Dutch/Example 6

Hieronymus van Alphen (1746–1803)
Hieronymus wrote poems and especially ones for children. One common topic in his writings is the virtue that he wishes to instill in his youthful audience. Of course he wrote in 18th century Dutch that is a bit different from that of today, particularly in its spelling, but the differences are not prohibitive. The following is perhaps his most famous children's poem. On the left is the original, on the right a version in 21st century spelling. Two words needed to be changed. The differences are marked in red.



The 18th century Dutch that Hieronymus writes is remarkably modern. There are just a few things that are a bit different today:
 * heenlopen in the sense of "to walk off" is archaic.
 * The poet still uses the pronoun gij/u. In the north that has been supplanted by jij/jou for familiar and u/u for polite/formal use. In Flanders the gij/u pronoun that does not distinguish familiarity is still used today.
 * beluisteren is now mostly used for listening to a recording or -medically- to use a stethoscope
 * schoon is an abbreviated form of ofschoon (although) and today it is mostly replaced by hoewel.

Jan Goeverneur (1809–1889) – Johannes Worp (1821–1891)

 * De twee 

This is a very well known children's song from the late 19th century. It was composed by Johannes Worp. The text was written by Jan Goeverneur.

Study the text and watch the video

Quizlet
The vocabulary of this lesson can be practiced at Quizlet (30 terms)

Progress made
You have read your first serious poem and it was 18th century Dutch.

Cumulative count:


 * Cycle 1: 579
 * Lesson 5: 87
 * Lesson 6: 60+34+30 =124


 * Grand total: 790 terms