CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE DUTCH INFLUENCE

OCT PAPIAMENTU
JACOBA ELISABETH BOUSCHOLTE
B.A., The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1969
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
Department of Hispanic and I t a l i a n Studies
We accept t h i s thesis as conforming
to the required standard
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
May, 1978
Jacoba E l i s a b e t h Bouscholte, 1978
i n
In p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l me n t o f the r equi r ement s f
an advanced degr ee at the Un i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Col umbi a, I agr ee tha
t he L i b r a r y s h a l l make i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r ef er enc e and s t udy.
I f u r t h e r agr ee t ha t per mi s s i on f or e x t e n s i v e c opyi ng o f t h i s t h e s i s
f o r s c h o l a r l y pur pos es may be g r a nt ed by the Head of my Department or
by h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . It i s under s t ood t hat c opyi ng or p u b l i c a t i o n
o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g ai n s h a l l not be al l owed wi t hout my
wr i t t e n p e r mi s s i o n .
Department of Hispanic and I t a l i a n Studies
The Un i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h Col umbi a
2075 Wesbrook Pl a c e
Vanc ouv er , Canada
V6T 1W5
Date Mav T l . 1 Q7 R .
- i i -
ABSTRACT
The subject of t h i s study i s the influence which Dutch
has had on Papiamentu.
The f i r s t chapter deals with the h i s t o r y of the
Benedenwindse Eilanden of the Netherlands A n t i l l e s i n order
to explain the reason f o r the "mixed" nature of the language.
The second chapter i s devoted to the influence which
the various component parts of the population have had or
may have had on the language. It f u r t h e r shows how
Papiamentu developed from a pidgin into a Creole and
subsequently into an independent language. This growth i s
demonstrated by statements from writers on the language.
The t h i r d chapter concerns i n p a r t i c u l a r the Dutch
element i n Papiamentu. A f t e r a short d e s c r i p t i o n of the
various categories i n which Dutch influence i s apparent,
an analysis i s made of the presence of words and expressions
from those categories i n Ora Solo Baha, a c o l l e c t i o n of
children's s t o r i e s by P i e r r e Antoine Lauffer.
In t h i s analysis a t t e n t i o n i s given to the l e x i c o n
as well as to syntactic caiques. Words and expressions
have been explained not only on the basis of present-day
Dutch, but, as f a r as possible, also i n the l i g h t of t h e i r
occurrence i n e a r l i e r forms of Dutch, the seventeenth-
century language, or i n the West F r i s i a n and Zealandic
d i a l e c t s , as well as i n c o l l o q u i a l Dutch.
I l l
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract i i
Acknowledgement i v
Introduction v i
I. The H i s t o r i c a l Background of the T e r r i t o r y
Where Papiamentu Is Spoken 1
I I . The Influence of the History of the
Benedenwindse Eilanden Upon the
Development of Papiamentu 27
I I I . The Dutch Element i n Twentieth-Century
Papiamentu 80
Conclusion 246
Bibliography 250
i v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
During the time I have dedicated to t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n ,
I have received support from many people. In p a r t i c u l a r ,
I would l i k e to thank Dean Walter H. Gage f o r the warm
i n t e r e s t he has shown over the years i n my endeavours at
The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia. The l a t e Dr. Geoffrey
B. Riddehough of the Department of C l a s s i c s encouraged me
i n various ways over many years to continue my work on
Papiamentu. I regret very much that he did not l i v e to
see i t completed.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies has obliged me by i t s
patience and understanding, and I must also express my
gratitude to the U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i a n , Mr. B a s i l Stuart-
Stubbs and h i s Staff f o r t h e i r co-operation and forbearance.
I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the Department of
Hispanic and I t a l i a n Studies and e s p e c i a l l y those of i t s
members who were d i r e c t l y concerned with t h i s study. In
the early stages of Chapter One on the h i s t o r y of the
Benedenwindse Eilanden, I was able to benefit from Professor
H.V. Livermore's advice and i n t e r e s t i n the subject.
Dr. Arsenio Pacheco was also generous with h i s time and
assistance. A s p e c i a l word of thanks must go to Dr. Derek
Carr f o r the care with which he read my material and f o r h i s
invaluable assistance i n the preparation of the f i n a l d r a f t .
The greatest debt of gratitude I owe to my t h e s i s d i r e c t o r ,
Dr. K a r l Kobbervig, f o r h i s constant encouragement.
V
F i n a l l y , I would l i k e to say "masha masha danki" to
the many "landskinderen" who have helped me gain a better
i n s i g h t into "nan dushi Papiamentu", i n p a r t i c u l a r
Mr. O.E. van Kampen, Mr. 0. Specht, Mr. Antoine J. Maduro,
Dr. Luis H. Daal, Drs. Raul G. Rb'mer and Mr. P i e r r e Antoine
Lauffer.
v i
INTRODUCTION
My i n t e r e s t i n Papiamentu was aroused during a course
on the H i s t o r y of the Spanish Language at The University of
B r i t i s h Columbia. Prom the sample texts prescribed f o r
study, i t was evident that the contributions from the
Dutch language were more numerous than could be r e a d i l y
detected by non-native speakers of Dutch. I t was clear,
therefore, that there was scope f o r a d d i t i o n a l research
into Dutch influence on Papiamentu. This was a challenge
f o r me to study the language f u r t h e r . However, there was
very l i t t l e primary source material a v a i l a b l e on Papiamentu
or the Netherlands A n t i l l e s i n the U n i v e r s i t y Library, and
the secondary sources were i n some cases out-of-date. When
I received permission to make the influence of Dutch on
Papiamentu my thesis t o p i c , i t was, therefore, necessary
to go elsewhere to gather the required information.
Por that purpose I went to The Netherlands f o r short
stays i n 1970, 1971 and 1973, and to the three Benedenwindse
Eilanden f o r six weeks i n the Summer of 1971. In these
places I have met with generous co-operation from l i b r a r i e s ,
u n i v e r s i t i e s , associations, government agencies and
i n d i v i d u a l s among whom were authors, poets and actors
who provided me with documentation, allowed me to make tape
recordings and introduced me to various aspects of A n t i l l i a n
c u l t u r e .
v i i
This study i s devoted to the l e x i c o n and syntax of
Papiamentu as f a r as Dutch influence i n t h i s respect can
be detected. However, i n order to explain how Papiamentu
came to be a language composed of so many d i f f e r e n t
l i n g u i s t i c elements, i t was f e l t necessary to devote the
f i r s t chapter to the h i s t o r i c a l background of the t e r r i t o r y
where Papiamentu i s spoken. The second chapter investigates
the influence which the h i s t o r y of the Benedenwindse Eilanden
has exerted upon the development of Papiamentu. I t shows,
furthermore, how i t passed from the state of a pidgin to
that of a Creole and subsequently into an independent
language. Quotations from writers on the language from
1704 on are given to i l l u s t r a t e t h i s growth. Attention i s
also paid to documents and publications i n the language
from the l a s t quarter of the eighteenth up to the end of
the nineteenth century.
The t h i r d chapter i s devoted to the Dutch element i n
twentieth century Papiamentu. It gives f i r s t a short
d e s c r i p t i o n of the various categories i n which the Dutch
language, i n i t s e a r l i e r forms, the seventeenth-century
idiom, as well as present-day speech has l e f t i t s impact.
As f a r as possible, references are made to d i a l e c t a l
influences, mainly from West F r i s i a n . The remainder of
the chapter concerns the presence of Dutch elements i n
the usage of Papiamentu by a prominent A n t i l l i a n writer,
P i e r r e Antoine L a u f f e r , i n h i s c o l l e c t i o n of children's
v i i i
s t o r i e s Ora Solo Baha. In the conclusion a break-down of
the proportion of Dutch elements i n the running word count
of two of the s t o r i e s "Mushe Raton" and "Bas P i p i i su
barika-hel" i s given.
No a t t e n t i o n i s paid i n t h i s study to the phonology of
Papiamentu. There i s a c e r t a i n amount of influence from
Dutch i n that respect, but to go deeper into that subject
would not be j u s t i f i e d by the scope of t h i s work.
The l a c k of a uniform s p e l l i n g system i s a considerable
disadvantage f o r those who wish to study the l a n d s t a a l of
the Benedenwindse Eilanden, since, as a r e s u l t , there i s
no up-to-date d i c t i o n a r y . One can only consult word-lists
from before 1953. Many attempts have been made to a r r i v e
at a standard orthography. However, t h i s aspect of
Papiamentu i s not dealt with i n t h i s study e i t h e r .
It should further be noted that no emphasis has been
placed on the differences i n the Papiamentu of the three
i s l a n d s . The v a r i e t y discussed i s that of Curacao.
- 1 -
CHAPTER ONE
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OP THE TERRITORY
WHERE PAPIAMENTU IS SPOKEN
Papiamentu"'" is spoken, besides the official language,
which is Dutch, on part of the Netherlands Antilles, that
is, on the three islands Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, some-
times called the ABC Islands when listed in alphabetical
order rather than in geographical sequence. Prom West to
East this would be Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. They are
located in the Caribbean Sea, to the North of Venezuela, at
a distance varying from 30 to 90 km off its coast, between
latitudes 12 and 13 N. and longitudes 68 and 71 W. The
distance between Aruba and Curacao is about 78 km, between
Curacao and Bonaire about 52 km. These islands form the
southern part of the lesser Antilles, the northern part of
which lies at a distance of 900 km to the North East.
I have chosen this spelling, since the word is pronounced
and written that way by native speakers. English-speaking
scholars, such as, for instance, Robert A. Hall, Jr. of
Cornell University, Douglas Taylor of Dominica, and
R.W. Thompson of the University of Hongkong, also use i t .
In Spanish the language is called papiamento. In Dutch
publications one may find, spread over the centuries:
Papiamentoe, Papiamentu, Papiamentsch, Papiaments, Papiamento
or, recently Papiament. The latter is an improvement on the
un-Dutch noun Papiaments(ch). (See Joh. Hartog, Curacao: Van
Kolonie tot Autonomie (Aruba, N.A.: D.J. de Wit, c. 1961,
Part I, pp. 431-32.) Raul G. Romer of the Spaans Seminarie
of the Gemeentelijke Universiteit van Amsterdam has sugges-
ted Papyamentu (1970). He is a native speaker of the lan-
guage and was asked to draw up an official spelling for i t .
The lack of one has resulted in much discussion, the non-
publication of many a literary work and the frustrating
absence of any up-to-date dictionary.
- 2 -
The o f f i c i a l Dutch name of the southern group i s
Eilanden Beneden de Wind or Benedenwindse Eilanden (Spanish:
l a s Xslas de Sotavento), "Leeward Islands". However, the
B r i t i s h gave t h i s group the name "Windward Islands". The
Dutch t r a n s l a t i o n f o r t h i s would be quite the opposite, that
i s , Eilanden Boven de Wind or Bovenwindse Eilanden, l i t e r a l l y
"Islands Above the Wind". In Dutch, Spanish as well as i n
French t h i s concept i s used f o r the northern group of the
Lesser A n t i l l e s , three of which, Saba, Sint Eustatius and
h a l f of Sint Maarten, are also part of the Dutch Realm. As
an amusing but confusing r e s u l t the former B r i t i s h Leeward
Islands are surrounded by what the Dutch and French would
c a l l t h e i r Windward I s l a n d s . T h i s reference to the wind
r e f l e c t s the great importance of the trade winds i n the days
of the s a i l i n g v e s s e l .
Curacao i s the l a r g e s t of the three i s l a n d s , covering
an area of 472 km2. I t i s the seat of the Government.
Before September 8, 1948, when a r e v i s i o n of the Netherlands
Constitution was accepted, the name Curacao was used to
designate the whole t e r r i t o r y of what i s now c a l l e d the
Netherlands A n t i l l e s , encompassing the above-mentioned s i x
"^To avoid confusion i n t h i s study the phrase Benedenwindse
Eilanden w i l l be used.
