What is common between "going Dutch" and "Dutch door"?
Meaning
"Going Dutch" is a term that indicates that each person participating in a group activity pays for himself, rather than any person paying for anyone else, particularly in a restaurant bill. It is also called Dutch date, Dutch treat and "doing Dutch".
Etymology
One suggestion is that the phrase "going Dutch" originates from the concept of a Dutch door. Previously on farmhouses this consisted of two equal parts (Sullivan 2010).
Dutch door
A Dutch door (American English), or stable door (British English), or half door (Hiberno English), is a door divided horizontally in such a fashion that the bottom half may remain shut while the top half opens.
reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Dutch
Help me connect the dots.
Solution 1:
The reasoning for this etymology is as follows: A Dutch door comes in two equal parts; if you split the check with your boy- or girlfriend (I am fairly sure that originally "going Dutch" was not used for large parties, but only for going out on dates), that also comes out to two equal parts.
As John Lawler remarks in the comments, the real etymology is more likely to be derived from the derogatory epithet where Dutch is used to mean thrifty, cheap.
Solution 2:
I am not sure that the reference to a door (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Dutch) is any more than a myth. It does not seem to accord with reality for two reasons
- A Dutch treat is not simply between two people: OED
Dutch treat n. (originally U.S.), one at which each person contributes his or her own share.
1937 Sunday Express 14 Feb. 25/3 Are you a ‘Dutch treat’ addict? (In a Dutch treat every one buys his or her own drinks.)
- There is no record of any "Dutch-" giving rise to another "Dutch-" - all are original coinages - that was the point of them.
The adjective "Dutch" currently (from OED)
2.a. Of, relating to, or characterizing the ‘Low Dutch’ people of Holland and the Netherlands.
[Today, informally, Holland and The Netherlands are synonyms and differ only historically.]
Thus "the Dutch school" - a school of painters and style of painting which attained its highest development in the Netherlands,
Dutch metal - a substitute for gold foil invented in the Netherlands.
Dutch elm - a tree introduced from Holland.
Dutch door - a style of door introduced from Holland. Etc.
Around 1600 - 1700, The Netherlands was probably the most prosperous land in Europe because of its colonies and massive trade. Many "Dutch-" goods were sold in England, and hence the phrases arrived in English.
However, also around that time, there were wars between Britain and The Netherlands and the adjective was very commonly used in compounds as
OED
C2. Characteristic of or attributed to the Dutch; often with an opprobrious or derisive application, largely due to the rivalry and enmity between the English and Dutch in the 17th cent. Often with allusion to the drinking habits ascribed to the ‘Dutch’; also to the broad heavy figures attributed to the Netherlanders, or to their flat-bottomed vessels. Sometimes little more than = foreign, un-English.
This was very productive and continued to be the source of phrases into the 20th century - all in the style of "A Dutch [noun] is not a real [noun], as it differ in some surprising way from the usual understanding of [noun]."
For example, Dutch wife; Dutch bargain; Dutch comfort; Dutch consolation; Dutch courage; Dutch defence; Dutch feast, Dutch nightingale; Dutch palate; Dutch uncle; Dutch widow, etc., as well as...
Dutch treat n. (originally U.S.), one at which each person contributes his or her own share. 1887 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Aug. 191 ‘You'll come along too, won't you?’ Lancelot demanded of Ormizon. ‘Dutch treat vous savez.’
Thus we have the verbal form "to go Dutch" - to go on a Dutch treat - a treat that is not really, "a treat."