How the DUTCH Changed the English Language

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Published 2022-08-11
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In this video you'll discover the extraordinary influence of the Dutch and Flemish on the English Language. Well delve into the history, which includes a look Dutch and Flemish immigration, the economic and trading rivalry between England and the Netherlands as well as four bloody wars. We'll also look at the Dutch in America as well as Expressions about the Dutch in English. If English is not your first language you'll learn a lot of vocabulary too.


00:00 Some Dutch food words and some stats
04:39 About geeks
05:13 NordVpn - sponsored
06:49 A history of the Dutch and Flemish in England
14:39 England and the Netherlands at war
15:55 English expressions about the dastardly Dutch
18:33 The Dutch in New Amsterdam
19:19 Hankering for more Dutch vocabulary

CREDITS
Ian Fleming - photo
By Unknown - Original publication: UnknownImmediate source: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-511863/Why-Ian-…, Fair use, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48649985

By Theo Kruse Burgers' Zoo - Aardvarken - Burgers' Zoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101082601

DUTCH WORDS read by Robin Ijsinga

All Comments (21)
  • The Dutch dug silver for their coins in the Czech Republic, in a valley called Joachimsthal, which was translated in Dutch : Joachimsdal. The coins were called "daalders" , in which you can detect "dal". They took the coins and the name to America and , yes, there the word got an English twist to "Dollar".
  • 15,000 armed Dutchmen invaded England in 1688, installing a Dutchman as King of England without resistance. In fact, the English thought it was just glorious.
  • As a Dutchman I found this episode highly informative. You mentioned quite a few English words that I had recognized as familiar to Dutch without realizing that they actually descended from the Dutch language.
  • In the New York area it's common to hear the term "stoop" for front porch which I believe comes from "stoep". Another word they coined into American English is "boss" from "baas" and let's not forget "Santa Claus" from "Sante Klaas or Sinter Niklaas" and his "sleigh" from "slee". Thanks for the great video!
  • @elleh3495
    As an English-speaking expat living nearly a decade in Amsterdam, this made me chuckle. Thanks for making this. I don't think many Americans realize how this seemingly small and relatively (nowadays) quiet country has dramatically influenced the Western World in terms of concepts, names, and customs.
  • @zedmanZ9
    As a Dutch naturalised brit I enjoyed the video, thanks! I have a different version of "Dutch Courage" because the substance in question was not alcohol but cocaine. The Dutch Royal family used to own the biggest cocaine factory in the world at the turn of the 1900's and sold it to both Britain and Germany during the first world war. It was used to "pep up" the troops in the trenches before they went over the top to fight. Giving them some "Dutch Courage" to overcome their fear.
  • I’m Flemish. When I was 18 I was an exchange student in the US. The teacher played a record of the Canterbury Tales. Everybody thought it sounded very weird, except me, to me it sounded very familiar. I could read the Canterbury Tales like on the record just by pronouncing (nearly) every sound the ”Flemish” way. I guess the Flemish skipped all the sound shifts that happened after the Canterbury Tales.
  • @forbesmeek6304
    Strong Dutch connection in Shetland. The Dutch Herring Fleet arrived every summer and lodged in temporary accommodation where the catch was processed and shipped to Holland.
  • @Drecon84
    It's hilarious to me that there are so many words that were originally middle Dutch, that we basically forgot about until they were reintroduced through English into the Dutch language.
  • Dutch also had a huge influence in US politics. Martin van Buren was the 10th US president, and Dutch was his first language. The Roosevelts (field of roses in Dutch) were also of Dutch ancestry.
  • @ItsASuckyName
    I often look at things and see if the dutch and English words match. Like: water - water Ground - grond Plant - plant Foot - voet Hand - hand Head - hoofd Door - deur House - huis Floor - vloer No - nee Yes - ja Kitchen - keuken Glass - glas Light - licht The list goes on...there are so many words that are practically the same. I talkes about this with foreign colleagues and they where amazed how much is the same or almost the same.
  • I travel the world as someone born in Amsterdam, and it's always interesting to see Dutch influence in countries all over the world.
  • @cosimo7770
    Fantastic - one of the few speakers today who does not use background 'music' noise, because he shows respect for his listeners.
  • @-htl-
    On the alcohol front there is another incredibly important develoment happend which enriched the world of alcohol. For the Dutch sailors, who did not so much like Port like the English, believed that burning the wine (distilling) would preserve it better for on long journeys of trade sailing so they asked the French in the Charante which they traded a lot with and liked their wine to then burn (branden) their wine and put it in the commonly grown and good moister perserving oak wood barrels. Then when they later in the journey started to drink it to their big surprise it became even more tasty and the longer it set in the barrels the flavour enriched! So this started the distilisation of pinot blanc grapes which the Dutch called for and named it brandewijn (burned-wine) shipped in oak barrels. The English then discovering this brilliant idea and called it BRANDY (where brand is stil today the Dutch word for to burn and in time the English established several Cognac houses like Hine, Hennessey, etc.) and of course the French got to now the tails of the Dutch sailors and liked it too and called it Cognac after the main trading town in the Charente. So following that somebody came to the brilliant idea that if you do this process with malted graines instead of grapes and put that for a long time in the empthy laying arround oak Sherry barrels you get Wiskey. Not bad aye something that started with the need of some Dutch courage on those long journeys to the east 😉
  • @Cloggie1967
    I'm a Dutchman living in Scotland and over the years it became astounding how many words were very similar between Dutch and Scots. Words like steen/stane, kerk/kirk, ik ken hem/I ken him. and many more . I also wonder if the Scottish pronunciation of the R and CH have a Dutch/Flemish influence.
  • Interesting fact — in Russian coffee is called «кофе», which sounds pretty much the same as in English (and Dutch), but in Ukrainian and Belorussian it is «кава» («kawa») just like in Turkish and Arabic.
  • You used a Dutch word that wasn't acknowledged -- Yacht. The Dutch word is "jacht." I believe it is derived from the verb "jagen" (to hunt), the noun "jager" (hunter) and the participle/noun "jacht" (hunting). I assume that a yacht was originally a pursuit ship in the days of sail before it came to be more closely associated with pleasure craft. Being from Frisian origin, I look forward to you talk on Frisian words in English. Being closely related the two languages share many cognates, however the orthography and phonetical systems often hide them.
  • Here is another one: a Dutch wife. This is what the English called the long type of cushion used by the Dutch in what was then the Dutch East Indies. You draw it in between your legs when you sleep to avoid your sweaty legs to rub against each other and you hold on to it as one would to.... that's right, your wife! It also struck me how many words for parts of the human body are strikingly similar in Dutch and English. To mention a few: Finger / finger Nose / neus Nail / nagel Arm / arm Elbow / elleboog Knee / knie Ankle / enkel Foot / voet Knuckle / knokkel Bone / been Tongue / tong Lip / lip And the list can go on and on... Thanks for the video Gideon.