{"id":7426,"date":"2021-08-02T13:40:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T13:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=7426"},"modified":"2021-08-02T13:57:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T13:57:59","slug":"curious-dutch-words-are-you-the-hostage-or-hostage-taker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/curious-dutch-words-are-you-the-hostage-or-hostage-taker\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Dutch Words: Are You The Hostage Or Hostage Taker?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Dutch, we have a pretty straightforward rule. If the word ends with <em>-aar<\/em>, that means that this person does whatever verb it is derived from: <em>makelaar\u00a0<\/em>is a realtor (from <em>makelen<\/em>). An <em>aarzelaar\u00a0<\/em>is a hesitator (from\u00a0<em>aarzelen<\/em>). A <em>handelaar <\/em>is a trader (from <em>handelen<\/em>). A <em>gijzelaar <\/em>is a hostage (from <em>gijzelen<\/em>). But wait&#8230; <em>gijzelen <\/em>means to TAKE hostage. So wouldn&#8217;t a <em>gijzelaar <\/em>be a hostage taker instead of a hostage? What&#8217;s going on here?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Previous posts in this series:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/tag\/curious-words\/\">Curious Words In Dutch<\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em><strong>Oh, was ik maar een gijzelaar!<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gijzelaar versus slachtoffer. - Sluipschutters\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AjefM82nehI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the sketch above from Dutch sketch show\u00a0<em>de Sluipschutters<\/em>, this strange conundrum leads to some confusion for the <em>gijzelnemer. <\/em>Below, I translated the important bit.<\/p>\n<p>DUTCH ORIGINAL TEXT:<\/p>\n<p><em>Jij gaat praten, vriend!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Waarom?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Waarom, omdat dat gewoon zo is! Zo zijn de verhoudingen! Ik sla jou verrot, en dan ga jij dingetjes zeggen. Jij bent het slachtoffer, ik ben de gijzelaar.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Nou&#8230; Dat laatste, dat klopt niet hoor. Ik ben de gijzelaar.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ik heb jou gegijzeld. Dan ben ik de gijzelaar. Dat is toch logisch? Toch?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Nee. Naja, je kent dat liedje toch wel?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Welk liedje?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Eh. Oh, oh, was ik maar een gijzelaar. Dan stond altijd m&#8217;n eten klaar!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Jajajaja. Mike!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Wat?!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Eh, hoe gaat dat eh, hoe ging dat liedje?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Oh was ik maar een gijzelaar!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Oh was ik maar een gijzelaar! Hoe gaat dat verder?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Dan stond altijd mijn eten klaar!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Dat meen je niet he?! Als jij de gijzelaar bent, en de gegijzelde. Wie ben ik dan?!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; Jij bent gijzelnemer.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>ENGLISH TRANSLATION:<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re going to talk, my friend!<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Why?<\/p>\n<p>Why, because that&#8217;s just how it is! That&#8217;s the situation! I&#8217;ll beat you up, and then you&#8217;re gonna say things. You&#8217;re the victim, I&#8217;m the <em>gijzelaar <\/em>(hostage).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Well&#8230; That last one, that&#8217;s not right. I am the hostage.<\/p>\n<p>I took you hostage. Then I&#8217;m the <em>gijzelaar<\/em>. That&#8217;s logical, right? Right?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; No. Well, you know that song, right?<\/p>\n<p>Which song?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Uh. Oh, oh, if only I were a <em>gijzelaar<\/em>. Then my food would always be ready!<\/p>\n<p>Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Mike!<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; What?!<\/p>\n<p>Eh, how does that eh, how does that song go?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Oh if only I were a hostage!<\/p>\n<p>Oh if only I were a hostage! How does that continue?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; My food would always be ready!<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t be serious?! If you&#8217;re the <em>gijzelaar<\/em>, and the\u00a0<em>gegijzelde <\/em>(hostage). Then who am I?!