At a short distance from Curacao, to the South-East, l i e s
Klein-Curacao ( L i t t l e Curacao). I t s surface i s 1 km2. From
1871 to 1913, i t was an important supplier of phosphate.
i s l a n d s . Bonaire has a surface of 281 km
2
and Aruba of
190 km
2
.
1
In 1972, the number of inhabitants was 150,000,
62,000-and 8,200 r e s p e c t i v e l y , a t o t a l of about 220,000.
When, on December 29, 1954, Her Majesty Queen J u l i a n a gave
Royal Consent to the Statuut (Statute, Charter), The
Netherlands, the Netherlands A n t i l l e s and Surinam were
incorporated into the Kingdom of The Netherlands as three
autonomous parts and as equal partners. On November 25,
1975, Surinam withdrew from that status i n order to gain
complete p o l i t i c a l independence.
I t i s estimated that there are at present about 200,000
speakers of Papiamentu. Included i n t h i s f i g u r e are those
who l i v e on the ABC Islands, immigrants from Surinam, from
other parts of South-America and from other i s l a n d s i n the
Caribbean Sea, who came i n search of work and l a t e r went
back to t h e i r own habitat using Papiamentu there as a sort
of secret language* Examples of t h i s are the Island of St.
Thomas and, on the Paraguana Peninsula, R i c l a (Adicora),
Porta Seconde (Puerto Escondido) and Punta Macamba. There
i s also a considerable number of speakers of Papiamentu who
have now s e t t l e d i n The Netherlands. These are students,
people i n various occupations, c i v i l servants, persons on
welfare and r e t i r e d people. The number of Dutch c i t i z e n s
At a distance of about 2 km to the East of Bonaire l i e s
the uninhabited Klein-Bonaire ( L i t t l e Bonaire), used "as.?,
grazing land f o r goats and f o r r e c r e a t i o n a l purposes. I t
measures 6 km2.
from the West Indies (Surinam and the A n t i l l e s together) was
70,.000 i n 1972, hut i t i s l i k e l y that not a l l who had entered
The Netherlands to remain had r e g i s t e r e d as residents. The
greatest portion by f a r of these were from Surinam. In
1974, the f i g u r e s were 80,000 and 10,000 f o r people from
Surinam and the Netherlands A n t i l l e s r e s p e c t i v e l y . More
than 30?6 of the t o t a l population of Surinam l i v e d i n The
Netherlands i n 1975. For the Netherlands A n t i l l e s i t was
During my v i s i t to Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire as well
as during my stay i n The Netherlands i n search of informants,
I found the statement that everyone l i v i n g on those islands
or who had l i v e d there f o r a c e r t a i n length of time would
speak Papiamentu to be i l l - f o u n d e d . The employees of S h e l l
brought out from The Netherlands often did not acquire the
language, since they l e d a rather secluded l i f e . People who
come to the Benedenwindse Eilanden from Holland or elsewhere
f o r a contract of two or three years do not always f e e l
i n c l i n e d to take the trouble to l e a r n Papiamentu. This
explains the difference i n the number of inhabitants of the
three Benedenwindse Eilanden (220,000) and the estimated
f i g u r e f o r speakers of the language .(.about 200,000). I t i s
true, however, that Papiamentu i s spoken by the landskinderen
of a l l l e v e l s of society: the white, i n c l u d i n g the Jews, who
have come from various parts of the world and at d i f f e r e n t
times i n h i s t o r y , speak i t among themselves, with t h e i r
employees and servants. So do the black and mulatto parts
of the population, among themselves and with other groups.
C h i l d r e n o f t e n do not l e a r n Dutch u n t i l they go to s c h o o l ,
t h a t i s , not u n t i l they are s i x years o l d . Landskinderen
( l i t e r a l l y " c h i l d r e n of the country") i s the term used f o r
those who are horn on the three i s l a n d s , a l b e i t of I n d i a n ,
European, South-American or other descent, and have, t h e r e -
f o r e , Dutch c i t i z e n s h i p .
Chapter Two w i l l go i n t o more d e t a i l about the develop-
ment of Papiamentu from a p i d g i n i n t o a Creole language and
now an independent language. S u f f i c e i t to say here that
i t can be considered a "mixed language" because i t i s com-
posed of a v a r i e t y of elements. I t s grammar i s not complin
cated. I t s vocabulary i s about three quarters I b e r i a n . I
have chosen t h i s term, s i n c e i t i s not my i n t e n t i o n to
explore i n t h i s study the v a l i d i t y of the arguments whether
the Romance base may be a t t r i b u t e d to Portuguese, Spanish,
G a l i c i a n , Bable (the A s t u r i a n d i a l e c t ) or C a t a l a n i n f l u e n c e s .
Many s c h o l a r s , such as Antoine J . Maduro, H.L.A. van Wirjk,
R i c h a r d E. Wood, Tomas Navarro Tomas, German de Granda and
J.P. Rona, have entered i n t o d i s c u s s i o n s on t h i s matter.
The other q u a r t e r of the l e x i c o n c o n s i s t s f o r the main p a r t
of Dutch or Dutch-derived words; some words from Prench,
some from E n g l i s h . I n the names of f l o r a and fauna, as w e l l
as i n g e o g r a p h i c a l names one can recognize t r a c e s of I n d i a n
languages. I n the sound system and f o l k - l i t e r a t u r e as w e l l
as i n o l d songs there are undoubtedly reminiscences of
A f r i c a n s u b s t r a t a .
- 6 -
In order to explain these characteristics this chapter
will he devoted to the historical background of the islands
Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire in so far as i t had an influence
on the development of Papiamentu. The various groups of
people will be discussed according to their origin and not
in the chronological order of their arrival.
As far as can be established, these islands were already
separated from the continent before the early inhabitants, the
Indians, had reached the Americas. The assumption is that
these people came about 10,000 years B.C. from Asia via the
strip of land that connected at that time the Asian and
American continents, but is now covered by the waters of the
Bering Strait.
As far as indications of the presence of Indians on the
Benedenwindse Eilanden is concerned, there is one settlement-,
which can be identified as dating from the Meso-Indian period
(5000 to 1000 B.C.) and that is Rooi Rincdn, a hiding-place
in the rocks on Curacao. Radiocarbon dates for five earthen-
ware fragments found at a Neo-Indian (1000 B.C. to 1500 A.D.)
settlement at Santa Cruz, Aruba, f a l l between 260-290 B.C.
and + 120 A.D.
1
"'"These data were taken from the Encyclopedie van de Neder-
landse Antillen, Chief Editor: H. Hoetink (Amsterdam and Brus-
sel: Elsevier), 1969. The remainder of this chapter is based
on data from the same Encyclopedie as well as on J. Hartog,
Curacao: From Colonial Dependence to Autonomy (Aruba, Nether-
lands Antilles: De Wit Inc., 1968), which is the English
version of his Curacao: Van Kolonie tot Autonomie, 2 vols.;
L.C. Vrijman, Slavenhalers and Slavennandei (AmsTerdam: P.N.
van Kampen & Zoon, N.V., 1943); W.R. Menkman, De Geschiedenis
van de West-Indische Compagnie (Amsterdam: P.N. van Kampen &
Zoon, N.V., 1947). Also consulted were the Grote Winkler
Prins Encyclopedie (Amsterdam and Bruxelles: Elsevier, l9~74) -
and Supplement (1976).
- 7 -
Bonaire and Curacao, and probably also Aruba, were dis-
covered in 1499 by Alonso de Ojeda, one of the Conquistadores
of Venezuela, who called them the "Islas de los Gigantes"
because of the size of the Indians he encountered there. It
is not clear whether Amerigo Vespucci-, with whom Ojeda
set sail from Spain, was s t i l l with him at that time.
Hartog expresses doubts as to whether Ojeda himself was with
the expedition at the moment of discovery. These doubts are
based upon the contents of a letter from Vespucci to a
friend, upon documents pertaining to legal proceedings which
arose from the question of whether i t was indeed Columbus
who had discovered Margarita island and the adjacent coast,
as well as upon the fact that Ojeda apparently did not write
any report about the discovery."^
The Spanish did not consider the islas adyacentes
(Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba) important because they found
no pearls or gold there. For that reason they were declared,
in 1513, to be islas inutiles. They were used only to pro-
tect Spain's sea routes to her possessions in Central and
South America. Moreover, Spain did not want to fight the
Island-Caribs, whom Columbus and his men found on the
p
Antilles. These were fierce cannibals who claimed their
ancestors had arrived a few generations before as con-
querors of the Arawak-speaking inhabitants. They had come
1
Hartog, Curacao, pp. 24-33.
2
The word "cannibals", Sp. canibales or caribales, was
derived from Caribe.
mainly to abduct the women. Most of the men had been k i l l e d .
The Indians of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire i n Columbus's days
spoke an Arawak rather than a Carib language. They belonged
to the Caquetios, peace-loving people, who also inhabited
Falcon, Venezuela. However, i t i s not c e r t a i n whether those
of Aruba were of the same group as the ones on Curacao and
Bonaire. It seems more l i k e l y that there was contact between
the inhabitants of Aruba and the mainland, because of i t s
proximity, than between Aruba and the two other islands from
which i t i s separated by very rough passages.
In 1494, Queen Isabel forbade the sale of Caribs who
had been brought to Spain. She declared that only she her-
s e l f had the r i g h t to decide the f a t e of the prisoners of
war and ordered the "servants" from the Caribbean to be
returned to t h e i r homeland, since they were free men. Four
years l a t e r , she decreed that those who did not obey her
orders to set Caribs free would be sentenced to death."*"
In the colonies, however, no a t t e n t i o n was paid to t h i s
decree, and, a f t e r her death i n 1504, the treatment of slaves
got out of hand. In 1512, the Indios were o f f i c i a l l y recog-
nized as free people, but the whites could exercise some
2
form of "tutelage". Twenty-five years l a t e r , Pope
Paul I I I issued a b u l l to the same e f f e c t .
In 1515, about two thousand Indians were brought to
Hispaniola as slaves to work i n the gold mines. However,
Vrirjman, Slavenhalers, pp. 19-20.
Vrijman, p. 21.
- 9 -
in 1527, Juan Martinez de Ampues, factor of Hispaniola since
1511 and in 1526 appointed factor and corregidor of "Gurazao,
Ouruba y Baynari" was given the task of peaceful coloniza-
tion of the Islas de los Gigantes. To this end he returned
a number of Arawaks to the three Benedenwindse Eilanden. He
then saw to it that the slave-hunters were forbidden access.
He also entered into an agreement with an Indian chief on
the mainland which made possible the transport of the lat-
ter' s prisoners of war as slaves to the three islands.
The Indians were used to help the Spanish in the exploit,
tation of the forests and in raising herds of sheep and
goats. These animals, as well as donkeys and possibly cows
and horses, had been brought from Spain. The orange, pome-
granate and lemon, as well as tobacco and sugar also were
introduced on the Benedenwindse Eilanden by the Spanish.
Skins and brazilwood (.Haemaoxylono-brasile11o) were exported.
During the fifteenth century, there was a great com-
petition between the Portuguese and Spanish with regard to
the possession of discovered and still-to-be-discovered
distant lands.
Although Columbus had come to "the Indies" in 1492,
he was unable to report this fact to Queen Isabel until
early 1493. She immediately requested Pope Alexander VI,
a Valencian, to give Spain the rights of possession over
this territory. He drew a line of demarcation, running
from pole to pole, a hundred leagues West of the most wes-
tern point of the Cape Verde Islands or the Azores.
