{"id":7246,"date":"2021-04-02T13:50:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T13:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=7246"},"modified":"2021-04-02T13:50:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T13:50:49","slug":"curious-words-in-dutch-8-akkefietje","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/curious-words-in-dutch-8-akkefietje\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Words in Dutch 8: Akkefietje"},"content":{"rendered":"

Akkefietje –<\/em>\u00a0wat is dat nou weer? <\/em>(what on earth is that?) I can hear my grandma say this word just reading it. But I never really understood it! What does this curious word mean, and what does it come from? Welcome to Curious Words in Dutch!<\/p>\n

Previous posts in this series:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curious Words In Dutch<\/a><\/p>\n

Just a spat!<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"akkefietje<\/a>

Photo by Arun Clarke<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Het<\/em>\u00a0akkefietje <\/em>is an onaangenaam <\/em>(unpleasant) chore or situation. If you have an akkefietje <\/em>with somebody, you’re having a little spat with them, a klein conflict <\/em>(small conflict). Nothing serious, otherwise it becomes ruzie <\/em>(a fight). As\u00a0Historiek.net<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>puts it: “Iets wat vervelend is, maar eigenlijk niet zoveel voorstelt en vrij snel opgelost kan worden.”\u00a0<\/em>(Something that’s unpleasant, but that really doesn’t mean much and can be solved rather quickly).<\/p>\n

My grandma would always talk about how people she knows have\u00a0akkefietjes\u00a0<\/em>about this and that, and I never really understood it! I always thought that an\u00a0akkefietje\u00a0<\/em>meant that these people were having a romantic relationship or something. Not quite, Sten, not quite.<\/p>\n

So now that we know what an\u00a0akkefietje\u00a0<\/em>is, where on earth does that word come from?<\/p>\n

Where does the word akkefietje <\/i>come from?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Brandy<\/a>

Photo by Pixabay<\/a> from Pexels<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The first thing we can see is that it’s a\u00a0verkleinwoord\u00a0<\/em>(diminutive) of\u00a0akkefiet<\/em>.\u00a0Akkefiet\u00a0<\/em>looks like the French\u00a0aquavit<\/em>, which is a type of liquor. That, in turn, comes from the Latin\u00a0aqua vitae<\/em> – water of life.<\/p>\n

If you make a\u00a0verkleinwoord<\/em> out of a drink, you mean that you have a glass of it. For example:\u00a0colaatje\u00a0<\/em>(“little coke”, a glass of coke);\u00a0biertje\u00a0<\/em>(“little beer”, a bottle\/glass of beer).<\/p>\n

So with\u00a0aquavitje\u00a0<\/em>(little aquavit), a shot of aquavit<\/em>, you could think of the liquor. How does\u00a0brandewijn <\/em>(brandy) relate to an unpleasant situation?<\/p>\n

Well, you could have a\u00a0lelijk akkefietje\u00a0<\/em>(“ugly shot of aquavit”), meaning a badly tasting shot, an unpleasant one.<\/p>\n

In turn, that could have led to the meaning of an\u00a0akkefietje\u00a0<\/em>being an unpleasant chore or situation that you simply have to push through to get it over with.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You won’t hear akkefietje\u00a0<\/em>much. It’s an older term that you are most likely to pick up in the east of the Netherlands. More modern alternatives to\u00a0akkefietje\u00a0<\/em>are\u00a0simply\u00a0de kleinigheid\u00a0<\/em>(trifle, detail) or maybe by talking about a ruzietje\u00a0<\/em>(little fight) or\u00a0een beetje ruzie, niks ergs\u00a0<\/em>(a little bit of a fight, nothing bad).<\/p>\n

What do you think of\u00a0this word? Is there a similar word in your language? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Brandy

Akkefietje –\u00a0wat is dat nou weer? (what on earth is that?) I can hear my grandma say this word just reading it. But I never really understood it! What does this curious word mean, and what does it come from? Welcome to Curious Words in Dutch! Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In Dutch…<\/p>\n

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