Netherlandic language research

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Chapter Twelve
Word Studies

It would be beyond the scope of this book to give a complete bibliography of all the articles dealing with problems of etymology and text interpretation that have appeared in periodicals or annotated editions and that sometimes deal with one word only. The conclusions reached in these articles, as far as they are more or less directly related to word history or word geography, are incorporated in the Supplement to Franck-van Wijk's Etymologisch Woordenboek mentioned in Chapter II, A. In 1933 an index was published to vols XXXVI-L of the Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, and in it, many publications of this kind are to be found. A supplement to this index is being prepared. Less numerous are the word studies in De Nieuwe Taalgids; the index to vols I-L of this periodical (see Chapter II, C) gives full references. The articles in W.N.T. dealing with stems, have introductions treating the etymological aspect, which vary in length and standard, according to editors and their interests.

Special mention deserve the thorough etymological articles by Jacoba H. van Lessen, most of which appeared in Ts., and which sometimes deal with the same subjects as those written by the same author for the W.N.T. during the years 1931-1949. Good specimens of these word studies are those on the words stuiver (Ts. LX, 49 ff) and puik (Ts. LXIV, 174 ff), and the fairly detailed study Klanknabootsing als taalvormend element (Ts. LV, 241 ff, LVII, 1 ff, LXII, 106 ff and LXVI, 119 ff). Number 3 of this series is Over eenige werkwoorden die ‘kijken’ beteekenen, Ts. LXI, 213 ff. Her discussion of onomatopoetics with K. Heeroma resulted in the latter's important article Gevoelswoorden for Ts. LXIII, 1 ff, in which he points out the peculiar formal and semantic incalculability that can be observed in these ‘emotional’ words. C.G.N. de Vooys expressed his views on onomatopoetics in an Academy paper Klanknabootsing, Klanksymboliek, Klankexpressie (Amsterdam, 1942). In this connection mention should also be made of Het Nederlandse voorvoegsel ka- by A.C. Bouman (Ts. LXVIII, 97 ff). F. de Tollenaere wrote a lengthy essay on the word varken for Ts. LXVII, 103 ff, which

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provoked K. Heeroma into disagreeing, in an article in Ts. LXVIII, 180 ff, where he put forward far-reaching historico-geographical theories.

The word-maps published by the Southern Netherlandic Dialect Centre of Louvain (see Ch. X) are usually accompanied by an etymological discussion of the word or words dealt with.

A special part of vocabulary, swearwords and mild oaths, was dealt with by C. de Baere, Krachtpatsers in de Nederlandsche volkstaal (Antwerp, 1940). In his article Schimpighe woorden in de oudere toneelliteratuur for V.M.V.A. 1951, 207 ff, the same author discussed these words belonging to the periphery of civilized speech, as they occurred in an older period (14th to 16th century).

If we take ‘lexicography’ in a somewhat wider sense, we might include here proverbs and sayings. In the W.N.T. these are given under the key-words occurring in such terms. A collection of proverbial sayings, with explanations of them, was made by F.A. Stòett, Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, naar hun oorsprong en beteekenis verklaard (2 vols, 4th edition, Zutfen, 1923-25), usually referred to as the Spreekwoordenboek. Stoett also made a shorter edition, Nederlandse spreekwoorden en gezegden, of which the 7th edition was completely revised by C. Kruyskamp (Zutfen, 1950; 8th edition, 1953). This book will in time replace Stoett's larger work. A useful compilation, intended for a wider public, is that by K. ter Laan, Nederlandse spreekwoorden, spreuken en zegswijzen (2nd edition, The Hague-Djakarta, 1951). Kruyskamp also compiled a remarkable collection of what he calls Apologische Spreekwoorden (2nd edition, The Hague, 1948), sayings constructed with the phrase ‘said...and...’. A good few of these ‘said-sayings’ can also be found in J. Cauberghe's Nederlandse Taalschat (2nd edition, Brussels-Amsterdam, 1957), 309 ff.

The extensive collections made by A. de Cock, Spreekwoorden en spreekwijzen afkomstig van oude volkszeden (Ghent, 1906), Spreekwoorden en zegswijzen over de vrouwen, de liefde en het huwelijk (Ghent, 1911), and Spreekwoorden, zegswijzen en uitdrukkingen op volksgeloof berustend (2 vols, Antwerp-Ghent-Deventer, 1920-22), are chiefly of folkloristic interest.

The book by H. Beem on Yiddish proverbs and sayings was mentioned at the end of Chapter X. The studies on the jargon used by clog-makers and flax-dressers have also been mentioned, see on p. 90.