[1] Linschoten was born at Haarlem in or about 1563. He started his
travels at the age of sixteen and, after some years in Spain, went
with the Portuguese East India fleet to Goa, where he arrived in
September 1583, returning in 1589. In 1594 and 1595 he took part in
the Dutch Arctic voyages, and in 1598 settled at Enkhuizen, where he
died on the 8th of February 1611. His _Navigatio ac itinerarium_
(1595-1596) is a compilation based partly on his own experiences,
partly on those of other travellers with whom he came in contact. It
was translated into English and German in 1598; two Latin versions
appeared in 1599 and a French translation in 1610. The famous English
version was reprinted for the Hakluyt Society in 1885. Large
selections, with an Introduction, are published in C. Raymond
Beazley's _Voyages and Travels_, vol. ii. (_English Garner_, London,
1903).
DUTCH LANGUAGE. When the Romans reached the territory now forming the
kingdom of Holland, they found a number of tribes south of the Rhine,
who--though here and there mixed with Germans--belonged to a
non-Germanic race, and who, closely related to the Belgian tribes, spoke
a language belonging to the Celtic group. Possibly they were also
situated on the more elevated grounds north of the Rhine, at least
vestiges of them may still be traced. We do not know anything about
their being mixed with or subdued by the intruding German tribes. We can
only guess it.
At that time the fertile delta of the Rhine was already occupied by
German tribes who in language and national customs must have stood in
some relation to the tribes living along the Rhine in Germany, later
called Franks. The consonantal system of their language was in
accordance with the other Low-German dialects, which is proved by the
remains we have in the glosses of the Lex Salica, for the greater part
handed down in a bad condition. These tribes, whom we shall take
together under the name of Low-Franks--the Romans called them Batavi,
Caninefates, Chamavi, &c.--were spread over Gelderland, Overysel, part
of Utrecht and South Holland, and the south-western part of North
Holland. When in the sixth century allied tribes from the present north
Germany, who named themselves Saxons after one of those tribes living
alongside the Elbe, conquered the territory occupied by the Franks a
great many retreated from the eastern parts, and then the Franks, who
already in the time of the Romans had begun to invade into the territory
of the Belgian tribes, continued their wars of conquest in a southward
direction and subdued all the land south of the branch of the Rhine that
is called the "Waal." Since that time the Frankish dialect came there,
and the Celtic-speaking population of the south suffered its language to
be entirely supplanted by that of the conquerors. Hence in the formerly
Celtic-speaking parts of Brabant and Limburg we find but Frankish
dialects, somewhat corresponding with those of part of Gelderland,
Utrecht and Holland. The deviation that is perceptible concerns less the
use of words than the way of laying the stress.
In part of Gelderland, east of the Ysel, and in Overysel, the older
Frankish dialect (of the Salian Franks) was given up and the language of
the victorious Saxons was assumed, perhaps here and there strongly mixed
with the older language. The language which is spoken there, and farther
to the north through Drente as far as in some parts of Groningen, is
called Saxon. Indeed, these dialects correspond in a great many respects
with the language of the Old-Saxon poem Heliand (q.v.) and with the
North-German dialects--from the latter they deviate considerably in some
respects. The chief point of conformity is the formation of the plural
of the verb: _wi loopt, wi gat_, _Heliand_: _wi hlopad, wi gangad_,
which are _wei loopen, wei gaan_ in the Frankish dialects. In the vocal
system, too, there are peculiar differences.
In the north of Holland there lived, and still lives alongside the
coast, a tribe with which Caesar did not come in contact. The Frisians
were spread over a large distance along the shore as far as the mouth of
the Elbe, and in the west at least as far as the country north of
Haarlem. In the time of the Romans they cannot have extended their power
farther southward. Later, however, this seems to have been the case.
Maerlant and Melis Stoke (13th century) tell us that time was when their
power extended even over part of Flanders. About the year 339 they were
repelled as far as the mouth of the Meuse, and ever afterwards the
Franks, led by their counts, pushed their dominion back farther and
farther to the north, as far as the country north of Alkmaar. After all,
a great many Frisian peculiarities may be perceived in the language of
the country people of the parts which were once in their power.
