Dutch. A linguistic history of Holland and Belgium

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8 Vocabulary and word formation

Vocabulary

An English-speaking person embarking on a study of Dutch, because he is confronted, by necessity, with only simple vocabulary to begin with, is likely to be struck by great similarities between the vocabulary of Dutch and that of his mother tongue e.g. hond, kat, pan, pot, school, tafel, tien. Such an observation is of course not entirely unfounded - Dutch and English still share a great deal of basic vocabulary as a result of their common Germanic origins. German does too but there the Second German Sound Shift (see p. 123) has modified the form of words somewhat e.g. Katze, Pfanne, Pfeffer, zehn. English and Dutch, both Low German languages, did not undergo such changes.

This similarity in vocabulary between English and Dutch does not, however, in the long run prove to be of any great assistance in learning Dutch. The vocabulary of English has been subjected too much for too long to non-Germanic influence for it to have remained as close to Dutch as it was in the Old English period prior to the Norman invasion. Dutch has not been affected to anything like the same extent by outside influences as English; its vocabulary, like that of German, is still overwhelmingly Germanic in origin. Anyone with a knowlegde of German will immediately recognise a great number Dutch words, although there are inevitably many apparent similarities which conceal subtle, and sometimes not so subtle differences in meaning e.g. aardig (nice) - artig (well-behaved); aandacht (attention) - Andacht (respect); verzoeken (to request) - versuchen (to try); durven (to dare) - dürfen (to be allowed to).

But although there has never been an event in Dutch history comparable to the Norman invasion of England, this is not to say that Dutch vocabulary has not been affected, even greatly, by outside influences. No language has ever managed to live in complete isolation from others and it is in the nature of every language to borrow from others to increase its vocabulary if the need arises. Dutch has nevertheless been more susceptible to absorbing foreign words than has German, for example. At various times in history there have been attempts to purify the vocabulary of the language, for example as a result of anti-French sentiments during and after the Napoleonic period and of anti-German feelings after World War II, but such conscious artificial efforts to change the vocabulary of a language seldom meet with any lasting success. Only the people as a whole ultimately decide which words are, and are not to survive. It may thus be in the polyglot nature of the Dutch, the result of no other nationality ever bothering to learn their language - nor have the Dutch ever expected others to - that Dutch has been able to absorb such a large amount of French, English and German vocabulary, to the extent that so many

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loan words are now no longer regarded as foreign and are now absolutely indispensable, often being more common and natural sounding than indigenous synonyms e.g. apart (separate) instead of afzonderlijk; proberen (to try) instead of pogen or trachten; feliciteren (to congratulate) instead of gelukwensen.

Influence of French

Although there is a certain amount of vocabulary of Greek or Latin or Amerindian origin in Dutch which we can best call international vocabulary - e.g. fysiologie, visum, tomaat - it is inevitably the languages of Holland's immediate neighbours which Dutch has drawn on most for loans, but none has had such a far-reaching effect as French.^1. French has influenced Dutch in a variety of ways^2.:

1	loan words are by far the most common form of influence e.g. avontuur (adventure), consequent (consistent), logé (staying guest), royaal (generous).
2	loan translations e.g. schoonvader (father-in-law, < beau-père), kleinzoon (grandson, < petit fils), het hof maken (to court, < faire la cour).
3	addition of French endings already occurring in loan words to indigenous Dutch words e.g. echtgenote (female spouse) in imitation of studente, typiste etc.; lerares (female teacher) in imitation of prinses, barones etc.; bakkerij (bakery), schilderij (painting) in imitation of patisserie, boulangerie etc. Both the -es and the -ij endings still bear the French stress on the final syllable in Dutch. By analogy with this, the indigenous feminising ending -in now also takes the stress, unlike German e.g. vriendin (female friend), leeuwin (lioness). The ending -(en)ier, designating a profession, is also commonly found in Dutch words of Dutch origin e.g. kruidenier (grocer), tuinier (gardener), as is the verbal ending -eren, although it is more commonly found in verbs borrowed from French e.g. halveren (to halve), waarderen (to appreciate) by analogy with adopteren, studeren etc. Very often words of the latter sort alternate with indigenous words with the same or a similar meaning e.g. arriveren/aankomen, rapporteren/berichten, respecteren/eerbiedigen.

