The Influence of Low Dutch on the English Vocabulary

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Chapter XV
English and Dutch Intercourse in North America

15. 1.^{15. 1.}

In North America the Dutch laid the foundations of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The great navigator Hudson carried out his voyages of American discovery in the employ of the Dutch. Dutch settlers occupied Manhattan Island and despite prior claims alleged by Argall, Governor of Virginia, in 1613, held their own there. The Dutch settlement on the Hudson River was taken over from some merchants of the Dutch West India Company, and in 1626 Manhattan Island was purchased. The new colony began to yield considerable profits, especially by its trade in timber and furs. The Dutch, too, were the introducers of the slave trade into New England; in 1620 they brought the first cargo of slaves to Virginia.

The colony on the Hudson was named New Netherland, and the number of settlers gradually increased, partly, it is important to note, by immigration from neighbouring English colonies, partly by the patroon system. Privileges were conferred upon ‘patroons’, that is, such persons as should introduce fifty colonists within four years. Although the area of such grants was afterwards restricted, many of the old patroon estates long remained undivided, and the heirs of the founders claimed semi-feudal privileges well into the 19th century.

A greater measure of prosperity was brought to the colony by the opening of free trade with the home country in 1639, while the succession of a vigorous governor in Peter Stuyvesant in 1648 was of great value. His firm and wise rule brought security in the occupied territory and friendly relations with the neighbouring English colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia. The population slowly increased till by 1660 it had risen to about 10,000, chiefly in Manhattan Island and along the banks of the Hudson River; the capital, New Amsterdam, had then 1,600 people.

The colony, however, was not firmly established. A great danger was that the English Government had never recognized the legality of the settlement, claiming, as they did, the whole coastline from Virginia to the St. Lawrence. It was to be foreseen

15. 1. Blok, i, 37, 81, 271-2, 307-8, 418; I.C. ii. 146, 150; Egerton, 54.

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that the weak colony, virtually left to itself, and enclosed on the north and south by English possessions, would be unable to withstand a serious attack by the English. Such an attack came in the Second Dutch War. Charles II granted the Duke of York an extensive territory in North America. All New Netherland was included in it, and in 1663 the colony was seized by a small fleet under Colonel Nicholls in the interest of English commerce. Stuyvesant wanted to resist to the utmost, but the colonists refused to engage in the unequal struggle and surrendered without opposition. New Amsterdam was rechristened New York. Ten years later New York was recaptured by a squadron under the younger Evertsen, but was restored to England by the peace signed at Westminster in 1674.

The colony long preserved much of its Dutch language and institutions. Dutch, it is true, was driven out of most of the schools soon after the English conquest; but down to 1764 the service of the Dutch Reformed Church was held in Dutch. In Flatbush, Long Island, Petrus van Steenburgh, appointed in 1762, was the first who taught English in the school founded there in 1659, and his successor, Anthony Welp, appointed in 1773, was the last schoolmaster who was required to teach Dutch.

The original Dutch element was gradually swamped by waves of English immigration, but nevertheless left many traces of its presence in New England speech. The influence of the numerous Dutch and Low German immigrants, who came in a steady stream into the United States after the Declaration of Independence, in reinforcing the Dutch element in the vocabulary and perhaps in introducing later borrowings must not be forgotten; for example, Low German settlers as early as 1672 seem to be responsible for the word ‘cranberry’.

15. 2.

The essentially popular nature of the borrowings from Dutch in New England is most noticeable, and the fusion between the two nations must have been early and complete. Many of the borrowed words are terms of everyday household life and especially of cooking. A most interesting group is of words used mostly by children. As would be expected of a settlement lying along the tideway, there is a group of words dealing with fishing and the sea. As in South Africa, some names for geographical features typical of the new country were borrowed. The earlier terms of industry are mainly of lumbering and farming, with

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one trade word; the later group of technical craft terms are perhaps not part of the original New Amsterdam heritage, but were introduced by later Low Dutch settlers.