To begin with the south: in Zeeland the population has quite given up
the former probably non-Germanic language. Frisian influence is still
perceptible in many words and expressions, but for all that the language
has lost the Frisian character and assumed the nature of the
neighbouring Frankish dialects in the present Belgium and Brabant. If it
was then influenced by the south, later it was influenced rather by the
language of Holland. Farther to the north Frisian elements may be
perceived in Holland at the seashore and also in many respects still in
North Holland. The real Frisian tongue has only been preserved in the
province of Friesland, where intrusion of the dialect spoken in Holland
is already perceptible since the 13th century. With the Frisian tongue
this formed a new dialect in the towns, the "Stadfriesch," whereas the
country people in the villages and the peasants have preserved the old
Frisian tongue as "Boerenfriesch."
The more eastward dialects of Frisian in Groningen, the eastern part of
Friesland (_Stellingawerf_) and West-Drente were first strongly mixed
with Saxon; at the same time we find a strong mixture of Frisian and
Saxo-Frankish east of the Zuider Zee. Later the Saxon dialect of the
town of Groningen, once the capital of East-Drente, became prominent
over the whole province.
In all parts, however, the language of Holland, mixed with and changed
by the living speech, is getting more and more influence, issuing from
the towns and large villages.
This influence over the whole country began at the opening of the 17th
century, and, in connexion with the prevalent written language,
gradually produced a colloquial language, deviating from the written
language as well as from the native idioms of the country, though
assuming elements from both. In this colloquial speech the idiom of
Holland forms the basis, whereas the written language formed itself on
quite different principles.
If we compare the colloquial speech and the native idiom with the
written language, we find remarkable differences, which are caused by
the origin of the Dutch written language.
The first to write in any of the idioms of the Dutch language, if we
leave apart the old version of the psalms in East Low Frankish, was an
inhabitant of the neighbourhood of Maastricht, Henrik van Veldeke, who
wrote a Servatius legend and an _Aeneid_; the latter we only know by a
Mid High German copy. This dialect deviates from the western dialects
and has likeness to the Middle-Frankish. His work had no influence
whatever on the written language.
In the west of Belgium, in the districts of Antwerp, East and West
Flanders and Brabant, great prosperity and strong development of
commerce caused a vivid intellectual life. No wonder we find there the
first writings in the West-Low-Frankish native idiom. This language
spread over the neighbouring districts. At least in 1254 we find the
same language used in the statute (i.e. privilege) of Middelburg.
In those parts a great deal was written in poetry and prose, and the
writings in this language are known under the name of Middle-Dutch
literature.
If originally the south took the lead in all departments, later the
north gradually surpasses the south, and elements from the northern
native idiom begin to intrude into the written language.
North of the Meuse and the Rhine little was written as yet in the 13th
century. Not until about 1300 does literary life begin to develop here
(Melis Stoke's _Rijmcronijk_), and these writings were written in the
language of the south with slight deviations here and there. Chancery
and clergy had taken a written language to the north, deviating
considerably from the native idiom in vogue there, which belonged to the
Frisio-Frankish idioms. So this written language gradually spread over
the west of the Netherlands and Belgium. The east of the Netherlands
agreed in its chancery style more with the districts of Low Germany.
There was a great difference between the written language and the
dialect spoken on the banks of the Y. This becomes quite conspicuous if
we compare what Roemer Visscher, Coster, Bredero borrow from their
native idiom with the language of Huygens or Cats, in the latter of
which the southern elements predominate, mixed with the dialects of
Zeeland and Holland. Vondel, too, in his first period was influenced by
the idiom of Brabant. Only after 1625 does he get on more familiar terms
with the Amsterdam dialect. In the various editions of his poems it may
be seen how not only loan-words, but also words belonging to the
southern idiom, are gradually replaced by other words, belonging to the
vocabulary of North Holland, and still to be heard.