An interesting sub-category of French loan words are those which the Germans so aptly call Rücklehnwörter or words of Germanic (usually Franconian) origin, which, once borrowed and assimilated into French, have returned at a later date to Dutch or German in French garb to stand side by side the cognate forms from which they are descended, without the speaker being aware of their common origin^3. e.g. fauteuil (armchair) <* faldi-stôl (Dutch vouwstoel, folding chair), galopperen (to gallop) < *wola hlaupan (Dutch *wel lopen, to run well), graveren (to engrave) < graven (to dig), mannequin < manneken (little man).

1. The standard work on the subject is J.J. Salverda de Grave, L'influence de la langue française en Hollande, Paris, 1913.

2. See p. 33 for influences unique to Belgium.

3. J.H. Huisman's Germaanse repatrianten in de Nederlandse woordenschat is an interesting account of such words (see bibliography).

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Influence of German

Although the eastern borders of the Netherlands must have been open to the immigration of foreign words for as long as the southern borders have been, German loan words are not as evident for two reasons. Firstly, prior to the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was always France, and not Germany, which disseminated culture to the rest of Europe; Germany was usually also on the receiving end along with the Netherlands. Secondly, because Dutch is as closely related to German as it is, it has been able to absorb words from its eastern neighbour and dress them up in Dutch garb more easily than is the case with French loans; no Dutchman regards overigens (moreover), rugzak (rucksack), tijdschrift (magazine) or warenhuis (departmental store) as foreign words.

There are, however, quite a number of loan words from German which do still bear obvious signs of their origin but which are nevertheless now regarded as indispensable Dutch words e.g. gletscher (glacier), lawine (avalanche), heimwee (home sickness), kitscherig (German kitschig), in zwang (in fashion), unheimisch (uncanny, incorrectly borrowed from German unheimlich), überhaupt (generally, at all).

Influence of English

English, although its influence has not been of such long standing duration as that of French, forms without doubt the most common source of foreign loan words in Dutch today. This is, of course, a world-wide phenomenon because of the overriding influence of Anglo-American culture in contemporary society. However, probably few languages have adopted English words and made them their own with as little effort as Dutch has; in fact the borrowing is not limited to words but extends to whole phrases and sayings that are now common even in the mouths of those (increasingly fewer) Dutch who speak little or no English e.g. last not least, fifty-fifty, ups and downs, good will, up to date, self made man, big boss. Of course many English words in Dutch are from the world of business, computers, entertainment etc. but there are also many English loans for everyday concepts e.g. tram, jam, flat, cake, pocket(-boek). As with loan words from French, many English words now behave like Dutch words e.g. gehandicapt (handicapped), babysitten (to babysit), claimen (to claim on insurance), gezinsplanning (family planning); but in liften (to hitch-hike) and tanken (to fill up with petrol), we see two verbs formed from English nouns i.e. English words which don't exist in the same sense in English. The same phenomenon is to be found in English loan words that have reached Dutch via French where they were imperfectly borrowed e.g. parking (parking area), camping (camping ground). Many bisyllabic compound nouns like pick-up have come into Dutch, presumably via French, and thus retain the stress on the final syllable, a stress pattern which is foreign to both the language of origin and the new host language e.g. black-óut, close-úp, lay-oút, all-ín.

As is the case with loans from French, English words have sometimes been translated and have thus been totally assimilated e.g. luidspreker (loud speaker), rolschaats (roller skate), voetbal (football), vrijmetselaar (freemason).

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As quick perusal of any Dutch newspaper or ladies' magazine will substantiate, the number of English loans into Dutch is legion and there seems to be no counter-movement at all. Undoubtedly not all will stand the test of time, but as a knowledge of English becomes more and more second nature to up and coming generations of Dutch people, for such seems to be the case, holus-bolus adoption of words, expressions and even syntax from English will certainly continue and possibly accelerate. Many nationalities baulk at such prospects but the Dutch are either indifferent to, or proud of their ability to colour their Dutch with as many English words as possible.

That Dutch has been influenced by the languages of its three great neighbours is only to be expected, and here one could expect the tale of foreign influences on Dutch to end. There are, however, two other languages which have contributed in a small, but significant way to the vocabulary of Dutch and both reflect interesting by-gone phases in the history of Holland. I am referring here to Yiddish and Indonesian or, strictly speaking, Hebrew and Malay^4..