- 10 -
Everything to the West or South (!) of that l i n e would f a l l
to Spain. John II of Portugal d i d not agree with t h i s par-
t i t i o n , which accorded the whole of the A t l a n t i c to Spain,
and a new t r e a t y , known as the Treaty of T o r d e s i l l a s , was
signed i n 1494. I t established the l i n e of demarcation 270
leagues f u r t h e r westward, running roughly from the mouth of
the Amazon to the coast where Sao Paulo i s located now. In
other words, B r a z i l , which was to be discovered i n 1500 f e l l
within Portugal's sphere of i n f l u e n c e . In the centuries
which followed, outposts West of that l i n e were established,
so that the l i n e was replaced, i n 1750, by one based on the
p r i n c i p l e of u t i p o s s i d e t i s . A considerable amount of land
was involved i n t h i s new agreement. S t i l l more was gained
by the Portuguese, i n 1777, by the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
In 1529, with the settlement of the Moluccas question, a
s i m i l a r l i n e of demarcation had been drawn on the other
side of the Americas.
The English, French, Butch, and l a t e r the Danes, also
set out to share i n the riches of t h i s continent. For the
Dutch there were several reasons f o r sending expeditions to
t h i s part of the world. In the second h a l f of the sixteenth
and the f i r s t h a l f of the seventeenth centuries, except f o r
the Twelve Year Truce from 1609 to 1621, they were at war
with Spain and, hence, with Portugal (including B r a z i l )
during the years that i t came under the Spanish crown (1580
to 1640). As a r e s u l t , they had no access to Portuguese
ports and were also cut'' o f f from the s a l t supplied by the
- 11 -
Portuguese s a l t pans. The l i v e l i h o o d of the inhabitants of
the West-Frisian c i t i e s of Hoorn, Medemblik and Enkhuizen
depended mainly upon t h e i r f i s h i n g , p a r t i c u l a r l y of herring,
f o r whose preservation s a l t was an e s s e n t i a l commodity. They
began to s a i l to the Peninsula of Punta de Araya (Venezuela)
and the Island of Tortuga i n order to obtain i t from other
sources. This involved smuggling, since normal trade with
the Spanish colonies was forbidden to a l l f o r e i g n nations.
Another d e s t i n a t i o n f o r the vessels sent out to load
s a l t was Bonaire, where the Indians had known how to extract
s a l t from seawater before the a r r i v a l of the Spanish.
Brazilwood was another product of Bonaire sought by the
Dutch. They obtained from i t a red dye f o r t h e i r woollen
c l o t h . They c a l l e d t h i s wood verfhout, which means dye-
wood. Sugar and tobacco also played an important r o l e i n
t h e i r trade with the Americas.
Naturally, the Dutch traders were equally interested i n
the precious stones, gold and s i l v e r which the Spanish
brought back from the New World. However, these treasures
were not p r i m a r i l y what made them desirous of capturing the
Spanish ships. Foremost i n t h e i r minds was the f a c t that
t h i s wealth made i t possible f o r Spain to pay f o r her wars,
i n c l u d i n g that with the Dutch. I f the ships were i n t e r c e p -
ted, Spain would not have the means to prolong those wars
and would be w i l l i n g to open peace negotiations.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Spain
brought a great f l e e t to the Caribbean Sea i n order to
- 12 -
prevent the p r i v a t e e r i n g , i n which the B r i t i s h and French
were involved as w e l l . As a r e s u l t the Dutch merchants had
to j o i n forces and, so, the West-Indische Compagnie (West
India Company) was founded on June 3, 1621, with the help
of the States-General, which also promised m i l i t a r y a i d , i f
necessary. The Company obtained a charter granting i t f o r
twenty-four years the monopoly of the trade and shipping on
the West coast of A f r i c a between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Cape of Good Hope, the East and West coast of America,
except that part of the East coast which l i e s North of the
southern point of Newfoundland (Terra Nova), as well as the
discovered or s t i l l - t o - b e - d i s c o v e r e d Austraelsche Zuyder-
landen, t e r r a a u s t r a l i s incognita "Southlands", which were
located between the Cape of Good Hope and the eastern point
of New Guinea. The Company was given the r i g h t to trade i n
those parts, to acquire possessions there and to enter into
t r e a t i e s with the aborigines, as well as to wage war. I t s
monopoly was renewed several times. However, the W.I.C. was
dissolved at the end of 1674, when i t was taken over by the
Tweede West-Indische Compagnie (Second West India Company).
The l a t t e r had no m i l i t a r y o b l i g a t i o n s . I t l a s t e d u n t i l
1792.
The management of the Company was divided among f i v e
chambers, that i s , those of Amsterdam, the Maas (composed
of the c i t i e s of Rotterdam, D e l f t and Dordrecht), Zeeland
(Middelburg, V l i s s i n g e n and Veere), the Noorderkwartier
(Northern Quarter), that i s , the three West F r i s i a n c i t i e s
- 13 -
of Hoorn, Enkhuizen en Medemblik, and Groningen and
Friesland. There were nineteen members in the Board of
Directors, called the Heeren XIX. Amsterdam and Zeeland
were the most influential ones. When, in 1628, certain
possessions were placed under the supervision of specific
chambers, most of those on the mainland and the Bovenwindse
Eilanden in the Caribbean were placed under the jurisdiction
of Zeeland. The Benedenwindse Eilanden Curacao, Aruba and
Bonaire were to come under Amsterdam. The coat of arms
of that city is s t i l l part of that of Curacao.
Besides the objectives of weakening the enemy by cutting
him off from his main resources, which lay in his overseas
territories, and to get hold of those resources for the
Company and The United Provinces there was a strong desire
to convert the heathen natives to the Christian faith, that
is, Protestantism in its Calvinistic form. Later, this was
extended to include "the blacks and the Portuguese and
Spanish". However, the preachers in the employ of the West
India Company neglected this part of their task, often as a
result of circumstances beyond their control.
In the first twenty years of its existence, the Company
was quite successful, although Piet Hein was the only one
who was .able to seize a Spanish "silver-fleet" (1628). In
1623, its ships started to get salt and brazilwood from
Bonaire and in the years following called at the three
islands, not always peacefully. In the year 1634, the
Amsterdam Chamber decided to capture Curacao and to
- 14 -
e s t a b l i s h there a centre f o r i t s trade and make i t a strong-
hold against the enemy. Johannes van Walbeeck did so i n the
same year. The Spanish who l i v e d on the i s l a n d were allowed
to leave f o r Venezuela i n order to avoid the p o s s i b i l i t y of
treason and also because i t was feared that the food sup-
ply may run out. However, seventy-five Indians, men, women
and c h i l d r e n remained on Curacao. Thus, the i s l a n d became
almost completely Dutch, though subsequently other Indians
returned. In 1648, the -Spanish ceded Curacao to the Dutch.
Already i n those days "Curacao" included Aruba and Bonaire
(with' Klein-Curacao and Klein-Bonaire) and even the Aves and
Roques Islands. I f Curacao proper was meant, i t would be
r e f e r r e d to as "the Island of Curacao".
Bonaire, which had played a r o l e i n the conquest of
Curacao by serving as a spring-board, and also Aruba were
taken i n 1636. The l a t t e r was at that time p r a c t i c a l l y
uninhabited, but Indians from the mainland came to s e t t l e
there, a t t r a c t e d by the p o s s i b i l i t y of s t u d - r a i s i n g . I t
was no longer permitted to use Indians as slaves. They used
to l i v e rather i s o l a t e d from the other r a c i a l groups. When
the Indians on Aruba had been allowed by the West India
Company to possess p l o t s of land, they had as slaves other
Indians, captured on the Wilde Kust, l i t . "Wild Coast",
located between the mouths of the Orinoco and the Amazon,
and smuggled onto the i s l a n d . These were the so-called
roode slaven or rod slaven "red slaves". In 1800, the
Indians on Curacao no longer formed a separate group of the
- 15 -
population, p a r t l y because of the increase i n the number of
black slaves. Early i n the nineteenth century, there were
s t i l l over f i v e hundred Indians of pure blood on Aruba.
1
In comparing the population on the two islands Aruba and
Bonaire i n our time from the point of view of physical
type, one could say that on the former the people are more
reminiscent of the Indians, the Spanish conquerors and other
Hispanic people, the Dutch s e t t l e r s and the descendants of
mixed blood of the d i f f e r e n t groups than on Bonaire, where
there i s a preponderance of negroid features. One of the
reasons f o r t h i s may be that Bonaire was used as a penal
settlement f o r blacks, and sometimes also f o r whites. I t
i s noteworthy that a Royal Decree of July 9 1816, con-
tained a clause saying that
Convicts i n the colonies /T.e. Curacao and the Dutch
East I n d i e s / s h a l l experience no f u r t h e r impediment
to t h e i r l i b e r t y than such as i s necessary to prevent
t h e i r return to Europe.^
As a consequence, the members of t h e
(
d i f f e r e n t groups could
f r e e l y mix.
It was the i n t e n t i o n to e s t a b l i s h an a g r i c u l t u r a l
colony. The i s l a n d of Curacao was to become agrarian,
Joh. Hartog, Aruba: Zoals Het Was, Zoals Het Werd (Aruba:
Gebroeders De Wit, 1955)", ~p". 223;" 'English - edition:" Aruba:
Past and Present (Oranjestad, Aruba: D.J. de Wit, 19bl),
p. 217.
- 16 -
Bonaire would supply s a l t and maize, and Aruba was meant to
become a stud-ranch.
Many of the explorers of the New World, the privateers
and traders had been Protestant, persevering Zeelanders,
t r y i n g to f i n d the freedom of r e l i g i o n they could not obtain
under Spanish occupation. They formed the most important
contingent of the s e t t l e r s who came to Curacao from 1635
on. Then there were Hollanders, that i s , persons from the
two Provinces of Holland (North- and South-Holland), not to
be confused with Nederlanders, which name denotes nowadays
a l l people of Dutch n a t i o n a l i t y . Among those from the
Province of North-Holland, the West F r i s i a n s should be
mentioned i n p a r t i c u l a r .
In the l a s t quarter of the seventeenth century, set-
t l e r s .began to come to Curacao from other European coun-
t r i e s as well: Germans, Danes, French, Spanish, Walloons
and Flemings, Greeks, Swiss and some E n g l i s h . Indeed, so
many French and Spanish came that, i n 1747, i n view of the
developments i n Europe, a l l these were ordered to leave
the i s l a n d , unless they were w i l l i n g to swear an oath of
a l l e g i a n c e , which s i x t y - f i v e persons did. The order was
given toward the end of the combined Anglo-Spanish War
( 1739- 48) and War of Austrian Succession ( 1741- 48) . In
the l a t t e r war, the Dutch were involved as a l l i e s of the
B r i t i s h , i n the defense of the B a r r i e r Fortresses i n the
Southern Netherlands, meant as a protection from France,
but they d i d not take part i n the Anglo-Spanish War. They
- 17 -
appear to have wished to n e u t r a l i z e the Benedenwindse
Eilanden. This would explain the expulsion of the French
and Spanish."^
Other groups of people of European o r i g i n came to
regions of the New World, a l b e i t not to the three i s l a n d s .
However, i n d i v i d u a l s from among them or t h e i r descen-
dants may have come at a l a t e r stage. Another p o s s i b i l i t y
i s that they worked side by side with black slaves who then
took over c e r t a i n words from t h e i r vocabulary p r i o r to t h e i r
being transported elsewhere, f o r instance, to the Dutch pos-
sessions. Examples of t h i s are a group of i n d i v i d u a l s who
s a i l e d from the Dutch i s l a n d of Texel i n 1623. Since almost
a l l had French names, i t i s assumed that they were Huguenots.