The written language passed from the south to the north, and,
considerably changed at Amsterdam, was also assumed in the other
provinces in the 17th century, after the Union of Utrecht. In the north,
in Groningen and Friesland, the official writings and laws were still
noted down in a Frisian or Saxo-Frisian idiom as late as the 15th and
16th centuries. When the contact with Holland grew stronger, and the
government officials ever and again came in contact with Holland,
chancery, too, gradually assumed the Holland idiom. The same took place
in the eastern provinces.
This, however, did not yet make the written language popular, which did
not happen before the population of the Dutch provinces got its
_Statenbybel_, the well-known authorized version of the Bible, made at
Dordrecht between 1626 and 1637.
By the frequent use of this so-called _Statenvertaling_ the language of
Holland obtained its vogue in all provinces on the point of religion,
and many expressions, borrowed from that Bible, were preserved in the
native idiom.
By the remarkable vicissitudes of these parts from the earliest time up
to the moment when Holland became an independent kingdom, during which
alternately German elements under the Bavarian counts and French
influences under the Burgundian princes were predominant, and also later
in the 16th and 17th centuries elements from these languages were mixed
with the language in common use. Moreover, various words passed from the
eastern languages into Dutch by the colonial and commercial connexions,
while at the same time many words were borrowed from Latin, the language
of the learned people, especially in the 16th century, and from French,
under the influence of the poetic clubs of the 17th and 18th centuries.
In the time of the rhetoricians, in the 16th century, and of Coornhert,
as well as in the days of Bredero, Hooft and Vondel, we repeatedly find
opposition against these foreign words, often successful, so that in
1650 Vondel could say: "_Onze spraak is sedert weinige jaren herwaart
van bastaard-woorden en onduitsch allengs geschuimt._"[1] Some people,
e.g. Hooft, went even so far as to make very clumsy versions of Latin
and French bastard words, handed down of old.
Under the influence of the club "_Nil Volentibus Arduum_" and the
predominant literary clubs of the 18th century, people became inclined
towards expressing their thoughts as much as possible in pure Dutch.
Therefore a large number of rules were given, with respect to prose as
well as to poetry, in consequence of which the written language grew
very stiff in choice of words and forms, and remains so till the latter
half of the 19th century. The obtrusion of the French language during
the reign of Napoleon had no effect. But the subsequent union of Holland
and Belgium strengthened the French element, especially in the higher
ranks of society. King William I. had tried to make Dutch more popular
in Belgium by a general teaching of the Dutch language. When north and
south were separated, the French became predominant in the south. Only
in the Flemish provinces of Belgium the people tried to preserve the
native idiom and to do away with French words. These endeavours, called
"De Vlaamsche beweging", begun by F. v. Willems, Heremans and others in
the south, were supported in the north by Professor de Vries at Leiden.
In order to get a pure Dutch language, the idea of composing a general
Dutch dictionary was introduced. M. de Vries and his partner L. te
Winkel, however, did not begin this task before having given a new
formulation of the rules for spelling. These rules, deviating in many
respects from the spelling then in vogue, introduced by Siegenbeek in
1806, have been predominant up to the present moment. Since 1891 Dr R.
A. Kollewyn and Dr F. Buitenrust Hettema have been engaged in trying to
bring about a simplification in the spelling. As this simplification is
not generally considered efficient, their principles are not yet
generally adopted; see for instance C.H. den Hertog, _Waarom
onaannemelyk?_ (Groningen, 1893).
Excepting Belgium (Flanders, Antwerp, Brabant) the Dutch language is
heard outside Holland in Dutch East India and in the West Indies. In
East India pure Dutch has been preserved, though some Javanese and Malay
bastard words may have slipped in by the habit of speaking to the
population in the Malay tongue or in the native idiom. Hence no
Indo-Dutch was formed there. This is different in the West Indies, where
a great number of negro words and English words as well as English
syntactical constructions have slipped in.
In the 17th century a number of Dutchmen, for the greater part from
Holland and Zeeland, under Jan van Riebeek, had settled in South Africa,
in Cape Town, where the Dutch navigation called into being a Dutch port.