The number of terms of cooking and housekeeping are a tribute to the Dutch housewife's excellence in those arts. Olycook (1809), a cake of dough, sweetened and fried in lard, originally a Dutch delicacy; ad. Du. oliekoek, from olie, oil, and koek, cake. Waffle (1808), a kind of battercake baked on a waffle-iron and eaten hot with butter and molasses, and identical with the popular Dutch ‘waffel’ cake of to-day; ad. Du. wafel, wafer. Cruller (1818), a cake cut from dough, containing eggs, butter, sugar, &c., and twisted into various shapes and fried to crispness; apparently ad. Du. kruller, from krullen, to curl, in reference to the twisted shapes of the cakes; waffle-cakes are called in LG. kroll-koken, i.e. ‘curl-cakes’. Cole-slaw (1862), sliced cabbage dressed with salt, pepper, and vinegar, and either eaten raw or slightly cooked; ad. Du. koolsla, from kool, cabbage, and sla, salad, sla being the contracted form of salade, the d having dropped between vowels and the vowel of the first syllable syncopated. The form Slaw (1864), without the defining cole is also found. Mush (1890), fish ground up; it is probably not an alteration of English mash, but ad. Du. moes, mash, pulp, stewed greens or fruit, and used in the above sense specifically.

The two following words are probably cooking terms, but may equally well be terms of gardening. Cranberry (1672, Josselyn, New, Engl. Rarities), the fruit of a dwarf shrub; O.E.D. points out that the fruit is of comparatively recent appearance in England and was entirely unknown to the 16th- and 17th-century herbalists, and that the name was brought to England with the American berry; the name seems to have been adopted by the colonists from some LG. source; cf. LG. krônbere, kronesbere, kronsbere, krônsbär, kranebere, G. kranichbeere, kranbeere. Pit (1841), the stone of a stone fruit; this is apparently ad. Du. pit, pip, kernel, pith, from e.mod.Du. and late M.Du. pitte (MLG. and LG. pit).

Other household words are File (1851), a cloth used for wiping after scrubbing; apparently ad. Du. feil, a variant of dweil, floor-cloth; and Skipple (1685, in Pennsylv. Arch.), a measure of three pecks; ad. Du. schepel, bushel.

There are a few terms for clothing. Pea-jacket (1725, N. Jersey Arch.), a short, stout overcoat of coarse woollen cloth,

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now commonly worn by sailors; though this is now a common word in England, the earliest instances are all American; formed after Du. pij-jakker. Wamus (1805), given in Thornton's Amer. Gloss. as the name in southern and western U.S. for a warm knitted jacket resembling a cardigan; ad. Du. wammes, contracted from Du. wambuis, ad. OF. wambois, wambeis, Barraclade (1848), a home-made, woollen blanket without nap; the word is peculiar to New York City and those parts of the State settled by the Dutch; O.E.D. gives a derivation from Du. baar, bare, napless, and kleed, cloth, but Bense points out that there is no record of baar or bar in the sense ‘napless’ in any Low Dutch dictionary, and suggests that the word is an Eng. or Amer. spelling of the common Du. and Flem. word baarkleed, pall, the cloth covering a bier (baar).

The terms connected with the sea are mostly the names of fish. Mossbunker (1792), the menhaden, a fish of the herring family common on the east coasts of the U.S. and much used for manure; it also produces a valuable oil; ad. Du. marsbanker, formerly also masbank. Spearing (1838), the anchovy, also the American fish called the ground spearing; this is possibly ad. Du. and G. spiering, smelt. Weakfish (c. 1838), a marine food-fish, the sea-trout or squeteague of the Atlantic; ad. obs. Du. weekvisch, from week, soft, and visch, fish; the Du. name in the form weekvis occurs in a poem in praise of the New Netherland by Jacob Steendam (1661). Scrod (1873), a young cod weighing less than three pounds, esp. one that is split and boiled and fried; possibly ad. obs. Du. schrood, M.Du. schrode, a piece cut off.