A f t e r 1626, a group of Swedes s e t t l e d near the Delaware,
where they were joined by Dutch emigrants from the Province
of Utrecht. In 164-4, a group of four hundred persons who
had f l e d the Portuguese i n B r a z i l a r r i v e d i n Curacao, but
were sent on to Nieuw-Amsterdam (now New York) by P i e t e r
Stuyvesant.
Around 1650, a regular export of young people, many of
whom were s t i l l almost c h i l d r e n , took place from France
(Dieppe,le Havre, Saint-Malo, Brest and l a Rochelle) to
the t e r r i t o r i e s around the Caribbean Sea. They were c a l l e d
engages or servants and were treated l i t t l e better than
slaves.
Dr. J.M. Norris of the Department of History, The
U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, has most k i n d l y provided
me with t h i s information concerning the events i n Europe.
- 18 -
Between 1683 and 1688, Cornells van Aerssen, Governor
of Surinam, another territory in the hands of the Dutch,
brought compatriots but also foreigners, among them many
French refugee families, to that country."'"
In the British West Indies political prisoners or
prisoners-of-war and Irish Catholics sold to the Antilles
were used for the heavy work.
As the Spanish had realized earlier, the French and
British came to the conclusion that the import of white wor-
kers was a failure. Towards the end of the seventeenth cen-
tury, they no longer made use of whites as slaves on their
islands. The importation of black slaves became, therefore,
a necessity.
The Spanish had also brought inhabitants from the
Canary Islands, the Islenos. They were the Guanches, pro-
bably of Berber descent. Spain's sovereignty over the
Canary Islands was recognized in 1479, after lengthy quar-
rels with Portugal about their possession.2 Access to these
islands had greatly facilitated the voyages to the New World
as a result of their favourable position in the trade winds.
Once the Guanches had been converted to Christianity, the
Spanish no longer wanted to take them to the West-Indies as
slaves, since they had now become "human beings".
Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indie, pp. 32-33.
!
Winkler Prins Encyclopaedie, 1949 ed., V, 460.
- 19 -
The idea to make use of Negroes (or others, f o r that
matter) as slaves was not a new one f o r the Spaniards. Even
before the Portuguese Goncalvez kidnapped some Negroes on
the coast of Guinea, i n 1443, the Portuguese had already
captured Moors on the West Coast of A f r i c a , a f t e r taking
Ceuta i n 1415, and sold them i n S e v i l l e , which became an
important slave market, as did Cordoba, Granada and Lisbon.
The r e a l trade began i n 1444, i n which year a company was
established f o r the sole purpose of slave hunting i n A f r i c a .
In 1448, the Portuguese established t h e i r f i r s t post f o r the
trade i n Negroes and gold i n Arguin, where they also b u i l t a
f o r t f o r protection. A second such f o r t , the famous c a s t l e
Sao Jorge da Mina, was erected i n 1481. A f t e r the Portu-
guese had established themselves i n Arguin, the export of
black slaves increased greatly. That Spain was an important
buyer may be concluded from the f a c t that there was a great
number of them i n Spain i n the second part of the f i f t e e n t h
century. They had t h e i r own cofradias and were not without
r i g h t s or a c e r t a i n protection. On the other hand, there
were also severe laws dealing with punishment f o r offences
committed by slaves."'"
As f a r as the Dutch were concerned, the course of events
was as follows. Among the ships they captured there were, of
course, slave-ships en route to the Spanish colonies. At
This information i s taken mainly from>L.C. Vrijman,
Slavenhalers, passim.
- 20 -
f i r s t , they had no p o l i c y f o r the disposal of the slaves.
They e i t h e r l e t them run o f f into the woods, once they had
landed, or allowed the ships to go. However, t h i s was soon
to be changed.
In 1621, they had taken r i c h sugar-plantations i n
B r a z i l . In 1624, they conquered Bahia and i n 1630 Olinda
and the Recife (Pernambuco), so that the northern part of
B r a z i l had come under the rule of the West India Company.
The l a t t e r was t r y i n g to e s t a b l i s h a colony there under
Johan Maurits van Nassau, governor from 1636 to 1644. For
that reason great pressure was put on him to supply labou-
r e r s , that i s , black slaves. As elsewhere, the Indians had
proven too d e l i c a t e to do the heavy work which was expected
of them and died i n large numbers. White labourers had a l s o
come, e i t h e r to f l e e oppressive s i t u a t i o n s i n Europe or
because they were criminals sent to the Americas f o r punish-
ment. Some had been lured into going there by i r r e s p o n s i b l e
traders. A large number of them perished. Besides, they
were expensive and needed more protection as well as better
food than the A f r i c a n s . One black was known to be able to
do as much work as three or four Indians. He could, also
stand the hot climate.
The great problem with which the West India Company had
to cope i n order to s a t i s f y the need f o r Negro workers was
the f a c t that a l l slave-ports were i n the hands of the enemy.
The Company f e l t , therefore, that i t was necessary to take
possession of the former Portuguese ports used i n connection
- 21 -
with the slave-trade on the A f r i c a n coast ("former" because
Portugal was now under the Spanish crown). Elmina (another
name f o r the c a s t l e Sao Jorge) was captured i n 1637 with
l i t t l e e f f o r t . Prom that moment on, the Company was engaged
i n the slave-trade, and regarded that trade as i t s exclusive
monopoly. This state of a f f a i r s was maintained by the
Company's successors u n t i l 1734.
Another expedition was sent to Sao Paulo de Luanda i n
1641. The town and the country of Angola were seized f o r
the Company. This was a blow to the Spanish, who were i n
great need of the slaves from that region. The advantage f o r
the Company was that i t took a f a r shorter time to bring the
slaves to the Americas from there than from Elmina.
In 1640, a ten-year truce was concluded with the Portu-
guese. In 1645, the B r a z i l i a n Portuguese, freed Negroes
and people of mixed blood rose against the Dutch. In 1654,
they were driven completely out of B r a z i l . E a r l i e r , they
had given up the A f r i c a n possessions.
As a r e s u l t , Curacao became a centre of the slave-trade
as i t had been f o r red slaves during the Spanish period^"
however, c h i e f l y f o r t r a n s i t , since on the i s l a n d i t s e l f
Africans were used mainly as house-servants. A few worked
on the plantations. They were not badly treated. A threat
to send them to Surinam was enough to keep them under con-
2
t r o l . S t i l l , there were two slave uprisings on the i s l a n d .
Hartog, Curacao, End. ed., p. 40; Dutch ed., p. 88.
Vrijman, Slavenhalers, p. 121.
- 22 -
One was in 1751, instigated by new arrivals from Africa. The
other took place in 1795, inspired by the French Revolution
of 1789 and the resulting emancipation of slaves on Santo
Domingo.
The last slave-ship is said to have arrived in Curacao
in 1778.
1
After that date, no further imports were neces-
sary, since the population increase by birth was sufficient
p
to meet the demands. In 1814, The Netherlands abolished
the slave-trade. The emancipation of the slaves on the
Benedenwindse Eilanden came into effect in 1863.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many
Sephardic Jews arrived in Curacao. These were the descen-
dants of the Jews who had been expelled from Spain in 1497,
had then gone to Portugal, from where they had to flee again
when it was conquered by Spain in 1580. A great number of
them then went to Amsterdam, others to Brazil, which they
had to leave in order to escape the Inquisition once more.
Prom the former they came to Curacao because they were
attracted by the success of the West India Company. Origi-
nally they were supposed to cultivate the land, but, because
of the condition of the soil, this could not be done suc-
cessfully. They became, therefore, involved in commercial
undertakings.
In 1651, the Company granted Joao de Illan permission
Hartog, Curacao, Dutch ed., p. 446; Eng. ed., p. 169.
Hartog, Du., p. 446; Eng., p. 169.
- 23 -
to bring f i f t y Jewish c o l o n i a l s to Curacao. Many Jews
came from B r a z i l between 1654 and 1659
Again, i n 1659 "the W.I.C. offered Isaac de Acosta
favorable conditions and p r i v i l e g e s f o r bringing Jewish
c o l o n i a l s from Amsterdam to Curacao.
The Jews formed a very close community with strong
family t i e s , but came into contact withuthe other ethnic
groups through t h e i r commerce. Prom the beginning,
Ashkenazim had also come to the Island, but i n very small
numbers. Not u n t i l 1926, did they a r r i v e as an a f t e r -
math of the F i r s t World War i n greater numbers, most of
them from Romania. And, again, a f t e r the Second World War,
many of t h e i r r e l a t i v e s came from Europe. In 1970, there
were some one hundred Ashkenazim f a m i l i e s i n Curacao (about
400 persons).
Many Venezuelans and Colombians, among others B o l i v a r ,
established themselves i n Curacao at the beginning of the
nineteenth century f o r p o l i t i c a l or economic reasons.
Aruba has always had a great a t t r a c t i o n f o r Venezuelans who
have remained there f o r various periods of time.
^Hartog writes on p. 336 of the Dutch e d i t i o n of Curacao,
1961, that the v a l i d i t y of t h i s a s s e r t i o n has not been pro-
ven. However, t h i s comment i s l e f t out on p. 131 of the
E n g l i s h e d i t i o n , which was published i n 1968. This would
seem to i n d i c a t e that he had revised h i s views on the mat-
t e r by then.
2
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n , p. 316; and
Isaac and Suzanne A. Emmanuel, History of the Jews of the
Netherlands A n t i l l e s , V o l . I, History; ( C i n c i n n a t i : American
Jewish'Archives, 1970), p. 496.
- 2 4 -
In Holland the Bataafsche Republiek came i n t o being i n
1795, a f t e r the invasion of the country by the French. As a
r e s u l t , the stadhouder, Prince William V, who had f l e d to
England, gave orders to the Dutch colonies to grant access
to the B r i t i s h . The French t r i e d to gain influence over
Curacao, taking advantage of the f r i c t i o n between Orangists
and Francophiles.
1
They attacked i t , as a precautionary
measure, i n September 1800. Governor Johann Rudolf Lauffer,
i n charge of the Comite m i l i t a i r e , did not want to surrender
to the French and put the i s l a n d under the protection of the
B r i t i s h . He was i n charge, i n name, of the c i v i l govern-
ment. One of the s t i p u l a t i o n s of the Peace of Amiens, con-
cluded between the B r i t i s h and French i n 1802, was that the
Dutch Benedenwindse and Bovenwindse Eilanden were to be
returned to the Bataafsche Republiek. From 1803 to 1806,
Curacao was back under Dutch r u l e , but i n 1807, the B r i t i s h
took i t again, t h i s time by force, and i t remained i n t h e i r
hands u n t i l 1816, although already i n 1814, by the Convention
of London, the Benedenwindse and Bovenwindse Eilanden had
been given back to Holland, which i n the next year, 1815,
was r e i n s t a t e d as The Kingdom of The Netherlands under the
House of Orange.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the o i l
industry has brought considerable changes to the Beneden-
windse Eilanden. S h e l l chose Curacao f o r i t s t r a n s f e r
Hartog, Curacao, Dutch ed., pp. 472-76; Eng. ed.,
pp. 190-92; and rEmmanuel, p. 283.
station in 1915; Lago decided to establish one on Aruba in
1925. Royal Shell opened its refineries on Curacao in 1918
and on Aruba in 1928. Lago did the same on .Aruba in 1929.
This meant an influx of employees from The Netherlands,
Britain and the United States.
In this century Portuguese immigrants arrived again.
This time, they were working-class people who left Portugal
for political reasons or because they were unable to find
work there.
As a result of the events that took place in the Dutch
East Indies later Indonesia in the nineteen forties
and fifties, a certain number of Dutch people from those
parts settled in Curacao. They often felt more at home in
another overseas territory than in the mother country,
partly because of the climate, partly because of the way
of l i f e .