In course of time they were joined there by French emigrants (most of
them Huguenots who left their country about 1688 and joined with other
Huguenots from Holland in assuming the Dutch language), perhaps also by
Portuguese and by Malay people, who, together with the English who
settled there and after 1820 became numerous in Cape Colony, mixed some
peculiarities of their language with the Dutch idioms. Thus in the first
half of the 18th century the language arose which is now called the
South African Dutch. Since 1880 the present Dutch language has became
more frequently used in official writings, though with certain
adaptations agreeably to the native idiom.
In order to offer an example of the Middle-Dutch language beside the
present language, we give here a single strophe from Maerlant's
_Wapene Martyn_, with a metrical translation in modern Dutch from the
pen of Nikolaas Beets (1880).
God, diet al bi redene doet, | God, die het al met wijsheid doet,
Gaf dat wandel ertsche goet | Gaf dit verganklijk aardsche goed
Der menschelt gemene, | Den menschen in't gemeen,
Dattere mede ware gevoet, | Op dat zij zouden zijn gevoed,
Ende gecleet, ende gescoet, | Het lijf gekleed, geschoeid de voet
Ende leven soude rene. | En leven rein van zeen.
Nu es giericheit so verwoet, | Maar zie nu hoe de hebzucht woedt
Dat elc settet sinen moet | Dat iedereen in arren moed
Om al te hebbene allene. | 't Al hebben wil alleen'
Hieromme stortmen menschenbloet, | Hierom vergiet men menschenbloed
Hieromme stichtmen metter spoet | En bouwt met roekeloozen spoed
Borge ende hoge stene | Burchtsloten, zwaar van steen,
Menegen te wene. | Tot smart van menigeen.
_A Survey of the Sounds used in Dutch._--_The Consonants._ As regards
the consonants, Dutch in the main does not differ from the other Low
German languages. The explosive _g_ and the _th_ are wanting. Instead
of the former there is a _g_ with "fricative" pronunciation, and as in
High German the _th_ has passed over into _d_.
The final consonants in Middle Dutch are sharpened, and the sharp
sounds are graphically represented; in Modern Dutch, on the other
hand, the historical development of the language being more distinctly
kept in view, and the agreement observed with the inflexional forms,
the soft consonant is written more frequently than it is sounded; thus
we have Middle Dutch _dach_, Modern Dutch _dag_, in analogy with the
plural _dagen_.
The gutturals are _g_, _k_, _ch_ and _h_.
_G_ is the soft spirant, not used in English. In Middle Dutch this
letter was also indicated by _gh_. _K_ was pronounced like English
_k_. In Middle Dutch _c_ was sometimes used instead of _k_; now this
is no longer done.
_Ch_ (pronounced as German _ch_ without the _i_-sound, not as English
_ch_) loses its sound when combined with _s_ to _sch_ at the end of a
syllable, for instance, _vleesch_, but the _s_-sound is not purely
dental as in _dans_. As an initial consonant _sch_ is nearly
pronounced as _sg_ (_schip_, English ship); only in Frisian and Saxon
dialects the old consonant _sk_ in _skip_, _skool_ is retained.
_H_ has the same pronunciation as in English.
The dentals are _d_ and _t_. The _d_ is formed by placing the point of
the tongue against the upper teeth. At the end of a word _d_ is
sharpened into _t_, but written _d_, for instance, _goed_, pronounced
_gut_. In the idiom of the east of the Netherlands final _d_ is
preserved. When between two vowels after _oe_ (Engl. _o_ in do), _o_,
or _ui_, _d_ is not pronounced, though it is written. After it has
been left out, a _j_-sound has developed between the two vowels, so,
for instance, _goede_ became first _goe:e_ and then _goeje_. Thus it
is pronounced, though it is still spelled _goede_. After _ou d_
disappeared and _ou_ became _ouw_, for instance _koude > kouw_.
_T_ has the same pronunciation as in English. In some dialects final
_t_ is dropped, for instance, _heef_ for _heeft_, _nie_ for _niet_.
_S_ has the pronunciation of English _s_ in sound, _z_ that of English
_z_ in hazel; only in _zestig_ and _zeventig z_ has the pronunciation
of _s_.