4. What we now call Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the new national language of the Republic of Indonesia based on Malay.

Influence of Yiddish

Although Amsterdam's Jewish community, which was virtually decimated during World War II, was Sephardic in origin i.e. it consisted in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries chiefly of refugees from Spain and Portugal who were escaping the Inquisition, it absorbed many Ashkenazic Jews from the eighteenth century on, and with these Eastern European Jews came the Yiddish language, a blend of medieval High German and Hebrew plus various Slavonic features. With the decline of Yiddish among the Jews of Western Europe, a result of their emancipation and assimilation which started during the Enlightenment, only isolated Yiddish words remained in the speech of Amsterdam in particular, a city which had one of Western Europe's largest Jewish communities prior to World War II. Quite a number of Yiddish words, especially those of Hebrew origin, were adopted by Amsterdammers, above all by the lower classes, and from here many have passed into standard Dutch. In the borrowing process, however, these Yiddish-Hebrew words often underwent a downgrading in meaning, reflecting the low social status of those who first borrowed them from Yiddish e.g. kalle (prostitute, < Hebrew for bride), bajes (prison, < Hebrew for house), jatten (to steal, < Hebrew for hand); in feeling, these words are akin to English slut, clink and nick respectively. Some words, such as kalle/temeijer (prostitute) and joetje (10 guilders) are still restricted to the colloquial speech of Amsterdam, but many others are now regarded as general, even if usually somewhat colloquial Dutch e.g. roddelen (to gossip), tof (great, fantastic), mesjogge (crazy), gein (fun).

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Influence of Malay

The many Malay words that are used in Dutch also fall into two categories; there are those which were or are only commonly used by people who formerly lived in the Indies, called Oud-Indischgasten in Dutch, and there are those which are known to, and used by all Dutchmen. To the former category belong words such as barang (one's things, junk), kassian (what a shame) and slendang (bag) and to the latter belong soesa (bother, worry), toko (shop, and nowadays also one's business or field of expertise) and soebatten (to beseech). The latter category includes many words which, unlike the examples already given, can be called cultural loan words and in this context they are indispensable e.g. baboe (nanny), betjah (rickshaw), goeling (Dutch wife), klamboe (mosquito net), moesson (monsoon), sawah (rice field). Many Asian foodstuffs are known to the Dutch by their Indonesian name, for example several of the exotic spices such as ketoembar (coriander) and asem (tamarind) as well as ketjap (soya sauce), klappernoot (coconut), kroepoek (prawn crackers), nasi (fried rice), bami and taugé (bean shoots); the last two are actually Chinese words.

There have been various attempts from time to time throughout the history of Dutch to rid the language of ‘impurities’ such as those discussed in this chapter. Even Jacob van Maerlant, writing in the thirteenth century, advocated wat walsch (= Welsh i.e. French) is, valsch is in warning against excessive borrowing from French. However, the Dutch have never been as obsessive as the Germans about keeping their language free of foreign words, a fact which is clearly reflected in the vocabularies of the two languages - compare, for instance, Bürgersteig - trottoir (footpath), Bahnhof - station, Fernsehen - televisie, Fernsprecher - telefoon, Abteil - coupé (compartment), Zug - trein. Nevertheless Dutch vocabulary is surprisingly puristic on occasions; for example, grammatical terminology and fields of science, referred to in nearly all languages by their Greek of Latin names, are usually expressed in Dutch by indigenous words e.g. voornaamwoord (pronoun), voorzetsel (preposition)^5., werkwoord (verb), scheikunde (chemistry), natuurkunde (physics), geneeskunde (medicine), aardrijkskunde (geography).

The loan words and expressions from French, English and German, called gallicisms, anglicisms and germanisms respectively, or sometimes barbarisms collectively, have become an unavoidable and often indispensable feature of Dutch. Many have come and gone through the ages but many have also stayed and been assimilated to a greater or lesser extent. Doubtless the process will continue, in particular borrowing from English as that language has now unequivocably assumed the role of the international language.

5. Such words are, of course, translated from the Latin.

Word formation

Word formation in Dutch is very similar to that in German. There are basically two

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sorts of word formation, compound words and derivatives, the latter formed by the addition of prefixes and suffixes. Historically the division is not always so clear cut, nor is the division between word groups and compound words.