At this point, it is interesting to note two items in
the Antilliaanse Nieuwsbrief of May 27, 1977, published by
the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary of the
Netherlands Antilles in The Hague. One quotes figures con-
cerning the number of voters for the elections in Curacao
of June 17, 1977. There were 89,681 persons eligible. Of
those 73,515 were born on Curacao, 1874 were Arubans, 3235
Bonairians, 1452 from the Bovenwindse Eilanden, 3670 from
The Netherlands, 1670 from Surinam and 4265 "from else-
where". It is unfortunate that "from elsewhere" is not
- 26 -
specified, since it-could have shed more light on the diver-
sity of the population.
The second item refers to the elections on Aruba of the
same date. The number of persons eligible to take part in
the elections was 36,927. These persons were born in no
fewer than 74 countries or islands. Among these were
Australia, Morocco, Egypt, Sarawak, New Guinea, Malacca,
Turkey, Iran, China. The majority were born on Aruba:
25,060; followed by Curacao: 1985; The Netherlands: 962;
the Dominican Republic: 685; Bonaire: 659; Sint Maarten:
617; Surinam: 573 and Colombia: 483.
It is obvious that the events and movements of people
described above have left their mark on the language.
CHAPTER TWO
THE INFLUENCE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BENEDENWIND SE
EILANDEN UPON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAPIAMENTU
The aim of t h i s chapter i s to trace the influence which
the presence of the many varied groups during the centuries
has exercised upon the landstaal "language of the country".
This term r e f e r s to Papiamentu on the three i s l a n d s to d i s -
t i n g u i s h i t from Dutch, which i s the o f f i c i a l language hut
not n e c e s s a r i l y the mother tongue of a l l of the inhabitants.
The word Papiamentu i s derived from papear, which i s
found i n Old Spanish, G a l i c i a n and Portuguese. I t has many
meanings r e f e r r i n g to o r a l communication: to scream, babble,
t a l k , express one's f e e l i n g s , whisper, t a l k a great deal,
give away secrets; hablar s i n c o n o c i m i e n t o T h e D i c i o n a r i o
Pratico Ilustrado l i s t s
PAPEAR, v . i . (outra forma de p i p i a r ) . F a l a r muito,
palrar, papaguear, c h i l r e a r . Cochichar.2
and under p i p i a r :
PIPIAR, v . i . ( l a t . p i p i a r e ) . 0 mesmo que p i p i l a r .
S.m. 0 piar.;"das aves.3
-
'^
Antoine J . Maduro, Procedencia d i Palabranan Papiamentu i
Otro Anotacionnan, part II ( Curac.ao. n.p., 1 9 . 0 6 ) p . 15.
2
D i c i o n a r i o Pratico Ilustrado (Porto: L e l l o & Irmao,
1966) , p. 869.
^Dicionario, p. 916.
- 28 -
Martin Alonso gives:
PAPEAR. intr. S..XIII. Hablar sin conocimiento,
confusamente. . . . ^
In Papiamentu the verb "to talk" is papia. In Puerto
Rico the word papiamento means a "non-full-fledged lan-
2
guage". Proof that a form of papear is used in other parts
of the world as well may be found in the section dealing with
the lexicon in Baltasar Lopes da Silva, 0 Dialecto Crioulo
de Gabo Verde, where one reads: papear - papia and in the
statement by Bernard Anwar Kamawidjaja that
Papiah> es el nom donat al portugues parlat a Tugu.
Es el mateix dialecte de portugues parlat a Malacca.
Malacca esta. plena de records portuguesos, i hi ha
una comunitat portuguesa de milers de persones.^
It is.found further in titles of publications such as Luis
Chaves, "0 'cristao
1
, 'papia cristao', ou 'serani'. 0 por-
tugues de Malaca em apontamentos folcloricos" and of an
unpublished paper by Ian P. Hancock (March 1970) "600-item
Martin Alonso, Enciclopedia del idioma, III,
(Madrid: Aguilar, 1958), p. 3131.
2
This would seem the best translation of .I.Dutch taalt.je,
which is given as the equivalent of the Puertorican papia-
mento in the Encyclonedie van de Nederlandse Antiilen
T
p. 440.
3
Baltasar Lopes da Silva, 0 Dialecto Crioulo de Cabo Verde
(Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional de Lisboa, 1957), p. 333.
4
Bernard Anwar Zamawidjaja, "La influencia portuguesa a
Indonesia," Vida Nova, 61 (1974),18.
^Published in Lingua Portuguesa, 3(1933), 169-78, and l i s -
ted in John E. Reinecke et al., A Bibliography of Pidgin and
Creole Languages (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1975)
p. 104.
- 29 -
l e x i c a l c h e c k l i s t f o r Papia Kristang" (from an unpublished
l e x i c o n of Malac.can C r i o u l o ) .
1
In order to give a precise p i c t u r e of Papiamentu one
would have to deal with each of the i s l a n d s separately and,
f o r Curacao, perhaps even with the d i f f e r e n t d i s t r i c t s of
Willemstad, the c a p i t a l , as well as the kunuku, that i s ,
the countryside; f o r Aruba, with the differences between the
various towns and between the towns and the r u r a l area. Pur^
ther d i s t i n c t i o n s could be made according to age, s o c i a l and
r a c i a l background, r e l i g i o n and education. However, that
would r e s u l t i n more d e t a i l than i s j u s t i f i e d by the scope
of t h i s paper.
As mentioned i n Chapter One, Indians were the f i r s t i n -
habitants of the area i n question. I t i s not always an easy
task to define whether a c e r t a i n word a c t u a l l y had i t s o r i g i n
i n an Indian language. There i s , perhaps, a tendency to
ascribe a word or phrase to Indian or A f r i c a n influence when
i t does not seem to f i t i n t o the pattern of the languages
represented by the European s e t t l e r s . This may r e s u l t i n
erroneous conclusions. Maduro has made a thorough study of
Papiamentu etymology, i n c l u d i n g the Indian element, and has
2
reported h i s findings on the l a t t e r i n many of h i s works.
p. 104.
Procedencia, passim.
Reinecke,
2
Mainly i n
- 30 -
M.D. Latour, O.P. has studied the subject of Indian words
as w e l l .
1
I t would be safe to say that the contribution from
Indian languages to Papiamentu may be found mainly i n the
names of f l o r a and fauna, i n toponyms and some u t e n s i l s .
Examples: rucu (Bixa o r e l l a n a L.) - a plant from which a
dye i s extracted f o r the colouring of food, such as butter
and cheese; Aruba: waltaca, a small l i z a r d ; mampiri or
mompiri - a very small f l y ; mapiri - a basket with handle.
Kunuku, a word i n every-day use, "countryside, country seat,
p l a n t a t i o n " also i s of Indian o r i g i n . I t must be pointed
out, though, that there are Dutch names as well f o r animals,
trees, plants and flowers. At times, they were given to
animals or plants of a species d i f f e r e n t from the ones f o r
which the name i s used i n Holland. On consulting the
Encyclopedie van de Mederlandse A n t i l l e n one w i l l immediately
see how many of those Dutch names there are. The sea-gull,
Dutch meeuw, i s c a l l e d meuchi, no doubt from the diminutive
meeuwtje. One of the names f o r Dutch fregatvogel (Pregata
magnificens) " f r i g a t e - b i r d , hurricane b i r d or weather b i r d "
i s Papiamentu skerchi, derived from the diminutive of Dutch
schaar ( d i a l e c t a l scheer or skeer) " s c i s s o r s " because i t can
make s c i s s o r - l i k e movements with i t s t a i l .
M.D. Latour, O.P., "Vreemde Invloeden i n het Papiamento',!
1
l e s t - I n d i s c h e G-ids. 17e Jaargang (1935/36), 18e deel (1936),
390-92; and "De Taal Papiamento" i n De Taal Papiamento en
Haar Oorsprong (Curacao and Hilversum, 1953), p. 14.
- 31 -
Interesting is one of the Papiamentu names which the
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse Antillen lists for the
pelican, namely ganshi (Pelecanus occidentalis), whereas
Dutch gans is "goose". G.PI Jansen gives Pap. pelican for
Dutch pelikaanRichard E. Wood has gans (not ganshi,
which does not appear in his lexicon of words of total or
partial Dutch origin) for "goose". He refers to rdgans
"pelican". Under rdgans he says "pelican Du. rotgans
5
wild goose'. . . pelecanus fuscus." Maduro mentions
under ganshi that it has changeduimeaning and gives as
origin Dutch gans and Spanish and Portuguese ganso.^" For
rogans (note the difference in stress with Wood's version)
he writes:
rogans (Aruba; na Corsou: ganshi, Pelecanus occiden-
tal is) Parce deformacidn di e palabra ulandes
r o o d g a n s (Branta ruficollis),?
Other birds are the visdief.1 e (Sterna hirundo) l i t .
"little fish-thief", "common tern"; dwergstern (Sterna
1
G.P. Jansen, Diccionario Papiamentu-Holandes (Curacao,
1945), p. 117.
?
Richard Elliot Wood, "Papiamentu: Dutch Contributions,"
Diss. Indiana 1970, p. 127.
5
Wood, '." Papiamentu*
1,1
p. 188.
4
Maduro, Ensayo pa Yega na un Ortografia Uniforme pa nos
Papiamentu (Curasao: M . S T L . Maduro, 1953), p. 79.
5
Maduro, Procedencia, II, 27. It should be noted that
Maduro does not italicize Latin phrases.
- 32 -
a l b i f r o n s ) l i t . "dwarf tern", that i s , " l i t t l e tern"; and
geelsnavelstern (Sterna sandvicensis eurygnatha) l i t .
"yellow-beaked tern", that i s , the "sandwich tern". Another
example of change i n meaning as well as a d i f f e r e n c e of appel-
l a t i o n on the three i s l a n d s i s p a t r i s h i . Jansen translates
i t as p a t r i j s , which i s "partridge". Maduro writes i n 1953:
"patrushi; p a t r i s h i (Ar.) (Coturnix curassavica) -
p a t r i j s ( j e ) ( u l . ) " .
2
In I960:
patrushi Benaming voor de
|!
socle' (kuifkwartel) op
Aruba en voor de 'aladuru' op Bonaire. Op Curacao:
het jong van een 'buladeifi
1
.3 ^k"uifkwartel = tufted
quail/
and in 1967:
patrushi (patrishi) - (Aruba; na Corsou: cocoi,
socle, sloke) Colinus cristatus (L.). Kuifkwartel.
patrushi - (Boneiru; na Corsou: aladuru). Leptolila
verreauxi. Soort wilde duif. ./Sort of wild pigeon/
patrushi - Corsou. Pichon di buladeifi). Zenaidura
auriculata vinaceo-rufa (RMgway). Soort wilde duif.
Como e pichonnan di buladeifi (mardn-shinishi cu
strepi blancu irregular) ta masha diferente di e
buladeifi grandi (adulto), pueblo di Corsou ta mir'e
pa un otro sorto di para. Djei ta bini qu nan a duna
e pichonnan aqui un otro nomber, esta: patrushi.4
/para = birdj
7
x
Jansen, p. 116.
2
Maduro, Ensayo
t
p. 105.
Maduro, Proverbio-, Refran-, Dicho- i Expresionnan i nan
Nificacion na Ulandes (Corsou: n.p., 1967), p. 51.
4
Maduro, Loque a Sobra den e Macutu di JJicho, Refran,
Proverbio, Frase i Palabranan di nos Lenga i nan Nificacion
na Ulandes'HOorsou:'Cardoze, I960), p. 142
- 33 -
As for the flora, kelki gel, also spelled kelki heel,
is the name of a shrub with yellow flowers (Tecoma stans)
"yellow blossom" from Dutch kelk "chalice" and geel
"yellow".