The labials are _b_, _f_, _v_, _p_.
At the beginning and in the body of a word _b_ has the same sound as
in English. At the end of a word, when shortened from _bb_, followed
by a vowel, it became _p_ in the pronunciation, so older _krabbe_
became _krabb_, _krab_ (the present spelling), which is now pronounced
_krap_.
_F_ has the same pronunciation as English _f_. In many cases older
initial _f_ passed into _v_, hence most words which have _f_ in
English have initial _v_ in Dutch, for instance _vader_, _vol_,
_vechten_.
This _v_, initial and between vowels, has the pronunciation of English
_v_ in lover. Dutch _p_ is the same as English _p_, also the liquids
and nasals.
The _w_ in Dutch is mostly labiodental; in the eastern parts before
vowels bilabial pronunciation is heard.
_Vowels._--_A_ has in open syllables the sound of English _a_ in
father, in closed syllables that of English _a_ in ass, but more open;
when there is a clear sound in closed syllables the spelling is _aa_
(_jaar_), in open syllables _a_ (_maken_), pronounced as _a_ in ask;
in _bad_, _nat_, _a=a_. An original short _a_ and a long _a_ in open
syllables are even in Middle Dutch pronounced alike, and may be rhymed
with each other (_dagen_, _lagen_, a rhyme which was not permitted in
Middle High German). In the Saxon dialects _a_ was expressed by _ao_,
_a_ or _a_ in the Frisio-Saxon districts passes into _e_ before _r_,
as _jer_ (_jaar_). Middle Dutch preserved _a_ in several words where
in Modern Dutch it passes into _e_ before _r_ (_arg_, _erg_; _sarc_,
_zerk_; _warf_, _werf_); in others, as _aarde_, _staart_, _zwaard_,
the Middle Dutch had _e_ and _a_ (_erde_, _stert_, _swert_, _swart_,
_start_; Modern Dutch _zwaard_, _staart_). In foreign words, likewise,
_e_ before _r_ has become _a_; _paars_, _perse_; _lantaarn_,
_lanterne_ (in the dialects _e_ is still frequently retained).
_E._ The sound of the _e_ derived from _a_ does not differ from that
of an original _e_, or of an _e_ derived from _i_, as they appear in
open syllables (_steden_, _vele_, pronounced as _a_ in English name).
If the _e_ derived from _a_ or _i_ or the original _e_ occurs in
closed syllables, it has a short sound, as in English men, end, Modern
Dutch _stem_. The _e_ in closed syllables with a full sound (as
English _a_; Sweet, _ei_) is spelled _ee_: _veel_, _week_ (_e_ from
_i_), _beek_. The sharp, clear _ee_ is indicated by the same letters
in both open and closed syllables: _eer_, _sneeuw_, _zee_.
In some dialects this _ee_ is pronounced like English _ee_, not only
in the present dialects, but also in the 17th century.
The pronunciation of _ei_ (from _ai_, or _eg_: _ag_, French _ai_,
_ei_, _ee_) is that of English _i_, for instance, Dutch _ei_, English
egg, is pronounced like English _I_.
_I_ is pronounced short (somewhat like _i_ of English pit), for
instance in _pit_, _binden_, _sikkel_; it has a clear sound in
_fabrikant_, though it has no stress.
_Ie_ is pronounced like English _ee_ in see, but somewhat shorter; so,
_fabriek_, _fabrieken_, _Pieter_; also in _bieden_, _stierf_, &c. For
original long _i_, Middle Dutch _ii_ and _ij_, afterwards _y_, was
used. This vowel, though still written _y_, is pronounced like English
_i_ in I, like; so in _sysje_ (English siskin), _lyken_, &c.
The letter _o_ represents three sounds:--(1) the short sharp _o_ and
(2) the short soft _o_, the former like the _o_ in English not and
French _soldat_ (Dutch _bod_, _belofte_, _tocht_, _kolf_), the latter
like the English _o_ in don, the French _o_ in _ballon_ (Dutch _dof_,
_ploffen_, _ochtend_, _vol_), and (3) the full, clear _o_ as in
English note, French _noter_ (Dutch _kolen_, _sloten_, _verloren_).
