Hans Brinker

Hans Brinker - or - The Silver Skates

In 1865, Mary Mapes Dodge published a children's book set in Holland called Hans Brinker -or- The Silver Skates. The title character Hans Brinker is a very poor boy who lives with his sister, mother and disabled father; next to it is a storyline of a group of better-off boys from the same town who on a skating tour in the heart of Holland visit museums and famous places, giving Mrs Dodge an opportunity to tell about Holland, and she does that nicely. Judging from the book, Mrs Dodge really read up on Dutch history and culture; there are a few typos in the historical names but most are correct. Unfortunately, the names of the Dutch characters in the story are a mess, and many of the common Dutch words are spelled incorrectly. For several of the characters I did not see right away what their correct Dutch names would be. I'm afraid that the person Mrs Dodge consulted on common names and words did not know much Dutch, was not familiar with Dutch spelling and probably had really bad handwriting (I was wondering what 'Voost' could be when I thought that Mrs Dodge may have read English-phonetic 'Yoost' as 'Voost' - in proper Dutch 'Joost' - Dutch J sounds like English Y in YES.)

I have two print editions of the book, an Airmont Classic from 1966, and a Tor Book from 1993. Both have about the same mistakes with Dutch. It's amazing that in 100 years no publisher has bothered to ask a native speaker of Dutch to look it over - or didn't care about Dutchmen's comments: I find it hard to believe that I would be the first to notice the problems. Maybe it's like the casting in 'Miracle on 34th Street' - "The Dutch are an insignificant part of our audience." - in the movie a little girl is brought to Santa Claus, and he is told she only speaks Dutch and doesn't understand English. Not a problem for polyglot Santa - but then the Dutch people in the audience will notice the little girl's thick American accent: to Dutchmen, it's not credible that she doesn't speak English. For the Dutch any illusion of reality is shattered. No, Virginia. Contrary to popular thinking, it's not Hans Brinkers who puts his finger in the dike and saves the country: in the book that's a story told in a classroom in England, and the boy is not named. There is no story or actual event like it in Holland.