There are interesting explanations for the names of
the three islands. The Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch
West-Indie, 1914-17, mentions the following possibilities,
without claiming certainty. Aruba could be of Indian
origin and may be found on old maps as Oruba and Orua,
which could have been derived from Oirubae and mean "com-
panion", that is, to Curacao. However, another possible
derivation would be from ora "shell" and oubao "island",
hence "island of shells". This seems more likely. The
Encyclopaedie rejects the suggested Pro hubo "there was
gold once"."'" Hartog also rejects i t
since the name of our island would in that case be
Spanish. This would not be impossible in itself,
but i f Aruba really meant 'goldland', it is hard to
explain why Diego Colon counted i t among the "value-
less islands".2
It should not be forgotten, however, that in 1824 gold was
indeed found on Aruba. The production of gold from ten
places resulted in 1,338,628 kg over the years 1824-1916,
plus an unknown quantity for the period 1830-54.
Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indie, p. 56.
Hartog, Aruba; Past and Present, pp. 32-33.
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse Antillen, p. 263.
- 34 -
Hartog quotes other theories, based on analogies with
the Bay of Oruba, i n lake Maraoaibo, where the same kind of
Indians with s i m i l a r customs were l i v i n g , and with the Gulf
of Uruba, which would mean Gulf of the Canoes and which i s
now known as the Gulf of Darien.
1
He r e f e r s also to l a t e r
occurrences of Curava, Arouba and Aruba.
The Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n suggests
that oruba could be the Indian word f o r "well-situated",
that i s , with regard to the mainland.
"Bonaire" suggests "good a i r " , as i n the old Spanish
r e n d i t i o n "Buen-Ayre". However, t h i s r e s u l t of f o l k -
etymology seems a l e s s probable,explanation than the one
based on the f a c t that the o r i g i n a l inhabitants were Indians
and that, according to the Encyclopaedic van Nederlandsch
West-Indie, the name must have come from a Guarani word
2
meaning "the low i s l a n d " . The Encyclopedie van de
Nederlandse A n t i l l e n r e f e r s to a Carib word banare with that
same meaning. James C e r r u t i mentions the word "Bojnaj",
pronounced somewhat l i k e 'Boh-nah'".^ Latour maintains
5
that the o r i g i n a l name was Bona-Iri. In a written eoment
Hartog, Aruba; Past and Present, p. 33.
2
Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indie, p. 143.
'Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n , p. 224.
^James C e r r u t i , "The Netherlands A n t i l l e s : Holland i n the
Caribbean^" National Geographic Magazine, January 1970,
p. 137.
^Latour, "Vreemde Invloeden i n het Papiamento," p. 390.
- 35 -
prepared for me by Maduro on 25 June 1971, he mentions that
documents from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries talk
about Buinare and Buynare. Prom p. 32 of this study it may
be seen that he himself used Boneiru in I960, and on p. 9
reference is made to Baynari.
The name Curacao for the largest of the three islands,
although of even more uncertain etymology, seems to stem from
the original Indian inhabitants known as the Indios Curacaos.
The oldest known spelling of the name on maps from 1519 and
1527 is Curasote, which could be cora uacu "the large plan-
tation" plus the Spanish suffix -ote, thus distinguishing i t
from the tiny island nearby, now called Klein-Curacao in
Dutch, Klein-Corsow in Papiamentu and Curazao chico in
Spanish. The Indian name for it was Adioora and the Spanish
called it Nicula in 1634. Whether they did this because
discoverers often gave new names to the discovered territo-
ries, since they did not know the original one, or whether
Nicula is a distortion of Adicora is difficult to decide.
Other sixteenth century versions of Curacao were Carasao
and Corazao, Corazante, Curacante, Curacote, Curasaote and
Curasaore. In about 1620, the Spanish began to write
Curacao or CurazaoThe Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse
The information concerning the names for Curacao has
been taken from the Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-
Indie, pp. 251-52; the Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse
Antillen, p. 224; and Hartog, Curacao, Eng. ed., p. 27.
- 36 -
A n t i l l e n f u r t h e r suggests the following possible derivations:
corossol a f t e r the f r u i t zuurzak, which abounds on the
i s l a n d ; corauacu, spelled d i f f e r e n t l y from the above-
mentioned cora uacu, "large p l a n t a t i o n " and with the added
meaning of "black" or "high" mountain; curacan, which i s
supposedly a Garib combination of oblong and powerful; and
the Spanish corazo'n or Portuguese coracgo, since on old
maps the i s l a n d i s given the shape of a heart. The present
Papiamentu name f o r i t i s Kbrsow, also spelled Korsou or
C. or sow,
Other Indian-derived toponyms are of h i l l s , caves and
settlements.
I t i s noteworthy that most of the words of Indian
o r i g i n which Latour l i s t s end i n a vowel (a, e, i , o, u)
or a diphthong (ao, o i , ou) and very few i n a consonant..
During the Spanish r u l e , which, i n r e a l i t y , did not
begin u n t i l 1527 and l a s t e d u n t i l 1634, that i s , a l i t t l e
more than a century, the Spanish must have taught t h e i r
language to the Indians. I t may be that the s a i l o r s and
s o l d i e r s who came did not speak t h e i r own language very
c o r r e c t l y and passed t h e i r imperfect Spanish or d i a l e c t a l
and popular forms on to the Indians. Another f a c t o r i s ,
of course, that when two peoples of a d i f f e r e n t l e v e l of
c i v i l i z a t i o n come into d a i l y contact with one another there
i s a tendency to use i n t e n t i o n a l l y c h i l d i s h speech i n ah
attempt to f a c i l i t a t e communication with people who are
assumed to be c h i l d l i k e i n t h e i r understanding. This type
- 37 -
of language has a minimum of grammar, the main features of
which w i l l he discussed on pages 46 and 47.
When the Spanish, at t h e i r request, were allowed to
leave by the Dutch, the Indians went with them or were sent
away to the mainland of South America. The language i n the
t e r r i t o r y (Aruba was almost uninhabited at the time) became
obviously Dutch, a l b e i t with d i a l e c t a l differences i n voca-
bulary and pronunciation, since, again, s o l d i e r s and s a i l o r s
formed the l a r g e r part of the Dutch a r r i v i n g on the islands
and they came mainly from the s p e c i f i c regions of The United
Provinces mentioned i n Chapter One.
The number of Indians said to have remained d i f f e r s
according to the various researchers and t h e i r sources.
1 2
W. Brada puts i t at f i f t y , Hartog at seventy-five. The
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n mentions that
twenty or so Indian f a m i l i e s , or as many as wanted to stay,
5
were excepted from the forced departure. Wood states that
thirty-two Spanish women were captured and were not allowed
to leave.^ This seems u n l i k e l y i n view of the statement i n
the Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n and by Hartog
that the Spaniards who l e f t the Island and t h e i r f a m i l i e s
Brada, O.P., Pater Schabel S.J., 1704-1713 (n.p.:
n.p., n.d.), p. 73
2
Hartog, Curacao, Eng. ed., p. 59.
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n , p. 229.
^Wood, "Papiamentu,
1 1
p. 7.
- 38 -
numbered thirty-twoMore precise figures about the popu-
lation of the Island are given in a document of 24 October
1635 which declares that there were fifty Indians, six of
whom were women, and 412 Europeans, that is 350 soldiers,
32 sailors, 20 non-combatants, ten civil and military autho-
2
rities.
At a later stage, some of the Indians returned and
others came for the first time from the mainland. No
doubt, the language of communication between the Dutch and
those Indians was mainly Spanish. This possibility has
often been overlooked. Educated Dutchmen have always been
interested in foreign languages, both for commercial pur-
poses and out of cultural interest. Already in the fifteenth
century, there existed Flemish-French glossaries and voca-
bularies, often in the form of dialogues and reprinted in
many editions. In the sixteenth century Spanish manuals were
composed as well. The great majority of them were printed
in Antwerp, a few in Amsterdam and one in Delft. In 1598,
an octolingual Colloquia was published in Delft also.
The foreword was dated November 1585. The eight languages
represented in this dictionary were Latin, French, Flemish,
German, Spanish, Italian, English and Portuguese, quoted in
that order in a handwritten note in the volume. The addition
of Portuguese may be explained by the arrival of the-.-
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse Antillen, p. 229;
;
Hartog,
Curacao, Eng. ed., p. 58.
Hartog, Curacao, Du. ed., p. 196.
- 39 -
Sephardic Jews in Amsterdam.'''
It should be kept in mind that The United Provinces were
the largest carriers of trade in Europe, from the Baltic to
the Mediterranean and that, from 1530 to 1660, Spain was
2
their best customer. This meant that sailors also came in
touch with their Spanish counterparts and, hence, acquired
at least a superficial knowledge of their tongue. It is not
surprising, then, that there are Butch-derived words in
Spanish and Spanish-derived words in Dutch, albeit no longer
recognizable as such.
Naturally, the presence of Spanish rulers during the
sixteenth century also played a role in bringing speakers
of Dutch and Spanish into contact. That, however, would
affect the administrators in Spanish service, who. came
primarily from the upper classes. The aversion towards the
occupier was stronger in the northern part of The United
Provinces than in the southern part, where the seat of the
Spanish regent was located, because, after 1590, the popu-
lation there was mainly Roman Catholic, whereas the nor-
thern provinces were mainly Protestant.
The knowledge of Portuguese became also wide-spread.
Many countries used it as the language of diplomacy until
"''Simon A. Vorsters, "Lope de Vega en de Nederlandse
Lexicografie," in Verslagen en Mededelingen van de Konink-
li.ike Vlaamse Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, Aflevering
3 (Gent, 1970), passim.
2
Again, I am indebted to Dr. J.M. Norris.for this infor-
mation.
- 40 -
French began to f u l f i l that function. Queen Elizabeth I of
England and Prince Maurits of Nassau are known to have con-
ducted their .correspondence with Asian princes at the turn
of the sixteenth century in Portuguese.
1
As for traders and
seamen, they would come in contact with Portuguese in foreign
ports and, thus, acquire some knowledge of the idiom.
As has been seen, the Dutch became involved in the
trade of slaves in 1637, in order to sell them to the
Americas. Prom 1648 on, they brought them to Curacao as a
transit point before they were transported to their destina-
tion, mainly territories occupied by the Spanish, who, as a
result of the demarcation line of 1494, were themselves
unable to obtain slaves in Africa. During the waiting
period in Curacao, the majority of the slaves were kept in
restricted quarters, so that they did.not come into contact
with the inhabitants of the Island. However, a certain num-
ber of them were kept by the Dutch to serve as workers on
the plantations, in the gardens and as house servants. In
the early twentieth century, there would s t i l l be black ser-
vants, that is, one woman, a girl and a boy, in many house-
holds. Thus, there was a necessity to find means of com-
munication on an every-day basis, that is, a lingua franca
or contact vernacular, not only between master and servant,
C .R. Boxer, "The Portuguese in the East (1580-1800)," in
Portugal and Brazil: An Introduction, ed. H.V. Livermore
(Oxford': Clarendon, 1953; rpt. 1970), p. 238.
- 41 -
but also between the servants themselves, since.they had come
from various parts of A f r i c a and spoke d i f f e r e n t languages.
Another point to be considered here i s that when the
black captives had been brought to the West coast of A f r i c a ,
they had to await transport to the Americas, sometimes f o r
a considerable length of time. Perhaps the ones from the
coast, i f not the ones who were taken from th
;
e i n t e r i o r
parts, had already been i n contact with the Portuguese i n
t h e i r own habitat and were now i n trading posts where they
were addressed i n Portuguese. They may have come from
regions where. Portuguese men had chosen to remain and married
A f r i c a n women despit,e the f a c t that t h i s was frowned upon
by t h e i r government - and would speak Portuguese, mixed
with Africanisms, to t h e i r wives and o f f s p r i n g . No doubt,
the Dutch continued the habit of speaking Portuguese with
the traders and slaves a l i k e and, perhaps, those Dutch who
had a command of the language continued to do so a f t e r the
l a t t e r had a r r i v e d i n Curacao. C e r t a i n l y t h i s would be the
case f o r those l i v i n g on t h i s i s l a n d whose native tongue was
Portuguese.