By compound words one usually thinks primarily of compound nouns but of course verbs (stofzuigen - to vacuum clean) and adjectives (splinternieuw - brand new) can also be compounds. The potential that German has to make seemingly never-ending compound nouns exists in Dutch too e.g. afvalwaterzuiveringsinstallatie (waste water purification installation) but it seldom goes to such extremes; even compound numerals are not written as one word as they are in German e.g. driehonderd vijfentwintig (325).

In English compound nouns are formed simply by the bringing together of two words without changing them in any way; the only problem we face is whether to join, hyphenate or write them separately. Dutch on the other hand, is both simpler and more difficult than English - simpler because compound ideas are always written as one word, and more difficult because often medial sounds are required between the constituent parts. Which medial sound to use, if any, is often very difficult for the non-native-speaker to know, and even the Dutch sometimes have trouble. Sometimes an (originally) genitive s is required e.g. broekspijp (trouser leg), stadsmuur (city wall) but sometimes it is a gliding e e.g. geitehaar (goat hair), pereboom (pear tree)^6.; if plurality is implied in the first part of the compound, an en is required e.g. boekenplank (book shelf), klerenkast^7. (wardrobe, lit. clothes cupboard).

The assortment of prefixes and suffixes at one's disposal for addition to nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs for the creation of new words and for forming new parts of speech is as diverse as in English.

Abstract nouns can be formed by the addition of -heid (-ness, lit. -hood), -dom or -schap (-ship) to existing nouns or adjectives e.g. viendelijkheid (friendliness), jodendom (Jewry), vriendschap (friendship). Masculine agents are commonly formed by the addition of -er or -aar to the stems of verbs e.g. schrijven (to write) > schrijver (writer, author), wandelen (to hike) > wandelaar (hiker). The suffix -ing joined to verbal stems also forms related nouns e.g. regeren (to govern) > regering (government), uitdrukken (to express) > uitdrukking (expression), wandelen (to hike, walk) > wandeling (walk).

The nominal ending -th which is added to adjectives in English has an etymological equivalent in Dutch (-te) where it is more widely used than in English e.g. breed (wide) - breedte (width), hoog (high) - hoogte (height), lang (long) - lengte (length); groen (green) - groente (vegetables), vlak (flat) - vlakte (plain), ziek (sick) - ziekte (sickness, disease).

Verbs, on the other hand, can be formed by the addition of the infinitive ending to nouns e.g .fiets (bicycle) > fietsen (to cycle), bel (bell) > bellen (to ring), stof

6. Compare the names of the following meats: rundvlees (beef) < rund (cattle) + vlees (meat), varkensvlees (pork) < varken (pig) + vlees, schapevlees (mutton) < schaap (sheep) + vlees.

7. As final en is usually pronounced as e in Dutch, compounds with e or en are indistinguishable in speech and are thus often written incorrectly e.g. kippepoot (chicken leg, i.e. the leg of one chicken), kippenhok (chicken pen i.e. the pen of several chickens).

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(dust) > stoffen (to dust). A countless number of verbs can also be generated by the addition of the unstressed prefixes be-, ge-, her-, ont and ver- to existing verbs or nouns and adjectives. Although each of these prefixes has one or more basic meanings or functions, these are not obvious in all such derived verbs e.g. staan (to stand) - bestaan (to exist), ontstaan (to originate), verstaan (to understand); gaan (to go) - begaan (to commit), ontgaan (to elude), vergaan (to pass); groot (big) - vergroten (to enlarge). These prefixes are of course also found in nouns derived from such verbs e.g. zeker (sure) > verzekeren (to insure), herverzekeren (to reinsure) > verzekering (insurance); kopen (to buy) > verkopen (to sell) > verkoopster (female shop assistant).

In Dutch, English verbs such as ‘to ring up’, ‘to pull out’ and ‘to trade in’ express the preposition as a stressed prefix in the infinitive and the past participle i.e. they are compound verbs e.g. opbellen, uittrekken, inruilen. For syntactical reasons (see p. 71) such verbs are termed separable and those beginning with the unstressed prefixes mentioned above are called inseparable verbs.

There is a vast number of adjectival suffixes, many with cognate forms in English. Among the most common suffixes are -baar (-able) > draagbaar (portable), -ig (-y) > gelukkig (lucky), -lijk (-ly) > vriendelijk (friendly), -loos (-less) > nutteloos (useless), -s (< sch) > Zweeds (Swedish), -vol (-ful) > succesvol (successful).

