LL-L: "Gezelligheid" LOWLANDS-L, 03.JUN.2001 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 03.JUN.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Pat Reynolds <pat at caerlas.demon.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L: "Gezelligheid" LOWLANDS-L, 03.JUN.2001 (02) [E]

Dear Colleagues,

As some of you know, I am a research student in the Department of
Archaeology of the University of York, working on a building
construction technique which originated in the Low Countries, and was
transmitted around the North Sea and Baltic, not to mention the Dutch
colonies.

I am becoming increasingly interested in the meaning of the facade, and
relating this to the 'mentalite' of the builders/commissioners.

Now, I have a humorous little guide called 'Xenophobe's Guide to the
Dutch' which contains the following text:

"The Dutch place the bounds to behaviour along lines that reflect a
tacit understanding of just how far you can go before knocking down the
invisible walls of privacy and personal liberty. Life behind these walls
is at the same time public, yet nobody else's business."

I have read Simon Schama's excellent _The Embarrassment of Riches_,
which discusses just this community behaviour.  What he doesn't talk
about is the famous Dutch 'gezelligheid', so, two questions.

1) Do people think that having large windows, not obscured by anything
(apart from some plants) is 'gezellig'?

2) Is there a Dutch equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary on
Historical Principles which would give me the first occurrence of the
term 'gezellig'?

Best wishes to all,

Pat
--
Pat Reynolds
pat at caerlas.demon.co.uk
   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years
time"
   (T. Pratchett)

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Gezelligheid

Pat, Lowlanders,

To me as a North German, the widespread absence of curtains from large
windows in private homes used to be one of the striking differences between
"Holland" and home, perhaps the only really striking one.  In the meantime
I have been to other countries in which this is a feature, and it no longer
seems very strange to me.

In German, the terms _Geselligkeit_ and _Gemütlichkeit_ have come to
greatly overlap semantically.  I believe that _Geselligkeit_ (obviously the
German cognate of Dutch _Gezelligheid_) used to refer more to good company,
pleasant gatherings or the friendly sharing of space, while _Gemütlichkeit_
used to focus more on one's feeling of well-being, comfort and cosiness in
company or alone.  The Modern Low Saxon (Low German) dialects with which I
am familiar do not seem to have cognates of these words.  Covering both, I
believe, is the noun _Kommodigkeit_ [k`O'mo:dICka.It] and the
adverb/adjective _kommodig_ [k`O'mo:dIc] (obviously based on French
_commode_ 'convenient', 'comfortable').  In some dialects it is _oldmodig_
['?o.ldmo:dIC] which seems to add the element of 'old-time comfort'.  I do
not feel that the German term _gesellig_ means or used to mean that there
is a lack of privacy, that one leads one's life for all society
(_Gesellschaft_) to watch.  Rather, it seems to imply company of familiar
and/or likeminded people, more or less in privacy.

Dutch and North German architectures are quite similar in the great scheme
of things (including the _norddeutsche Backsteingothik_ 'North German
Gothic brick  architecture' with its stepped gable tops).  However, I have
often wondered about the larger size of "Dutch" windows and those
curtainless "Dutch" windows.  So I welcome your questions.

Here are additional questions:

Are large windows without curtains a primarily Hollandish, i.e.
west-coast/Randstad, phenomenon (perhaps including Friesland), or is there
a continuum between small windows with curtains in the east and large
windows without curtains in the west?  What about the eastern (Saxon) parts
of the Netherlands and the borderlands on the German side?  Does the lack
of curtains predate the Reformation, or might it be a Puritan feature?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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