Gothic.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries 1971) Kroonen derives the meaning from “shift”, close to Gothic “sequence”.^(Kroonen 2013)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Middle Dutch ''weke'' is first recorded in Ghent in 1236, in the phrase ''ene waruen ter weke'' “once a week”.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Middle Dutch noun meant the week of seven days, and the old sense “sea mile” is recorded beside it.^(VMNW)^(De Vries 1971) The variant ''weeck'' appears in 1458.^(EWN) Special weeks were named by their feast: ''de goede week'' or ''stille week'' is the week before Easter.^(Van Dale 2014) In the 17th century the oath ''bij Gods heilige week'' was distorted to ''gans weken'' and used as an exclamation.^(Van Sterkenburg 2001)

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+ ''Weekend'' was borrowed from English in 1911–1912, together with the Saturday afternoon off, and ''vorige week'' is a calque of German ''vorige Woche''.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2005) Dutch carried ''week'' abroad: Negerhollands, Berbice Dutch (''weki''), Sranan Tongo (''wiki'', from Dutch or English, passed on to Aukan and Saramaccan) and Arawak (''wiki''); through Afrikaans the word reached several Bantu languages of South Africa.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1236 – ''Ene waruen ter weke'' “once a week” in a Ghent text.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1458 – The spelling ''weeck''.^(EWN)

+ * 1911 – ''Week-einde (week end)'' in a Dutch newspaper.^(EWN)

+ * 1912 – ''De weekend'' in the NRC.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|week]], a period of seven days: ''Ik ben over een week terug.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The working week, as opposed to the weekend: ''door de week''.^(ANW)^(Van Dale 2014)

+ # A week given over to an event or cause.^(ANW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[weekend]]

+ * [[wekelijks]]

+ * [[weekblad]]

+ * [[weekdag]]

+ * [[weekloon]]

+ * [[weekbeurt]]

+ * [[werkweek]]

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+ {{homograph|2|soft}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1240, Middle Dutch (Limburg)|origins=gem-pro *waikwaz}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʋeːk/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''week''' (comparative weker, superlative weekst)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective “soft” is [[inh|dum|weec]], [[inh|odt|*wēc]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*waikw]], [[inh|gem-pro|*waikwaz|t=pliable, weak]].^(Wiktionary)^(EWN) The same adjective is [[osx|wēk]], [[goh|weih]] (modern [[de|weich]]), [[ofs|wāk|t=soft, gentle]], [[ang|wāc|t=soft, yielding]] and [[non|veikr|t=weak]], the source of the English adjective [[m|en|weak]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) Kroonen gives the stem as [[gem-pro|*waikwaz|alt=*waika-]].^(Kroonen 2013)

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+ It was formed with ablaut from the root of [[wijken]], so it first meant “what gives way, yields”.^(EWN)^(Kroonen 2013) De Vries compares [[sa|विजते|tr=vijate|t=shrinks back]] and [[lt|vigrus|alt=vigrùs|t=fast]], and gives Trier's idea that the word came from wattle walls, pliable twigs and kneadable clay.^(De Vries 1971)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old Dutch has only the verb ''wēken'' “to become soft”, in the Wachtendonck Psalms: “his words have grown softer than oil”.^(EWN) The adjective appears in the Bernardus glossary of 1240 as ''weech'' for Latin ''mollis''.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 13th-century Middle Dutch ''weec'' meant soft, and also slack, soft-hearted and boggy;^(VMNW)^(EWN) ''weke eiere'' were soft-boiled eggs (1253).^(VMNW)^(EWN) Later Middle Dutch used it of a gentle voice, of oats as a soft grain beside rye, wheat and barley, of a thatched roof beside a tiled one, and of wet weather.^(MNW) Used as a noun, ''weke'' meant “the poor”, as in ''rike ende weke'' “rich and poor”.^(VMNW)

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+ The verb ''weken'' “to soak” and the noun ''de week'', in phrases such as ''iets in de week zetten'' “to put something to soak”, belong here.^(Wiktionary)^(Van Dale 2014) ''Een kwestie in de week leggen'', to raise a question so that others can think it over, is a recent figurative use.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Reinsma 1999)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 901–1000 – The Old Dutch verb ''geuueicoda'' “grew soft”.^(EWN)

+ * 1240 – ''Weech'' for ''mollis'' in the Bernardus glossary.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1253 – ''Weke eiere'' “soft-boiled eggs”.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1287 – A lobster is boiled until it becomes ''weec''.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|soft]], tender, giving way to pressure: ''Het brood is week geworden.''^(Wiktionary)^(VMNW)

+ # Soft-hearted, [[m|en|weak]], easily moved.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Soaking, in phrases such as ''in de week zetten'' and ''in de week leggen''.^(Van Dale 2014)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[weken]]

+ * [[weekdier]]

+ * [[weekhartig]]

+ * [[weekheid]]

+ * [[verweken]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wijken]]

+ * [[wissel]]

+ * [[en|week]]

+ * [[en|weak]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}