Mrs Dodge writes		Correct (or More Likely) Dutch, Notes
Characters in The Story
Annie
Boekman 2		the doctor
Bouman		also spelled as 'Bouwman'
Broom		probably: Bram Washington Irving has a Dutch-American character 'Brom' - that English spelling is phonetically closer to Dutch Bram.
Carl		a German and English name; Dutch form: Karel
Diedrich		a German name; Dutch form Diederik or Dirk
Gretel		a German name - more likely Dutch: Grietje or Greetje - I think there are really very few Dutch girls named 'Gretel.' The fairy tale of the witch in the gingerbread house is Hans en Grietje 2 in Dutch, 'Hansel und Gretel' in German. A strange footnote in the book says 'Carl, Gretel and Ludwig were named after German friends,' and gives the Dutch versions of the names. It doesn't make the story more realistic.
Hans		Hans Brinker - Hansje 2
Hoogsvliet		a much more likely name is: Hoogvliet
Huygen Huygens 2		Huygen is a first name, Huygens is a family name, meaning 'son of Huygen'
Jacob 2
Janzoon		Janszoon 2 ("Jan's son") I may be mistaken, but I think it's only used as a middle or last name
Kassy		probably: Keessie - diminutive of Kees 2
Katy		an English name; Dutch form: Kaatje
Kleef		more likely: Van Kleef
Lambert
Laurens
Ludwig		a German name - more likely: French Louis or Dutch Lodewijk
Mayken		more likely: Maaike 2
Meitje		more likely: Meisje ('girl') - were they thinking of German Mädchen? Maybe: Metje 2
Van Mounen		an unlikely Dutch family name. It sounds unpleasant, and there is at present no-one by that name living in Holland. A more likely name: Van Manen 2
Poot 2		'animal leg'
Raff		probably: Rolf
Rychie		probably: Riekie 2 - diminutive of Riek from Hendrika 2 or Marieke or maybe Rijkje 2 - a diminutive of Rijk or Marijke
Schimmelpenninck 2
Schummel 2		an unlikely Dutch family name, it sounds unpleasant, and there is at present no person by that name in Holland. Maybe: Schimmel 2
Voost		probably: Joost (maybe Mrs Dodge misread bad-handwriting 'Yoost.' See note above) Washington Irving has a character named 'Yost.'
Voostenwalbert		probably: Joost-Albert 2
		Hear Dutch First and Last Names
Historical Personages
Admiraal van der Eijck		Name of a tulip in the wild tulips speculation of 1637. I'd never heard of this admiral before - according to an article by Liesbeth Missel, curator of Wageningen University Library, Holland, 'admiral' (admiraal 2) and 'general' (generaal 2) in tulip names refers to coloring. Hear more Dutch tulip names.
Willem Beukles		Willem Beukelsz. 2. Herring is gutted and immersed in brine for preservation: haring kaken . Dutch fishermen had discovered that the taste of the fish was greatly improved by leaving in the pancreas (alvleesklier ) - its enzymes would do something beneficial to the fish meat. Traditionally ascribed to Willem Beukelsz. aka Willem Beukelszoon , ca 1400.
Boerhaave		18th Century medical doctor and researcher
Jacob Cats 'Vadertje Cats' 2 3		An early 17th Century diplomat and a rather moralistic poet, not a philosopher (Thank you, Alan Caron)
Laurens Janszoon Coster		an early Dutch printer
Jan van Gorp 2		better known by the latinized version of his name: Goropius 2 - 17th Century linguist who claimed that Dutch was the mother of all languages. Volgens Goropius spraken Adam en Eva Nederlands. 2 According to Goropius, Adam and Eve spoke Dutch. Goropius zegt dat Adam en Eva Nederlands spraken. 2 Goropius says that Adam and Eve spoke Dutch. "Adam en Eva spraken Nederlands in het Paradijs." "Adam and Eve spoke Dutch in Paradise." "In het Paradijs spraken Adam en Eva Nederlands" 2 "In Paradise, Adam and Eve spoke Dutch."
Kanau Hesselaer		Kenau Hasselaer also known as Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer 2 leader of the women of Haarlem during the siege by the Spanish army (1573)
Lucas van Leyden		16th Century painter, also known as Lucas Hugensz. 2
Harel de Moor		Karel de Moor 2 - 17th Century painter
Paul Potter		Paulus Potter 2 - 17th Century painter. His most famous painting: De Stier 2 ('The Bull') at Het Mauritshuis 2 in The Hague
Van Tromp		Tromp 2 - family name of two 17th Century admirals, Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp 2 and Cornelis Tromp.
Wouvermans		Philips Wouwerman 2 - 17th Century painter - also: Wouwermans
Hear the names of more Dutch painters: 170 - Vermeer - Rembrandt - Early Flemish and Dutch Painters
Place Names
