Why Etymology Matters: The Case of Dutch and Afrikaans hullie ∼ hulle

Abstract

This article revisits the etymology of the Dutch third-person plural pronoun hullie ∼ hulle , a form of particular interest because of its presence in Afrikaans as well as in American diaspora varieties of Dutch. Although hullie is traditionally analyzed as a contraction of hun (the main third-person plural nonsubject pronoun in standard Dutch) and the noun lie(den) ∼ lui ‘people’, this study argues that its first syllable actually traces back to heur , not hun . The argument is based on a range of historical-linguistic evidence, drawing on both well-known and lesser-known dialect sources. The article furthermore highlights a broader methodological issue: Treating hullie as a reflex of hun has led to incorrect generalizations in the Dutch dialectological literature, artificially inflating the historical distribution of hun at the expense of heur . The findings thus not only resolve a long-standing etymological puzzle, but also underscore the importance of critical etymology for accurate dialect geography and historical-linguistic reconstruction.