A term for fishing apparatus is Fyke (1860), a bag-net used for catching fish, esp. shad; ad. Du. fuik, a bow-net.

There are two terms of river navigation. Overslaugh (1776), a bar or sand-bank which impedes the navigation of a river, esp. that on the Hudson, below Albany; ad. Du. overslag, from overslaan, to pass over, pass by; this is the same word as Overslaugh, p. 31. Scow (1775), a large, flat-bottomed lighter or punt; ad. Du. schouw, punt, lighter.

The name for a material used in boat-building is Pot-lead (1890), graphite, esp. as used for coating the hulls of racing vessels and yachts; ad. Du. potlood, black-lead, from pot, pot, and lood, lead.

A more purely nautical term is Malafiges, sb. plur. (1890), a sailor's name for a small sea-bird supposed to appear before

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a storm, apparently the stormy petrel; ad. Du. malefijtje, malefietje, diminutive of malefijt, of obscure origin, though the O.E.D. suggests a connexion with F. maléfique, malefic.

The terms of lumbering are: Boom (1702), a line of floating timber stretched across a river or round an area of water to retain floating logs; ad. Du. boom, tree, beam, pole. The vb. Boom (1879) is from the sb. Boomage (1862), the toll levied by the owner of a boom for its use for storing logs; from boom and -age. Tode (1895), a rude sledge used in hauling logs, consisting of a treefork with a crosspiece on which the balk rests; possibly from the LG. todden, to drag.

There are two terms of agriculture. Morgen (1674, N. Jersey Arch.), a measure of land in Holland and the Dutch colonies, and hence in parts of U.S., of about two acres; ad. Du. morgen, believed to be the same word as morgen, morn, morning, with the sense ‘area of land that can be ploughed in one morning’. Bowery (1809), farm; ad. Du. bouwerij, husbandry, farm; now obsolete in New York State, but the origin of the place-name, ‘the Bowery’, in New York City.

A term of transport is Sleigh (1703), a sledge constructed or used as a vehicle for passengers, usually drawn by one or more horses; ad. Du. slee, the contracted form with loss of intervocalic -d- of slede, slead; originally a New England word, but it has now spread to all parts of the U.S. and Canada.

A group of industrial terms appears in the second half of the 19th century. It is possible that most of them were introduced by later Low Dutch immigrants, and that they do not form part of the first stock of Dutch words. The trades represented are saw-milling, brick-making, and bookbinding. Bindery (1828), a bookbinder's workshop or establishment; ad. Du. binderij, a binder's shop. The comb. Book-bindery (1787) is found before bindery. Sawbuck (1869), a buck; ad. Du. zaagbok, trestle, sawhorse, from zaag, saw, and bok, originally buck, later a rest, fitting. The form Buck (1860) without the qualifying saw is also used. The vb. Buck (1865), to lay across a buck, is from the sb.

Lute (1875) is a term of brick-making; a tool used for scraping off and levelling a moulding floor; ad. Du. loet. Dope (18.., Scient. Amer. Suppl.), originally any thick liquid or semifluid used as an article of food or as a lubricant; (1880), an absorbent liquid used to hold a lubricant; this secondary

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sense has been widely diffused through the use of the term in the preparation of the wings of aeroplanes; apparently ad. Du. doop, dipping, sauce, &c., from doopen, to dip. Glance (1894), to planish metals; possibly ad. Du. glanzen, to polish, planish, from glans, lustre.