Amsterdam		the capital of Holland, though parliament meets in The Hague, and most government buildings and embassies are in that city too.
Blomendal		Bloemendaal
Brabant		Noord Brabant 2 is a province in the South of The Netherlands, and 'Brabant' is a province in Belgium (in the Middle Ages one duchy, dukedom)
Breede straat Breedstraat Breedstratt		Breestraat 2 'the wide street' - a common street name
Broek 2		There really is a town named 'Broek,' North of Amsterdam. In modern Dutch, 'broek' means 'pants, trousers,' but in 17th- and 18th-Century Dutch it also meant 'swamp.' It's often found in family names, like for instance Van den Broek and Westbroek . The old, Dutch name for Georgetown, Guyana was Stabroek ('swamp of stagnant water.')
Delft Haven		Delfshaven 2 was the port (haven ) of the city of Delft 2 - the Pilgrims left for America from Delfshaven - now part of the city of Rotterdam
Friesland 2		a province in the North of the country
Gouda		also the name of a kind of cheese
Haarlem
Haarlemmermeer		reclaimed in 1852 - the national airport Schiphol is in the old Haarlemmermeer
Halfweg 2		('Midway') a small town halfway between Amsterdam and Haarlem
Heireen Gracht		Herengracht 2 - a street and canal in Amsterdam. At the time that the book was written, this was spelled Heerengracht
Huis in't Bosch		Huis ten Bosch 2 - royal palace in a forest near Den Haag 2 ('The Hague') - at present the queen's residence
Leyden		Dutch spelling is: Leiden
het Mauritshuis 2		Museum in The Hague, named after prince Maurits 2 (Maurice, Morris)
de Noordzee 2		'the North Sea' - Dutchmen do not call the body of water between Holland and the British Isles an 'ocean.'
Rapenburg 2		a street and canal in Leyden
Saardam		Zaandam - where Czar Peter the Great was a shipbuilder's apprentice, nowadays called Zaanstad Washington Irving calls it 'Saardam' too.
St. Bavon		Sint Bavo a church in Haarlem named after Saint Bavo
Utrecht		a large town in the center of the country
Vleit		Vliet - a common name for small streams
the Y, the Eye		het IJ - a body of water near Amsterdam. It is NOT pronounced like English 'eye,' as Mrs Dodge says. There is no sound in English like Dutch IJ - If a Dutchman says IJ you wouldn't think he means 'eye.' Listen to Dutch: hij ('he') - zij 2 ('she') - mijl ('mile') - de Rijn 2 ('the river Rhine.') To me, the AI in these Dutch words sounds like English 'eye:' maïs 2 ('maize, (Indian) corn') - Thai - Braille >>
Zuiderzee		Closed off in 1932, now called het IJsselmeer
Zwanenburg 2
		Hear Dutch Place Names
Dutch Words
aanspreker		a kind of town crier, announcing deaths to friends and relatives of the deceased
blixin		bliksem 'lightning'
buiten plasten		buitenplaatsen 2 'second homes outside the city, for leisure'
Dame Brinker		There is a Dutch word (de) dame meaning 'a woman who is respected.' A speaker addressing an audience will start with "Dames en Heren," 2 ('ladies and gentlemen.') But 'Dame' is not a title in Dutch. Maybe Mrs Dodge meant to use the archaic English address when she wrote 'Dame Brinker,' but I do suspect she thought it was correct Dutch. In a Modern Dutch book, Mrs Brinker would be called Mevrouw Brinker 2 or her full name (first and last name) would be given, but in the 19th Century she might have been called Juffrouw Brinker 2 ('Miss' - see note under jufvrouw.) Juffrouw Brinker 2 - Mevrouw Brinker
donder		'thunder' - onweer 'thunderstorm:' thunder + lightning
goede gunst! 2		'Good grief!' - The D in 'goede' is often softened to a Y-sound - Dutch J.)
hoezza!		a strange mixture of hoera 2 and hoezee 2 - both meaning 'hurrah,' though 'hoezee' is by now a bit old-fashioned.
jongvrowe		jonkvrouw 'a young or unmarried noble lady'
jufvrouw		juffrouw 2 3 Traditionally, in the 20th Century, this was the Dutch word for 'Miss,' an unmarried woman, but it is rarely used anymore, only female teachers at elementary schools are still called 'juffrouw.' The general respectful address for women is now mevrouw 2 3 ('Ma'am' and 'Mrs' - see note under Dame Brinker.) There is no Dutch equivalent for Ms. I have been told, and Mrs Dodge also says so, that in the 19th Century, only women of the upper layer of society were called 'Mevrouw,' and that other women, married or unmarried, were called 'Juffrouw.'
kanaals		kanalen 'canals, ship channels' - singular: (het) kanaal . The Dutch word for city canal is (de) gracht
kermis		'a fair' - from French kermesse
