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In:Dutch and Contact Linguistics: The Dutch language outside the Low Countries
Edited by Christopher Joby and Nicoline van der Sijs
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 55] 2025
► pp. 119–152

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Chapter 4
Comparison of Dutch loanwords in Polish and Czech

ORCiD logo with link | University of Wrocław
ORCiD logo with link | Palacký University, Olomouc
Published online: 4 July 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.55.04kow
Abstract
It is well known that Dutch loanwords can be found in various languages. The aim of this contribution is to give a brief characterization of Dutch loanwords in Polish and Czech and to compare their usage in these two West Slavic languages. According to the Dutch database Uitleenwoordenbank (Van der Sijs 2015), there are more than 380 Dutch loanwords in Polish and more than one hundred Dutch loanwords in Czech. Why do we find more of these words in Polish than in Czech? How did these words get from Dutch into these two languages? What sort of words are these actually and how have they been adapted? What role does language contact play here? It has been noted that the majority of Dutch loanwords in both Polish and Czech were borrowed through other languages. The Polish language, however, contains many more words related to shipbuilding and seafaring.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.Historical and cultural context
    • 1.1Contacts between the Low Countries and Poland
    • 1.2Contacts between the Low Countries and the Czech Republic
  • 2.Corpus of Dutch loan words
  • 3.Analysis of borrowing paths
    • 3.1Direct borrowings (Dutch → Pl/Cz)
    • 3.2Indirect borrowings (Dutch → A → Pl/Cz)
      • 3.2.1German as an intermediary language
      • 3.2.2Russian as an intermediary language
      • 3.2.3Borderline cases: Russian and German
      • 3.2.4English as an intermediary language
      • 3.2.5French as an intermediary language
    • 3.3Words borrowed through Dutch (A → Dutch → (A) → Pl/Cz)
    • 3.4Words with Dutch forms but meanings originating elsewhere
    • 3.5Usage of Dutch geonyms
  • 4.Adaptation of the Dutch loanwords
    • 4.1Adapted forms
      • 4.1.1Phonetic, prosodic, and spelling changes
      • 4.1.2Morphological changes
      • 4.1.3Morphological productivity of borrowings
    • 4.2Unadapted/the most recent forms
  • 5.Thematic division and recentness of loanwords
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (52)
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