Etymology of Dutch word for bicycle cracked after 140 years

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Two Flemish linguists of Ghent University in Belgium have finally pinpointed the historical origin of the Dutch word ‘fiets’ (‘bicycle’, sounds exactly like ‘feats’). They claim it comes from the German word ‘Vize’ (pronounced ‘vietse’, almost rhymes with ‘pizza’), which means the same as the English ‘vice’ (like in Vice-President, a ‘deputy’ president). In this case, it’s a surrogate horse, a ‘vice horse’. And a ‘vice horse’ is understood to be a bicycle.

The Dutch word ‘fiets’ was very different from the French word ‘vélocipède’, where the bicycle originated from in 1870, the English word and the German word ‘Fahrrad’. The French abbreviation ‘vélo’ couldn’t possibly have turned into ‘fiets’. A man called E.C. Viets from Wageningen started making bicycles around 1880, which was often quoted as a possible origin, but that was historically incorrect.

One day, one of the linguists was pouring some cider for a German colleague from a region who called it ‘Vize’ (vice-wine, surrogate wine), although in Dutch it could have sounded like the German had said ‘bad wine’ (‘vies’ in Dutch means ‘dirty’ or ‘bad quality’ in this case). But the German was speaking German and meant to say ‘surrogate wine’, ‘Vize’ being used for all kinds of surrogate things in his region of Germany.

The German ‘Vize-Pferd’ (‘surrogate horse’) was discovered by the linguists in written documents and then they found German dialect words ‘Fitz’ and ‘Fietse’, which was the missing link to ‘fiets’. A lot of Dutch words come from German, but for some reason, ‘Vize’, a bit like saying ‘bike’ or ‘vélo’ never made it over the German border.

(Link: www.standaard.be)

14 Comments »

  1. Ted Schrey Montreal says:

    It is disappointing, this vice-pferd derivation of fiets. Kind of hard to believe too, if you ask me. No, the words fiets imitates the sound a passing bike makes, esp. in the 19th century, when there was hardly any motorized traffic to compete with, except perhaps the odd steam locomotive. Come to think of it, the word fiets could also echo, as it were, the sound of escaping steam. I could go on but do not wish to persuade the reader that I am right. I rather like it when everyone else is wrong.

  2. Orangemaster says:

    Etymology is history and you need written proof, not an emotional attachment to a theory. I am happy someone finally came up with something.

  3. There is thought an alterior explanation: The french inventor of the very early walking bicycles, mr. Drais, registered a patent for his invention, the Draisienne model, calling it: “Machine a courir á grande vitesse.” A ´machine for running fast´. Now the word ‘vitesse’ phoneticaly resembles the word ‘fiets’ much more and since the first bicycles like this here came from France, it makes sense to suggest the word has something to do with it. They may have called it a ‘vitesse’. Like we have the TGV, the ‘Train a Grande Vitesse’, today, and still a soccerteam in Arnhem is called Vitesse too. So in the early 1800’s we than had the revolutionary invention from france. The walking bike did not beat the horse yet, back than though. Furthermore, is the fact that the Dutch language lends a lot of it´s ´vocabulaire´ from the French latin laguage. The word ´machine´ also from France. That is a long, long list of words. So, of this there is historic documentation, but if it solves the mystery?

    • Orangemaster says:

      I like the idea of bastardizing ‘vitesse’ to sound like ‘fiets’. Sounds plausible.

      There are many French words in the Dutch language, but that’s not an etymoligical explanation.

      The problem is that it needs to have been written somewhere for there to be a link. But I like your theory :)

  4. David Rodd says:

    I think Ted Schrey is mistaken in thinking that a 19th Century iron-shod velocipede on a dirt track would sound anything like a 21st Century very high-pressure tyre on a tarmac road.

    I wondered about the origin of this word, not knowing it was so obscure, just curious that it was so different from any other European word for a bicycle. The “Vize” explanation seems to me to be only good if the German region where it is used is anywhere near Holland. However, the notion of a “vice-horse” is not so far-fetched. It was certainly common in England to refer to bicycles as “steeds” (i.e. horses).

    The “vitesse” sounds more likely, but clearly some evidence will be needed before this can be accepted. My own thought (before I had found this discussion) was that “fiets” is an abbreviation, equivalent to “bike” in English, but obviously if that were the case everyone would know it.

    If a corruption of “vitesse” is plausible, what about a corruption of “wiels”?

  5. Maurice Waite says:

    ‘Disappointing’, ‘hard to believe’, ‘thought to be …’, ‘it makes sense to suggest …’, ‘may have called it …’, ‘likely, ‘plausible’, ‘far-fetched’ – all speculation, as Orangemaster has said. Every language has many unlikely-sounding but proven etymologies, and there are also many popular but unfounded ones.

  6. David Gibbon says:

    There’s an amusing little footnote to this: Afrikaans is a dialect of Dutch so also uses fiets. But there is a joke name for bicycle- baiesukkel which means “a lot of effort”!

  7. Beate Hunton says:

    I do not like the above origin story, too far fetched …

    In German Fahrrad…awheel for driving / riding. Also Drahtesel:wire donkey

    Fiets and fietsen is baffling . I wondered about Feet/ Füsse…but no , another baffling word ..

  8. Kirsty says:

    Fiets has made it across the German border in Niederrhein dialects. I’ve heard it myself!

  9. Hans says:

    In Limburg (southern Netherlands) we use the word “fits” for bicycle. In the bordering German region of Nordrheinwestfalen (NRW) they use the term “Fitz” (for example in Köln-Colone). Limburgish is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg and in the neighbouring regions of Germany.

  10. jflevin says:

    fiets, don’t fail me now!

  11. Johann says:

    “Fiets” is of English origin.

    A Dutchman was in England and decided to buy a present for his wife.
    While out walking in London, he came across a shop selling weird looking wheeled devices for sale.The Dutchman asked the Englishman what the strange
    machines were. The Englishman
    replied with the words:
    ” They’re brand new and have just arrived today. It’s easy! Buy one and try it out. If the shoe fits,
    you will have no problems.”
    The Dutchman who spoke little
    English repeated the words
    “If the shoe fits.” with a Dutch accent, sounding something like
    “If the shoe “feets”.
    The Englishman said “Yes If the shoe fits.That’s what I said.”
    The Dutchman promptly paid for his
    new device and rode off.
    Very happy and singing the English
    words ” ♫♪ If the shoe “feets”, if the shoe “feets” ♫♪ as he went.
    When he returned to the
    Netherlands all his Dutch friends
    marvelled at his new contraption and
    when they asked what it was called,
    he replied “If the shoe “feets”.

    This was later abbreviated to “feets”.

  12. Pedalùnz says:

    “If the shoe ‘feets’.” Presumably a joke, but a bit strained.

  13. Lieke says:

    In the Netherlands people sometimes called their fiets a “stalen ros” (steel horse), which makes the “vize Pferd” quite plausible.

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