klompen		'clogs, wooden shoes' - singular: (de) klomp
krits		kris Indonesian dagger or short sword. Malay Words in Dutch
kwartje		a quarter, 25-cent coin
luigaard		luiaard 2 3 - 1. 'a lazy person' 2. 'a sloth.'
meester		'master' - a schoolteacher or an accomplished person.
mine gott!		correct: mijn god! 2 OMG! (Gott is German)
mynheer, mynheers		mijnheer (meneer) 'Mr' and 'Sir'- the correct plural is: heren
ophaalbrug 2		'drawbridge' (note that P and H are pronounced separately - plural: -bruggen
pakschuyt		pakschuit 2 see note under 'trekschuit.'
polders		the new, reclaimed land - singular: (de) polder 2
ruine		ruïne 'ruin' - the two dots on top of the I are called (het) trema and indicate a syllable break before the letter with the trema. >> Here, the sound is U-I 2 - which is very different from UI - compare sounds: ruïne - duinen ('dunes') - bruine ('brown') - puin ('rubble')
schipper 2		'skipper'
sluicer		sluiswachter 2 an official in charge of a sluice
spoorweg 2		'railroad'
stadhuis 2		'city hall' (the stress in the Dutch word varies)
stiver		stuiver 2 a nickel, 5-cent coin
stoomboot		'steamship'
trekschuit		a horse-drawn barge. 17th and 18th Century Holland had a network of ship channels for those barges. It was like a railroad system. According to Mrs Dodge, the trekschuit transported people, and the pakschuit transported goods ('packages.') The book writes trekschuit correctly, but in the next line pakschuyt with Y - careless?
tulpen		'tulips' - singular: (de) tulp - names of heirloom tulips
tweegevegt		tweegevecht 2 'duel' - no longer much used - Dutch duel 2
voetspoelen		The correct Dutch phrase is 'de voeten spoelen,'  literally 'rinsing the feet' - a euphemism for drowning. Its victims were bound together and thrown overboard into the sea. In a dictionary I found 'de overwonnenen de voeten spoelen' 2 - consign the vanquished to the deep. A somewhat milder shipboard punishment or disciplinary measure was to 'keelhaul,' kielhalen 2 - dragging a condemned person through the water under the keel, which could result in death by drowning. (Thank you Timothy Dickinson)
vrouw		'woman' and 'wife' - see note under 'jufvrouw'
wartaal 2		'gibberish'
zommerhuis		zomerhuis 2 'summer residence'
Notes
'the Dutch mile'		Mrs Dodge writes: 'The Dutch mile is more than four times as long as ours.' That would be about 7.4 kilometers. I had never heard of it, so I looked it up in my old 'Van Dale' Dutch dictionary. It says the German mile is 7.4 km, and the Dutch mile is 5.5 km. Around 1800 the metric system was introduced in Holland.
Governor Robles		The story about Spanish Governor Robles is total nonsense. In the 11th or 12th Century, Waterschappen ('water boards') developed, far before Burgundian (ca 1350) and later Spanish (ca 1450) foreign rulers came to Holland. The people living close to the sea organized to manage the water and worked out a taxes and payment system. Some see it as an early, limited form of democracy (of course pioneered by Greeks much earlier.)
Dutch Harvest Song		Mrs Dodge quotes a 'harvest song that is quite popular there' (in Holland) - but I doubt it is Dutch at all: Yanker didee, dudel down Didee dudel lawnter Yankee viver, voover, vown Botermelk und Tawnter! Mrs Dodge says 'no linguist could translate it' - but I doubt that it is Dutch. The common Dutch word for 'buttermilk' is not Botermelk but karnemelk - and 'und' is German. 'Lawnter' and 'Tawnter' don't look or sound like any Dutch words I know, and 'Doodle' is written as 'Dudel' in German, and as 'doedel' in Dutch (doedelzak 'bagpipes.')

Dutch family names website

'Dutch' First and Last Names - Place Names in Holland and Belgium - Maps of The Netherlands
17th Century Sailors and Ships - Old New York
Dutch Names from Books - Operation Market Garden - The Diary of Anne Frank
Early Flemish Painters - Vermeer's World - Rembrandt

The Real Hansje Brinker

Particam Pictures, Amsterdam, 1953

Schielandse Hoge Zeedijk 2

Ouderkerk aan de IJssel 2

Arie Evegroen

De Twee Gebroeders

Johan van Veen

After the disaster a grand plan was developed that drastically shortened the coastline, so it was much easier to strengthen and maintain the dikes exposed to the sea. ‑>>
Het Deltaplan 2 ('The Delta Protection Plan')
De Deltawerken ('The Delta Protection Works')

Map of The 1953 Flood Disaster

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