I t has been suggested by several sources that the
slaves l e a r n t Portuguese or Spanish on the ships that brought
them to t h i s continent, but that does not seem l i k e l y because
of the r e l a t i v e l y short time i t took to cross the ocean, that
i s , from two ;to three months. Besides, the crews, who were
not n e c e s s a r i l y Iberians, were forbidden to mingle with the
blacks who, i n any case, were l e t on deck f o r short periods
- 42 -
only and the conditions i n the holds of the ships were not
such as to encourage f r a t e r n i z a t i o n . However, a few phrases,
most l i k e l y commands, could well have been l e a r n t . This
may explain, f o r instance, the verb bai "to go", from
v a i i or jvaya! Sometimes, black women were allowed to serve
at the tables of the o f f i c e r s and crew.
By the time that the blacks began to make t h e i r appear-
ance on the Island, people of Sephardic background were a r r i -
ving too, some from Amsterdam, others from B r a z i l . In t h e i r
household the ,ja,ja (yaya), the black children's maid, played
an important r o l e . This was the case also i n the Dutch
f a m i l i e s . One could not say that they were always completely
part of the family, since often some distance was kept, but
over the centuries there have remained strong t i e s between
.jarjas and those who as c h i l d r e n were once entrusted to t h e i r
charge. The European mothers were unable to look a f t e r
t h e i r many children properly because of t h e i r other duties
as wives and housewives i n a country with a t r o p i c a l climate
which l e f t them with l i t t l e energy. The yaya had, there-
fore, a great influence on the upbringing of the c h i l d r e n ,
on the language they spoke and i n other aspects by t e l l i n g
them s t o r i e s belonging to t h e i r own culture, such as the
t a l e s about Nanzi, the clever spider. These cuenta'i nanzi
are known i n other parts of the Caribbean as w e l l . They
originated i n West A f r i c a where the spider Ananzi plays an
important r 6 l e i n the f o l k l o r e . Other characters i n these
f a b l e s are Shi Maria, Nanzi's wife; Shon A r e i , the king;
- 43 -
Compa Sese, an acquaintance of Nanzi; and Tja,Tiger, the
tiger.
1
Although this study deals with the landstaal of the
Benedenwindse Eilanden, one cannot ignore the similarities
that exist between Papiamentu and contact vernaculars spoken
in other parts of the Caribbean in so far as Indian, African
and Iberian elements are concerned, and in other parts of
the world for African, Iberian and Dutch influences. It
should not be forgotten that the Portuguese and Spanish
travelled and traded widely over the globe as did the
Dutch and later the British and that slaves from Africa
were also taken to Asia and later from Asia, where a Creole
Portuguese, the so-called Crioulo, had developed, to other
parts of Africa. In this connection Malayo-Portuguese
should be mentioned.
In the Chapter on Creole Portuguese in A Bibliography
of Pidgin and Creole, compiled by John E. Reinecke and
others, the following statements appear:
In some parts of Asia Creole Portuguese (Crioulo or
Creoulo) was s t i l l used as a lingua franca during the
early nineteenth century, long after the Portuguese
trader-empire had collapsed. In a few spots in West
Africa pidgin Portuguese was displaced by pidgin
English only after 1850.*
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse Antillen, p. 395. The
existence of the Nanzi figure in the Caribbean as well as in
Africa was confirmed by students from those areas at present
at The University of British Columbia.
2
Reinecke et al., A Bibliography of Pidgin and Creole
Languages, p. 75.
- 44 -
In several places the use of Crioulp was continued
by the Dutch and B r i t i s h successors to Portuguese
rule.1
In Batavia, on the i s l a n d of Java, where the Portuguese
never set foot other than as prisoners of war or as i t i n e -
rant traders, the Dutch mixed-blood community and t h e i r
servants used Portuguese or Grioulo i n preference to and
sometimes to the exclusion of t h e i r own language. This
continued u n t i l about 1800, and i n the nearby Tugu the
p
d i a l e c t was used u n t i l a f t e r 1900.
Among the A f r i c a n slaves who had been brought to
Portugal there had developed a Negro-Portuguese, just as
i n Spain one could speak of a Negro-Spanish. .Black slaves
from these two countries often went to the New World with
t h e i r masters. F i r s t , Ferdinand and Isabel had given the
Governor of Hispaniola i n s t r u c t i o n s not to permit entry to
Moorish or Jewish slaves, but, instead, to f o s t e r impor-
t a t i o n of Negro slaves, born i n Spain as the possession of
white C h r i s t i a n s and baptized and i n s t r u c t e d i n the Catholic
f a i t h . Later, the governor asked permission to f o r b i d the
entry of these slaves because they were d r i v i n g the Indian
5
ones to insubordination and urging them to run away.
Reinecke, p. 75.
p
Reinecke, p. 77; Boxer, "The Portuguese i n the East,",,
p. 239; Kamawidjaja, "La i n f l u e n c i a portuguesa," p. 18.
5
Yrijman, Slavenhalers, p. 22.
- 45 -
As a r e s u l t , Queen Isabel then decreed that white slaves
only could be brought there. A l l those imported labourers
were, n a t u r a l l y , another source of A f r i c a n and Iberian
influence on the languages spoken i n the New World.
Out of the contacts of the various groups i n the
Benedenwindse Eilanden grew a pidgin language. Robert A.
H a l l , J r . describes such a language as follows;
/ " " i / t often happens that, to communicate with each
other, two or more people use a language i n a v a r i e t y
whose grammar and vocabulary are very much reduced
i n extent and which i s native to neither s i d e . l
In c i t i n g the example of I t a l i a n guides i n museums he says:
,If only one side were to speak t h i s way, and the other
were to use normal I t a l i a n , then we do not c a l l the
reduced language a pidgin; i t would simply be "broken
I t a l i a n " . 2
and f u r t h e r :
For a language to be a true pidgin, two conditions must
be met: i t s grammatical structure and i t s vocabulary
must be sharply reduced . . . and also the r e s u l t a n t
language must be native to none of those who use i t
. . . . Pidgin languages can be found at a l l s o c i a l
l e v e l s and i n a l l kinds of s i t u a t i o n s , but they have
a r i s e n most frequently i n short contacts between per-
sons d e s i r i n g to trade or do other things i n which
d e t a i l e d exchange of information or minute co-ordina-
t i o n of a c t i v i t y i s not required.3
''Robert A. H a l l , J r . , Pidgin and Creole Languages (Ithaca
and London: Cornell U n i v e r s i t y Press, 1969), p. x i i .
2 . .
H a l l , p. x i l .
^ H a l l , p. x i i .
- 46 -
The name "Pidgin" was originally given to the lingua
franca used in trade between the Chinese and British and
is said to be a distortion by the Chinese of "business".
Hall considers i t more likely that i t came from the name
of the local Indians at the mouth of the Oyapock where the
English tried to establish a colony in 1605 and 1606, that
is, the Pidians.
1
This opinion does not seem to have ob-
tained much support. According to E. Schultze, the name
was derived either from "business" or from pidjom, the
Hebrew word for "trade" or "business". Pidjom English was
p
the idiom spoken in the Jewish quarter of London. A more
modern linguistic term is the earlier quoted "contact ver-
nacular". Otto Jespersen speaks about a "makeshift" or
"minimum" language. This kind of language disregards the
conjugation of verbs and declensions, restricts the use of
tenses, omits prepositions, has truncated words and uses
reduplication to indicate an absolute superlative, a plural
or an action that took place repeatedly. It is known for
its circumlocutions, such as, for instance, in Melanesian
"'"Hall, Pidgin and Creole Languages, p. 7.
E. Schultze, "Sklaven- und Dienersprachen," Sociologus,
9 (1933), 377-418, as quoted by L.L.E. Rens, The Historical
and Social Background of Surinam's Negro-English, Diss.
Amsterdam (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1953), p. 48.
Otto Jespersen, Language: Its Structure, Development and
Origin (New York: Norton, 1964), p. 232.
- 47 -
Pidgin, screw belong leg "knee", grass belong head "hair".
1
Rens quotes other examples without specifying the region:
basket belong trousers "a pocket", lamp belong Jesus "the
sun", bullamakau banana "a sausage" (bullamakau being the
word for "beef"). They aifcso occur in Papiamentu, for
example, buscuchi di pia "knee cap"; pal'i' pia (palu di
pia) "shin"; patata (di brasa) "biceps".
When the contact vernacular becomes the mother tongue
or as William J. Samarin puts i t , a "natural language"
as opposed to a pidgin which is not for the offspring
of the speakers of that substitute language, i t is called
a Creole language. This phrase originated in the French
West Indies and Louisiana where the slaves' language was
called Creole, using the French word for "indigenous"
(from Spanish criollo "native").^"
However, in other parts of the world "creole" was used
to denote a person of European origin who had settled in
one of the colonies of the Americas. The Encyclopedie van
de Nederlandse Antillen indicates that the word creolen
x
Hall, Melanesian Pidgin English (Baltimore, Md.:
Linguistic' Society of America, 1943)> pp. 138 and 140.
2
Quoted by Rens in Surinam's Negro-English, p. 39.
5
William J. Samarin, "Lingua francas, with Special
Reference to Africa," in Study of the Role of Second
Languages in Asia
r
Africa, and Latin America, ed.
Frank A. Rice (Washington, D.C: Center for Applied
Linguistics of the Modern Language Association of America,
1962), p. 56.
4
Hall, Pidgin and Creole Languages,, p. x i i i .
- 4 8 -
was o r i g i n a l l y used to denote those who were horn i n the
Spanish colonies as descendants of persons coming from the
mother country, but that i n Surinam the members of the
negroid part of the population are described as creolen
and that t h i s meaning of the word i s gaining ground a l l
the time.
1
For the purpose of t h i s study the following d e f i n i t i o n s
of creole languages are of i n t e r e s t . D.C. Hesseling under-
stands them to be
de t a l e n die i n overzeese gewesten u i t Europese t a l e n
i n de mond van Afrikanen, Aziaten, A u s t r a l i e r s of
Amerikanen z i j n ontstaan, en dan l a t e r ook d i k w i j l s
door Europeanen of hun afstammelingen z i j n gesproken.'
and Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain states:
On appelle Creoles en l i n g u i s t i q u e une s e r i e de
langues mixtes nees, dans l e s colonies, du contact
du blanc, parlant une langue europeenne, avec 1
1
i n d i -
gene ou l'esclave importe. Ge^terme, qui ne couvrait
d'abord que l e s langues negro-aryennes, s'est peu a
peu generalise, s i bien qu'on parle du Creole anglais
de Chine (pidgin-english), du C r e o l e f r a n c a i s d'Annam,
du creole portugais des Indes . . .
^Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n , p. 136.
2
D.C. Hesseling, Het Negerhollandsch der Deensche A n t i l -
l e n (Leiden: n.p., 1 9 0 5 ) , p. 5 0 , as quoted by Rens,
Surinam's Negro-English, p. 4 7 , f.n. 6.
Suzanne Sylvain, Le Creole h a i t i e n : morphologie et syn-
taxe (Wetteren: n.p., 1 9 3 6 ) , p. 7 , as quoted by Rens, p. 4 7 ,
f . n . 7 .
- 49 -
Rens adds to that statement:
The stress i s now placed on the fusion of Aryan and
non-Aryan tongues, and the Creole language i s found
both i n the Western and i n the Eastern hemisphere.1
A creole language may develop a l i t e r a r y standard, as
i s the case with Papiamentu.
