Archive for the ‘Language’ Category
Dutch Sayings: Water And Sea
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
Looking out to sea, George Hitchcock
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
The Dutch are famous because of their relationship with the sea and water in general. We reclaimed land from the sea, used water to drive our economy, sailed the seven seas, and conquered nations far away. Nowadays, we are still fighting the flood every day by keeping our dikes up-to-date. A people that intertwined with the sea and water cannot but reveal that special bond in its language. Today I’ll share with you some of the literally hundreds of Dutch sayings involving water.
Water bij de wijn doen (to add water to the wine): lowering demands to accomplish a compromise.
Een storm in een glas water (a storm in a glass of water): much to do about nothing, not as severe as it seemed at first.
Stille wateren hebben diepe gronden (still waters have deep grounds): he who does not talk much often has deep thoughts, there is more to this person than meets the eye.
Ze zijn als water en vuur (they are as water and fire): they cannot stand each other.
Het hoofd boven water houden (keeping one’s head above the water): barely getting by, financially.
Een steek onder water (a punch below the water): insulting someone with a smile, using indirect speech.
Het water loopt altijd naar de zee (water always flows towards the sea): the rich always get richer.
Met hoog water lopen (walking with high water): wearing trousers that have legs that are too short.
Zo vlug als water (as quick as water): very quick, very keen.
Kijken alsof men water ziet branden (to look as if there was water on fire): looking very surprised.
Het kind met het badwater weggooien (to throw out the baby along with the bathing water): taking such ill measures to solve a problem that you end up ruining everything, including that what you wanted to solve.
De boot missen (to miss the boat): being too late to participate in something lucrative or favorable.
Dat is geen man over boord (no-one fell overboard): that is no problem.
In troebel water is het goed vissen (murky waters make good fishing): one can benefit from the problems of others.
Recht door zee (straight through the sea): being honest (or as some non-Dutch experience this : being blunt).
Onder zeil gaan (going underneath the sail): going to bed/sleep.
Water naar de zee dragen (to carry water to the sea) : a pointless business, measures that do not solve a thing.
Als de koeien op het ijs dansen en het warm water regent (when the cows dance on the ice and it rains warm water) : never.
Er zal nog heel wat water door de Rijn stromen, eer dat gebeurt (a lot of water will flow through the Rhine before that happens): it will take a long time for that to happen.
Het water loopt over de dijk (the water flows over the dike) : to cry.
Spijkers op laag water zoeken (searching for nails at low tide): nitpicking.
De zon niet in het water kunnen zien schijnen (not being able to see the sun shine in the water) : to be jealous.
Want to know more about Dutch sayings an proverbs? Read this book:
Dictionary of 1000 Dutch Proverbs (Hippocrene Bilingual Proverbs)
The Language Of Our Ancestors: Research On Emigrant Dutch
Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
As some of you may know, I spent much of my childhood abroad in Spain. At home we spoke Dutch and at school I spoke Spanish with my friends. I always thought that the Dutch we spoke was perfectly normal until I returned to Holland and noticed people often gave me a funny look because of my Dutch. They said it was old-fashioned or stiff and some expressions I used were quite unfamiliar to them. I, in turn, did not understand them either, every now and then. I remember a day that I was walking down the hallway with some fellow students when one of the guys said “Oh, just a moment, I’m gonna shake hands with my cousin”. Puzzled I looked down the hallway where I saw nobody and said: “Where is he then, I didn’t know your cousin was studying here too?”. Then everybody burst out in laughter, and I wondered what the joke was. It finally dawned on me when I saw the student heading for the toilets. I just hadn’t heard that expression before.
My experience is not new. I guess that all Dutch emigrants have had similar experiences. You speak your native tongue as you have always done, you think. However, slowly your pronunciation changes, you start using words from the new language that surrounds you even without noticing. And so, over time, the Dutch you use changes. It becomes “Emigrant Dutch”. It’s the Dutch your ancestors spoke or you even still may speak at home.
The Meertens Institute has started a new research project on this “Emigrant Dutch”, led by Nicoline van der Sijs, author of Cookies Coleslaw and Stoops. We already mentioned her in our article From Daalder to Dollar. They are trying to find out if and how English has influenced how the Dutch emigrants speak and write overseas. Although this may seem straightforward at first glance, it turns out to be quite complicated to distinguish between alterations in the language due to the specific Dutch dialect spoken by the emigrants or their ancestors and those derived from English influences. To do the research thoroughly, they are composing a large corpus to study. For this they need letters written or audio fragments spoken by Dutch emigrants in their native tongue.
Do you happen to have any old Dutch letters or recordings lying around the house written by you or your Dutch emigrating ancestors? Consider donating a copy to the project via Nicoline.van.der.Sijs@meertens.knaw.nl. If you do decide to donate something, please make sure you mention some basic data about the person who wrote the letters, like name, age, place of birth, when they emigrated etcetera.
Thanks in advance!
Streets of Death
Monday, October 4th, 2010
Gallowfield of The Hague 1618.
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
On a chilly morning on October 31, 1860, Johannes Nathan had a last look at the watery sun that just peeped through the clouds. Then the rope pushed his last breath out of his throat and everything went black. Was his last thought with his mother-in-law that he had beaten to death on the road to Sittard? We will never know. We do know, however, that he was the last person in the Netherlands to be sentenced to death (periods of war not included). The death penalty was abolished in 1870.
However, up until 1860, death by hanging was a common penalty for capital offenses and for small offenses if you were of low class. The possibility of being hanged was even more frightening because of torture practices. If someone refused to confess, torture was applied. We now know that torture easily leads to false confessions to stop the pain, but in those days, that wisdom was not so common. So if you were guilty of a serious offense, you would confess to avoid torture. If you were innocent, you would too. And in both cases, you were hanged. This dubious method of law practice could lead to serious mistakes. A horrible example of this is the dozens of so-called “Bokkenrijders” that were falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death in the early 1700s. Read our article about the Bokkenrijders if you would like to know more about that case.
Almost every major town and city had gallows. A hanging was public entertainment, at which large crowds would gather. The bodies of the dead were exposed at the entrance of the town to warn people that disobeying the law could have serious consequences.
Nowadays all the gallows are gone, but many street names still hint at their bygone presence:
Dodenberg (death hill), Cuijck
Doodsweg (death road), Bornerbroek
Galgenberg (gallow hill), Tubbergen
Galgenkampsweg (gallow camp street), Meppel
Galgenstraat (gallow street), Amsterdam
Galgenveld (gallow field), Ootmarsum
Galgenwaard (gallow holm), Utrecht
Korteademhalingssteeg (short breath alley), Zwolle
Wipstrik (gallow), Zwolle
Some people would like to reintroduce the death penalty in the Netherlands for capital offenses. However, as long as we cannot guarantee that innocent people will not be mistakenly executed, I think we better leave it as it is today…