Adjectival prefixes are not as common as suffixes, nor are they in English, but on- (Eng. un-), which negates, occurs as regularly as in English, e.g. onzeker (uncertain), ondankbaar (ungrateful); the adjectival prefix on- is never stressed, unlike German. Some loan words are negated with in- as in English e.g. inconsequent (inconsistent), intolerant.

English is rich in adjectival similes of the sort ‘as clear as a bell’. These are not unknown to Dutch but compound adjectives are more common e.g. morsdood (as dead as a doornail), apetrots (as proud as a peacock).

It is not uncommon for an adjective, sometimes an inflected adjective, to have joined the following noun to form a compound word; the consequent loss in literal meaning is often reflected in the stress, which has shifted to the nominal part of the compound e.g. hoogléraar (professor), plattelánd (countryside), rodekóol (red cabbage) (see Stress p. 56).

Although adjectives and adverbs are often the same in Dutch, as described on p. 60, there are nevertheless certain typically adverbial endings e.g. -s > vergeefs (in vain), -halve (for the sake of) > gemakshalve (for convenience's sake), -lings > blindelings (blindly), -waarts (ward) > voorwaarts (forward).

The diminutive ending, a very important aspect of word formation in Dutch which is not limited to nouns, unlike all other languages that use it, is discussed on p. 59.

Generally speaking it is impossible to prescribe all the principles of word formation in Dutch. Word formation is, perhaps more than any other aspect of language learning, one of those things one ultimately learns by feeling after prolonged exposure to the language, rather than by rules. Van Loey's Schönfeld's Historische grammatica van het Nederlands gives an excellent detailed account of the history behind compound and derived words (see bibliography).

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Bibliography

Section A contains a list of the best and most readily available dictionaries for the non-native-speaker, while section B contains the Dutch-Dutch dictionaries and works on loan words.

A.	RENIER, F.G. Dutch-English, English-Dutch dictionary. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1961. The best of the smaller inexpensive dictionaries.
	KING, P. & M. Concise Dutch and English dictionary. EUP, London, 1971. Quite good for the price and readily available. Also contains a synopsis of the grammar.
	BRUGGENCATE, K. ten Engels Woordenboek (2 volumes) Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, 1974. By far the best dictionary, but it is unfortunately intended for Dutch people learning English and thus omits genders; non-native-speakers are advised to use it in combination with the Woordenlijst (see p. 42)
	PRICK VAN WELY, F.P.W. Cassell's English-Dutch, Dutch-English dictionary. Cassell, London, 1951. This dictionary, a compact version of which appeared in 1955, is also published in Holland by Van Goor. It does not contain quite as much information as Ten Bruggencate, but it does give the gender of nouns and is often more readily obtainable in English-speaking countries than that dictionary.
B.	KRUYSKAMP, C. Van Dale's groot woordenboek der Nederlandse taal. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1976. This dictionary, which has also appeared in various abbreviated versions for school use etc., is the ‘Shorter Oxford’ of Holland.
	VRIES, J. de Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek. Brill, Leiden, 1971. The best in etymological dictionaries. An abbreviated form of it appeared in an Aula Pocket in 1970 (Spectrum, Utrecht/Antwerpen).
	WIJK, N van Francks etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1912 (reprinted in 1976). This was the etymological dictionary till De Vries' appeared.
	SALVERDA DE GRAVE, G. L'influence de la langue française en Hollande. Edouard Champion, Paris, 1913. The definitive work on French loan words in Dutch. Also available in Dutch.
	VOOYS, C.G.N. de Nedersaksische en Hoogduitse invloeden op de Nederlandse woordvoorraad. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Mij, Amsterdam, 1936.
	VOOYS, C.G.N. de Duitse invloed op de Nederlandse woordvoorraad. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Mij, Amsterdam, 1946.
	BEEM, H. Uit Mokum en mediene. Van Gorcum, Assen, 1974. An interesting little book written in easy Dutch on the influence of Yiddish/Hebrew on the language It includes a list of such loan words - handy for reference.
	ENDT, E. Bargoens woordenboek. Erven Thomas Rap, Amsterdam, 1974. A dictionary of volkstaal (lower class speech) which includes many words of Yiddish origin.