<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 11 February 2007 - Volume 04<br><br>=========================================================================<br><br>From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>
><br>Subject: Etymology<br><br>Hi, Jacqueline!<br><br><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">> "Het baantje" ( a job that is fun and is
not necessarily to be taken seriously ) must be of Dutch origin since it has
the typical Dutch diminutive ending. Because it is diminutive it must have a
neuter gender in Dutch.<br><br></span></font>Quite so, daddy-o! I see someone really paid attention. ;-) Some people do spell it <span style="font-style: italic;">Bahntje</span>.<br><br>As an interesting aside, the English word "trade" apparently came from Middle Saxon
<span style="font-style: italic;">trade</span> *['trɑːde], which originally meant something like 'trade' in the sense of 'career', and it, too, goes back to "path," being related to "tread".
<br><br>Actually, <span style="font-style: italic;">Baantje</span> and similar loans may have entered the eastern dialects of Northern Low Saxon from Eastern Friesland or Emsland dialects of Low Saxon.<br>
<br>Another noun of this class may be <span style="font-style: italic;">Bontje</span> (also pronounced <span style="font-style: italic;">Bontsche</span>, e.g., in Hamburg) for 'candy', 'sweet' (German <span style="font-style: italic;">
Bonbon</span>, originally probably French).<br><br>A rare case of an adverbial diminutive borrowed from Dutch is <span style="font-style: italic;">suutje</span> ([zu(ː)tje], also pronounced <span style="font-style: italic;">
suutsche</span>, e.g., in Hamburg) 'slowly and steadily', 'carefully', 'gingerly', etc., apparently from Dutch <span style="font-style: italic;">zoetjes</span>, derived from <span style="font-style: italic;">
zoet</span> [zut] 'sweet' <span style="font-style: italic;">(</span>cf. French <span style="font-style: italic;">doucement</span>, literally "sweetly"). (Low Saxon for 'sweet' is <span style="font-style: italic;">
sööt </span>[zœɪt] ~ [zɔɪt].)<br><br>I suspect there are lots more Dutch loanwords in Low Saxon (not even counting the dialects of the Netherlands), but in many cases there are no tell-tale signs, and the two languages are so closely related that many such loanwords go undetected.
<br><br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>