It Frysk yn it nije Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands: de kâns fersitten

Abstract

According to the introduction in the recently published new etymological dictionary of Dutch (EWN), Frisian is systematically included in the word descriptions. Further it is claimed that due to the lack of a Frisian etymological dictionary, a lot of basic research on Frisian had to be done.
In this review article I show that the Frisian contribution to the dictionary is, unfortunately, below all scientific standards. Frisian is in no way systematically taken into consideration in the EWN. The criteria for giving 
the Frisian word form(s) or not are unclear. On the one hand many etymologically uninteresting loan translations and interferences from Dutch are included (without indicating their loan status), whereas on the other hand Frisian cognates are missing in many cases where they would have been fitting and where the etymological description would have benefitted from them. Although a Frisian etymological dictionary does not exist, a considerable amount of etymological research on Frisian has been done.
These etymological studies have gone unnoticed in the EWN, and more generally there are no indications that any basic etymological research on Frisian has been done for the purpose of the EWN. On the contrary. The 
basic principles of etymology are ignored in the Frisian contribution to the EWN: inherited words and loan words are not distinguished and the treatment of the Frisian words betrays an unsufficient knowledge of the 
basics of Frisian historical phonology. A good opportunity to give Frisian its rightful place in a Dutch etymological dictionary has been missed here.