<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; You are a <em>gijzelnemer <\/em>(hostage taker).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the song in question:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Het goede doel - Gijzelaar (1982)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j5oyBab8Co0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1><strong>So why is a <em>gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>not actually one?<\/strong><\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_7428\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/5HzOtV-FSlw\" aria-label=\"Niu Niu 5HzOtV FSlw Unsplash 1024x683\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7428\" class=\"wp-image-7428 size-large\"  alt=\"Curious Dutch Hostage Gijzelaar\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7428\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@anneniuniu?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">niu niu<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/hands-tied?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Well, as often with such exceptions, it&#8217;s simply how Dutch developed. <a href=\"https:\/\/onzetaal.nl\/taaladvies\/gijzelaar-gegijzelde\"><em>OnzeTaal<\/em><\/a> gives the following explanation.\u00a0<em>Gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>comes from the\u00a0<em>Middelnederlandse\u00a0<\/em>(Middle-Dutch)\u00a0<em>gisel<\/em>, which meant &#8220;hostage, pledge&#8221;. Later, it was often no longer seen as a reference to a person (as in Dutch, those words often end with -er:\u00a0<em>dokter, bakker, slager<\/em>). So it became\u00a0<em>giseler\/ghijseler<\/em>. Over the years, this turned into\u00a0<em>gijzelaar<\/em>! And so later, when we also had words like\u00a0<em>leraar, ambtenaar\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>bedelaar<\/em>,\u00a0<em>gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>was seen as derivative from the word\u00a0<em>gijzelen.\u00a0<\/em>But that&#8217;s not the case!<\/p>\n<p>However, because this is such an exceptional case, many people use\u00a0<em>gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>to mean\u00a0<em>gijzelnemer\u00a0<\/em>(hostage taker). This is so <em>ingeburgerd <\/em>(established), that even dictionaries list both meanings for the word <em>gijzelaar<\/em> &#8211; both hostage and hostage taker. That <em>gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>can refer to both the hostage\u00a0<em>and\u00a0<\/em>the person that took hostage is of course super confusing.<\/p>\n<p><em>OnzeTaal\u00a0<\/em>therefore advises to completely go around the word\u00a0<em>gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>and use\u00a0<em>gegijzelde\u00a0<\/em>(hostage) and\u00a0<em>gijzelnemer\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0<em>gijzelhouder\u00a0<\/em>(hostage taker\/keeper) instead.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Gijzelaar\u00a0<\/em>isn&#8217;t the only exceptions to the\u00a0<em>-aar<\/em> rule, by the way. Others are <em>martelaar <\/em>(martyr, the one being tortured, not the torturer), <em>rammelaar<\/em> (rattle &#8211; it&#8217;s being rattled),\u00a0<em>dompelaar<\/em> (immersion heater &#8211; it&#8217;s being immersed) and <em>kittelaar<\/em> (clitoris, &#8220;tickler&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and lastly, the feminine ending for\u00a0<em>-aar\u00a0<\/em>is <em>-ares<\/em>: So <em>leraar\u00a0<\/em>(male teacher),\u00a0<em>lerares\u00a0<\/em>(female teacher).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Have you confused these words before? Are there other curious and confusing Dutch words you know about? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/08\/niu-niu-5HzOtV-FSlw-unsplash.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>In Dutch, we have a pretty straightforward rule. If the word ends with -aar, that means that this person does whatever verb it is derived from: makelaar\u00a0is a realtor (from makelen). An aarzelaar\u00a0is a hesitator (from\u00a0aarzelen). A handelaar is a trader (from handelen). A gijzelaar is a hostage (from gijzelen). But wait&#8230; gijzelen means to&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/curious-dutch-words-are-you-the-hostage-or-hostage-taker\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":7428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[27711],"tags":[503854,117769,3627],"class_list":["post-7426","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dutch-vocabulary-2","tag-curious-words","tag-dutch-grammar-2","tag-dutch-vocab"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7431,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426\/revisions\/7431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}