The following are terms for geographical features. Swamp (1624), a tract of low-lying land in which water collects, a marsh; perhaps this word is in rather a different category from other words in this chapter, as though it is recorded as a term originally peculiar to Virginia, it was probably in local use previously in England, and was taken thence to America; its original denotation in America was a tract of rich soil having a growth of trees, but too moist for cultivation; the word was probably borrowed in England from Low Dutch, where, however, the sense of ‘marsh’ is not recorded; LG. swampen, used of the quaking of boggy land, MLG. swamp, LG. swamp, sponge, fungus, e.mod.Du. swamme, but note OE. swamm, fungus, mushroom. Kill (1669, Pennsylv. Arch.), a stream, creek, or tributary river; found in the parts of the U.S. originally settled by the Dutch, esp. in place-names, as Schuylkill; ad. Du. kil (M.Du. kille), river-bed, channel. Clove (1779), a rocky cleft or fissure, a gap, ravine; found principally in place-names; ad. Du. klove, also kloof (M.Du. clove, MLG. klove), split, cleft.

Most interesting are the borrowings from the children's dialect of Dutch into English children's dialect. Such borrowings were inevitable when Dutch and English children played together. Scup, sb. and vb. (1848), a swing, and to swing; the sb. is ad. Du. schop, a swing, and the vb. ad. Du. schoppen, to swing. Snoop (1848), to misappropriate or consume dainties in a clandestine manner; ad. Du. snoepen, to eat sweets on the sly. Hunk (1856), in children's games, the goal, home, den; a term local to New York; ad. Du. honk, goal, home in a game, of Fris. origin, W.Fris. honcke, honck, house, place of refuge, E.Fris. hunk. Knicker (1860), a boy's marble of baked clay; local to New York; ad. Du. knikker, marble, apparently an agent-noun from knikken, to crack, snap. Perhaps Santa Claus (1828, Longfellow) should come into this category; in nursery language it is the name of an imaginary personage who is supposed in the night before Christmas Day to bring presents for children; ad. dial. Du. Sante Klaas, Du. Sint Klaas, St. Nicholas; the use of the word has become general in English.

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The following words do not fall into any of the above classifications. Boodle (1625), used in two senses; crowd, pack, lot, as in the contemptuous ‘the whole boodle’; stock-in-trade, capital; the latter sense suggests Du. boedel, estate, possession, inheritance, stock, which the O.E.D. finds difficulty in connecting with the former sense; Bense, however, thinks that both senses represent Du. boedel; though in mod.Du. there is a difference between boedel ‘stock-in-trade’ and boel (de heele boel, applied to things as well as to persons), the Ndl. Wdb. points out that there was not such a sharp difference in former times, and boel is not always used in those dialects which retain d between vowels; seeing that the word is recorded from the early 17th century, there is nothing against taking both senses to have been introduced from Dutch.

Patroon (1758), a possessor of a landed estate and certain manorial privileges, granted under the old Dutch governments of New York and New Jersey to members of the Dutch West India Company; ad. Du. patroon, a retention of the Du. spelling with the Eng. pronunciation of oo. Yankee, sb. and adj. (1765), a nickname for a native or inhabitant of New England; perhaps the most plausible conjecture is that it comes from Du. Janke, diminutive of Jan, John, applied as a derisive nickname by either Dutch or English in the New England states; the existence of Yank(e)y, Yankee as a surname or nickname (often with Dutch associations) is recorded in the following references in O.E.D. (1688, Cal. St. Papers Col. Ser., 1698, Yanky Dutch as surname, 1687, Yankey as nickname, 1684, Captain Yanky).

Spook (1801), a spectre, apparition, ghost; first in American usage, ad. Du. spook; the word appears in Standard English only in 1893. The vb. Spook (1890, Lowell), to haunt a person or place, is from the sb. or ad. Du. spoken; it appears a little earlier in South African English (1883, O. Schreiner), and is there ad. Du. spoken.

Pace (1809), Easter; ad. Du. paasch, pronounced (pas). Pinkster (1821), Whitsuntide; local to New York; ad. Du. Pinkster, now also in mod.Du. in the dative form Pinksteren.

Boss (1822), master, foreman; ad. Du. baas, in the same senses; the word is now general in English in workman's slang or humorously for ‘leading man, swell, top sawyer’. The vb. Boss (1856) is from the sb.