The sharp clear _oo_, in _stroom_, _dood_, has almost the same sound
as the full _o_, in some dialects (among others the Saxon) it is
pronounced as _o_ with a glide _o_, in others (Flemish and Hollandsch)
somewhat like _au_. In Middle Dutch, the lengthening of the vowels was
frequently indicated by _e_ (before _r_ sometimes by _i_, as in
_oir_); hence _ae_ for _a_, _oe_ for _o_. Where _oe_ occurs in the
modern language, it has the sound of _u_ (pronounced like the _u_ in
High German, and answering to the Gothic _o_), which in Middle Dutch
was frequently represented by _ou_. _oe_ is pronounced _ou_ (_au_;
Sweet, p. 6) in West Flemish and the Groningen dialects. Before
labials and gutturals _oe_ in Middle Dutch was expressed by _ue_ and
_oe_ (_bouc_, _souken_, and also _guet_, but usually _goet_, _soeken_,
_boec_). The Saxon dialects still preserve an _o_ sound which agrees
with the Dutch _oe_ (_bok_, _moder_); in two words--_romer_ (_roemer_,
however, is also used) and _spook_--_o_ has passed from these dialects
into Dutch. As the _u_ (Old German _u_), which in the Dutch tongue has
passed into _ui_ except before _r_ and _w_, retains the _u_-sound in
the Saxon districts, some words have come into Dutch from these
dialects, being written with _oe_ from the similar sound of _oe_
(from _o_) in Dutch and _u_ in Saxon (_snoet_, _boer_, _soezen_), by
the side of which are Frankish words (_snuit_, _suizen_, &c.).
In the language of the people _oe_ before _m_ is often pronounced as
_o_, for instance _bloem_ and _blom_.
_Eu_ is not a diphthong, but the modification (_Umlaut_) of the clear
_o_; it has the same sound as German _o_ in _schon_; so in _vleugel_,
_leugen_, _keuken_.
_U_ before a double consonant or before a consonant in monosyllables
has about the same pronunciation as in English stuff, rug; so in
_kunnen_, _snurken_, _put_. When used in open syllables it has the
same sound as in French _nature_.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Middle Dutch _u_ passed over through
_oi_ into _ui_ by the influence of the Holland dialect. In the Saxon
districts _u_ kept the old pronunciation, but only in the language of
the peasants. The common language has everywhere _ui_, pronounced
nearly as German _eu_, English _oy_; so in _duizend_, _vuil_,
_buigen_, &c.
_Ou_ and _au_ in _vrouw_ and _blauw_ are nearly pronounced in the same
way, very much like English _ow_ in crowd.
AUTHORITIES.--For a full survey of a history of the Dutch language the
reader is referred to Jan te Winkel, "Geschichte der niederlandischen
Sprache," _Grundriss der germ. Philologie_, 2, p. 704 (Strassburg, K.
Grubner). Here an elaborate account may be found on p. 704 of the
different works on the grammar and phonology of the various periods of
the Dutch language. For explanation and history of words of the
current language see the _Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal_, by De
Vries and Te Winkel, continued by A. Kluyver, A. Beets, for a time by
J.W. Muller and De Vreese, who left at their nomination as professors
at Utrecht and Ghent. The Middle Dutch language may be known from the
_Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek_, first by E. Verwys and J. Verdam,
after the death of Verwys by Verdam alone. For the dialects the
different grammars and glossaries issued at Martinus Nyhoff (The
Hague) and Kemink & Son (Utrecht) are of great importance. The Flemish
dialect may be found in De Bo, _Westvlaamsch Idioticon_; other Belgian
dialects are recorded in the publications of the _Vlaamsche Academie_
(Ghent). Phonetic explanations are given in Roorda's or in ten
Bruggencate's _Phonetic Works_, and a survey of the pronunciation in
Branco van Dantzig's _Dutch Pronunciation_ and Dykstra's _Dutch
Grammar_. (J. H. G.)