Dutch/Example 9

Guido Gezelle is seen as the greatest poet, author, translator and linguist of Flanders in the 19th century. He lived in a time when the Dutch language was under heavy pressure from French. This was the language of the elite of Belgium, a country that had claimed its independence from the Netherlands only in the year that Gezelle was born. The secession had been violent and protracted and had left many scars. There were many reasons for the split, some were religious: the south was solidly catholic, the north predominantly protestant, although its southern two provinces were not. Language had also played a role. Willem I the protestant king of the Netherlands had sought to impose Dutch as the national language. This was resented not only by the French speaking provinces of Wallonia but also the elite elsewhere, because they mostly spoke French.

Guido himself grew up speaking a dialect of West-Flanders but acquired no less than 15 other languages in his life. His aim was to combine his dialect with the long tradition of Dutch literature of both north and south before him. For many in the Netherlands what he produced was far too Belgian, for many in Belgium it was far too Dutch... Guido was a catholic priest and did find support from catholic writers in the north like Joseph Alberdingk Thijm from Amsterdam. Only later did the appreciation for his work grow more widely on both sides of the border.

In the following poem Guido demonstrates his love for language, nature and God all at once. It describes a small insect, the whirligig beetle (Gyrinus), that lives partly in the water and most visibly on top of it, where it whirls around as if endlessly writing something. In northern Dutch it is called een schrijvertje, a little scribe. This word is one of those diminutives that have developed their own meaning. In Gezelle's southern variety of the language all diminutives end in -ke(n), rather than -tje, so for him it was Het Schrijverke

There are about a dozen species of Gyrinus in the Low Countries and we do not know for sure which one Gezelle was looking at. Himself he mentions Gyrinus natans, but that is the name of a species long extinct. He probably meant Gyrinus natator or maybe Gyrinus susbstriatus.

Het schrijverke

Study the text of this poem and then go see this video in which it is sung by the Flemish singer Will Ferdy.

As you will see in the text Gezelle's language differs from northern usage on a number of points

Diminutives end in -ke(n)
He uses the pronoun gij and its verb forms: gij zijt (you are) gij waart (you were) and its possessive uw and some of its inflected forms like uwen.
There are remnants of the double negation Middle Dutch had: Ik en weet niet. instead of Ik weet niet.
Another Middle Dutch remnant is to put the adjective behind the noun: 't water klaar (the clear water)
Some words have different forms or meanings: géren = gaarne (with pleasure); spegel = spiegel (mirror), bladtjes en blomkes = blaadjes en bloempjes (little leaves and flowers), zo(o) zeer (so rapidly, not: so terribly), wink(e)len (to make corners; in the north it means to shop..).
There are some words simply not known in the north: kabotseken (little hood), kapoteken (little mantle)

O winklende waterding,

Met 't zwarte kabotseken ,

Wat zien ik toch geren uw flink

Al schrijven op 't waterke gaan!

Gij leeft en gij en gij loopt zoo snel,

zie 'k u noch been;

Gij wendt en gij weet uwen weg zoo wel,

Al zie 'k u geen , geen één.

Wat waart, of wat zijt, of wat zult gij zijn?

het en zeg het mij, toe!

Wat zijt gij toch, ,

Dat van schrijven zijt moe?

Gij loopt over 't spegelend water ,

En 't water niet méér

Dan of het een ,

Dat over 't waterke .

O schrijverkes, schrijverkes , -

Met twintigen zijt gij en meer,

is er geen een die 't mij zeggen kan: -

Wat schrijft en wat schrijft gij zoo zeer?

Gij schrijft, 't staat in het water niet,

Gij schrijft, en 't is en 't is ;

Geen Christen weet er wat dat :

Och, schrijverke, zeg het mij, zeg!

Zijn 't daar ge van schrijven moet?

Zijn 't daar ge van schrijft?

Zijn 't of bladtjes of blomkes ,

Of 't water, waarop dat ge drijft?

Zijn 't vogelkes, ,

Of is 'et het blauwe ,

Dat onder en boven u , zoo diep,

Of is het u, schrijverken, zelf?

En 't krinklende winklende waterding,

Met 't zwarte kapoteken aan,

Het en het zijne oorkes flink,

En 't bleef daar een staan:

‘Wij schrijven.’ zoo sprak het, ‘al krinklen

onze , ,

Ons makend en , te schrijven gaf,

Wij schrijven, en kunt gij die lesse toch

Niet lezen, en zijt gij zoo ?

Wij schrijven, en ,

’

Guido Gezelle, 1857

Vocabulary
gaarne		with pleasure
flink		sturdy, with gusto
roeren		to stir
de arm		arm
het been		leg
het oog		eye
verklaren		to explain
de knop		bud
fijn		fine
nimmer		never
spiegelen		to mirror
klaar		clear; ready
verroeren		to move, stir
de wind		wind
voeren		to lead
de schrijver		writer
beduiden		to mean, signify
de visser		fisher
het kruid		herb
de kelk		calyx, chalice
kwelen		to warble
het gewelf		firmament; vault
stellen		to pose, put, make stand
rechten		to right, erect
de stonde		hour, time

Translation • Example 9 • Het Schrijverke

O whirling zigzagging waterthing

with the little black hood on,

how do I delight to see your little head

sturdily go write over the little water!

You live and you stir and you run so fast

Though I see neither arm nor leg on you

You wend and you know your way so well

even though I don't see an eye on you, not one.

What wert and what art and what wilt thou be?

Explain it, and tell me it, do!

What are you really, shiny fine little speck

who are never tired of writing?

You run over the mirroring water clear,

and the water does not stir more

than if it were a smooth little breeze

that silently passes over the water

O little scribes do tell me

with twenty you are and more

What do you write and write so fast?

You write and it does not stand in the water

You write and it is off and it's gone

No Christian knows what that means:

Oh, scribe, do tell me, tell!

Is it fishermen of which you must write?

Is it herbs that you write about?

Is it the pebbles, or leaves or little flowers sweet?

Or the water upon which you float?

Is it the birds, warbling piping complaint,

Or is it the blue sky

That shines below and an above you, so deep

Or is it you, scriblet yourself?

And the whirling zigzagging waterthing

with its little black mantle on

it stood up and straightened its little ears heftily

And it remained standing there for a while:

'We copy' thus it spoke, 'while whirling

that which our Master, of yore

gave us to write while making and teaching us

One lesson, no less and no more

We write, and cannot you read that lesson

and are you so dull?

We write and rewrite and write yet again

The Holy Name of God!

Quizlet

The vocabulary can be practiced at Quizlet (30 terms). Note that the vocabulary pertains to the forms in northern standard usage, not Gezelle's variety of Dutch. Some words like nimmer and stonde are poetic rather than colloquial.

Progress made

Cumulative term count

Beginner level 1053

Les 9 27

Les 9A 81

Ex. 9 31

Total number of terms 1192