At t h i s point i t may well be asked what influence the
A f r i c a n languages have had on Papiamentu. Not many traces
are l e f t i n the vocabulary. Nanzi the spider, as mentioned
e a r l i e r , i s one of them. Zumbi "a ghost, a s p i r i t " ,
another. This word i s known with s l i g h t v a r i a t i o n s i n
form and meaning i n a l l parts of the Caribbean area, as
well as i n A f r i c a . Maribomba "wasp" may also be quoted.
Experience shows that one has to be extremely c a r e f u l i n
drawing conclusions i n the f i e l d of etymology. For instance,
nan "they", " t h e i r " and also used f o r the formation of the
p l u r a l of nouns and sometimes of adjectives, i s generally
considered to be of A f r i c a n o r i g i n . Other opinions are
that i t comes from an Indian source. (See Maduro, Proceden-
c i a , I I , 10.) However, one example quite c l e a r l y indicates
A f r i c a n influence. R.S. Rattray states i n The Tribes of
the Ashanti Hinterland that i n the Mole language group,
which represents ten of the languages spoken on the Gold
Coast, the numbers from eleven to nineteen are formed i n the
p
following fashion: 1 0 + 1 , 1 0 + 2 , 1 0 + 3 , etc. The same
Rens, Surinam's Negro-English, p. 38.
p
R.S. Rattray, The Tribes of the Ashanti Hinterland, I
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1969), 47.
- 50 -
phenomenon e x i s t s i n Papiamentu i n the numerals > diesun,
diesdos, d i e s t r e s , etc. In an a r t i c l e ( s t i l l i n manuscript
i n 1973) by L. Perraz of the U n i v e r s i t y of Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, on the "African Influences on Principense
Creole" which i s a Portuguese-based creole spoken on the
i s l a n d of P r i n c i p e i n the Gulf of Guinea some f a c t s may
be found which deserve mention i n connection with Papiamentu.
Some of these are quoted here and i l l u s t r a t e d by equivalent
phenomena i n Papiamentu and followed by other comments;
others w i l l be r e f e r r e d to l a t e r i n t h i s chapter as well
as i n Chapter Three.
On page 8 of h i s paper, Perraz states:
Bantu words are t y p i c a l l y consonant-commencing and
vowel-ending, with a C V C V structure, where C
may represent either a single consonant or a con-
sonant c l u s t e r . The structure of Principense words
i s also t y p i c a l l y C V C V, although other phono-
l o g i c a l patterns may occur.
Because of the C V C V pattern of Principense, a
Portuguese i n i t i a l vowel may be deleted when absorbed
i n Principense, as i n :
Ptg entender -^/te'de/ "to understand"
8 " . . . . .
Ptg acucar -/'suke/ "sugar"
One may compare these examples with Papiamentu tende
"to hear" (although i n t h i s case one should r e a l l y speak of
the d e l e t i o n of an o r i g i n a l s y l l a b l e rather than a consonant)
and sucu "sugar", Sp. azucar and Port, acucar. (lap. sucu
means "dark", Sp. and Port, obscuro. In t h i s sense suku
- 51 -
exists also in Guyanese meaning "pitch dark".)"*" Other
examples may be found on page 5
2
below.
The following two quotations are taken from p. 9 of
Ferraz's paper.
A paragogic vowel may be added to a Portuguese word
ending in a consonant, to conform to the Principense
C V C V pattern, as in:
Ptg mal /'mali/ "badly"
Ptg sol -* /U'SDIU/ "sun"
Compare with Pap. malu and solo, with same meanings.
If a final vowel is not added to the end of a Por-
tuguese word ending in a consonant, the final con-
sonant of the Portuguese word may be deleted to
make the Principense word vowel-ending, as in
Ptg as vezes /az 'veze/ /az 'veze/ "sometimes"
" calor /ka'lo/ *heat"
Examples of this phenomenon in Papiamentu are the verbs
ending in -a, -e, and - i instead of -ar, -er, and - i r ;
and the nouns in -do instead of -dor.
An epenthetic vowel may be used to separate the liquid
from the second consonant in the cluster. This process,
however, is seldom used. The following is an example:
Ptg calma -> Pr /'kalima/ "calm" (Ferraz, p. 10).
Compare Papiamentu calacuna from Dutch kalkoen "turkey".
Marguerite Saint-Jacques Fauquenoy, "Guyanese: A French
Creole," in Pidgins and, Creoles: Current Trends and Prospects,
eds. David DeCamp and Ian F. Hancock (Washington* D.C:
Georgetown University Press, 1974), p. 35.
I t i s obvious that the C V G V pattern described by
Perraz also played a r o l e i n the formation of Papiamentu,
f o r instance, i n amarrar> mara "to moor a ship"; arrancar
^ ranca "to p u l l out"; a g u i l l o n > bidn "sharp hook";
apurado \ pura "hurriedly". As f o r "C" representing a con-
sonant c l u s t e r , examples l i k e escuchar > skucha and
espantar \ spanta may i l l u s t r a t e the same phenomenon i n
Papiamentu. The C V G V pattern may explain why so many
Dutch words were taken over i n t h e i r diminutive form, which
end as a r u l e i n a vowel. Exceptions are, f o r instance,
those older and poetic forms as kindekein " l i t t l e c h i l d "
and vogelein " l i t t l e b i r d " . Furthermore, the work of the
seventeenth-century Dutch author Hooft shows an abundance
of nouns with paragogic -.e.
1
The majority of scholars agree that the complicated
pattern of p i t c h i n Papiamentu points to a strong A f r i c a n
influence. I t might be worthwhile to investigate the
Indian languages of the Caribbean i n t h i s regard as w e l l .
The stress pattern follows i n most instances the Spanish
one and i n Dutch-derived words the Dutch r u l e s apply. I t
i s , however, not the intent of t h i s paper to dwell on the
phonology of Papiamentu, which i s a tone language.
In the early stages of what was to become Papiamentu,
the main influence was Portuguese, i n pure or pidgin form.
A. Weijnen, Zeventiende-eeuwse Taal (Zutphien: Thieme,
n.d.), p. 11.
Words l i k e ainda, na, pretu (which could also be old-Spanish)
seem to confirm t h i s . The often quoted porta and porco may-
well be the r e s u l t of what could be c a l l e d the r e v e r s a l of
diphthongization or, as Maduro suggests, may have come from
other Iberian languages or d i a l e c t s . Other important f a c t o r s
are the period i n h i s t o r y during which a c e r t a i n Iberian word
was absorbed into the language and the sound pattern i n the
mother tongue of those who made i t part of t h e i r vocabulary.
Deletion or a d d i t i o n of c e r t a i n phonemes occurred according
to the a b i l i t y of groups of speakers to pronounce sounds or
consonant c l u s t e r s h i t h e r t o unknown to them.
The same can be said of the Dutch vocabulary that found
i t s way into Papiamentu. For instance, Dutch knoflook "gar-
l i c " became konoflo; knijpen "to pinch": k i n i p i ; knikker
"a marble": k i n i k i (Aruba; i n Curacao n i n i c h i or malftu -
from southern Dutch malbel, d i a l e c t a l marmel); rookvls.es
(a p a r t i c u l a r kind of smoked meat): r o k o f l e s . On the other
hand, knollet.je "tuber, turnip" became knolchi and knoops-
gat "buttonhole": knopskat. In other words, there was i n
these l a s t two words no a d d i t i o n of an epenthetic vowel.
I t could be that these words came into the language when
there were no longer newcomers a r r i v i n g from A f r i c a and
the o f f s p r i n g of the e a r l i e r immigrants had adjusted to
the Dutch speech pattern or because, at a c e r t a i n time i n
h i s t o r y , slaves were brought i n from other regions of
A f r i c a than before and, hence,..spoke d i f f e r e n t languages i n
which the C V C V system did not e x i s t . This would
- 54 -
explain why there are i n Papiamentu words ending i n con-
sonants, such as haf, Du. haven "harbour"; vloot " f l e e t " ;
toh, Du. toch "just the same", "anyhow"; t r a n k i l " t r a n q u i l " .
Another explanation f o r the presence of epenthetic
vowels i n Papiamentu may be that the same phenomenon could
occur i n seventeenth-century Dutch words i n which the
l i q u i d s - r - and -1- were grouped with other consonants.
Weijnen l i s t s examples such as e l l i c k f o r elk "each";
errenst f o r ernst "seriousness"; gelas f o r glas "glass";
gerager f o r grager "rather"; geladde f o r gladde "smooth"."'"
Epenthesis i s s t i l l a feature of modern Zeelandic. I t i s
found i n West F r i s i a n as well, f o r instance: e l l e f f o r e l f
"eleven"; twalef f o r twaalf "twelve"; z e l l e f f o r z e l f
" s e l f " ; mellek f o r melk "milk"; kleremaker f o r kleermaker
2
" t a i l o r " . Prom the foregoing one may conclude that i n
Papiamentu there are two possible sources f o r the phenomenon
of epenthesis.
In Dutch f a m i l i e s the black servants would n a t u r a l l y
hear a great deal of Dutch and, no doubt, the Dutch house-
wives would speak i t to them or address them i n a kind of
Spanish, perhaps even Portuguese, mixed with Dutch words,
since they were unfamiliar with Spanish names f o r household
Weijnen, Zeventiende-eeuwse Taal, p. 32.
2
H. Langedigk, He, Is Pat Westfries? (Hoorn: 'West-
F r i e s l a n d ' , 1971),' p. 131.
- 55 -
u t e n s i l s , vegetables, spices, etc. This would explain the
presence of words l i k e panchi, Du. pannetje "pan"; kanika,
Du. kanneke "pitcher"; netumuskat, older and d i a l e c t a l
Dutch neutemuskaat now nootmuskaat "nutmeg"; rdsamarein
(Rosmarinus o f f i c i n a l i s ) , Du. rozemari.jn "rosemary", an
a l t e r a t i o n of "rosmarine"; bonchi, Du. boont.je "bean";
(bonchi) ertu, Du. erwt "pea"; pruimu^/Du.. p,ruimv--"plum";
.ras.ehehi,,Bu.-'rozijntje " r a i s i n " ; nechi, Du. nootje "nut".
A number of professions and trades got t h e i r names f r
Dutch, f o r instance, n o t a r i s "notary p u b l i c " or "lawyer";
mesla or metsla, Du. metselaar "mason"; verfdo, Du. verver
(now more frequently c a l l e d s c h i l d e r ) "painter". I t i s
i n t e r e s t i n g to note here that the word verfdo i s the com-
b i n a t i o n of a Dutch root v e r f - and an Iberian s u f f i x : -dor
The same i s the case with blekero, Du. b l i k s l a g e r " t i n -
smith", formed from the noun b l i k " t i n " plus the Spanish
s u f f i x -ero. Also i n the f i e l d of m i l i t a r y a f f a i r s and
administration a number of words have been accepted from
the Dutch, f o r instance, copra, Du. korporaal "corporal";
sergeant or sershan or serzjant, Du. sergeant "sergeant";
komandant, Du. commandant "commander"; general, Du.
generaal "a general"; matroos, Du. matroos " s a i l o r " ;
marinier, Du. marinier "a marine"; admiral, Du. admiraal
"admiral".
The writers on Papiamentu have t r i e d to show how cer-
t a i n categories of words came from Spanish, c e r t a i n others
from Dutch. A number of word-lists have been compiled i n
accordance with these categories. However, i t i s more cor-
r e c t to state that i n a given category only a general pre-
ponderance of the words proceeds from one l i n g u i s t i c source.
There are a number of exceptions f o r which explanations can-
not always be found. Por example, the names of the months
are taken from Dutch, without any change: Januari, Februari,
Maart, A p r i l , Mei, Juni, J u l i , Augustus, September, October,
November, December, but those of the days, with the exception
of one, from Spanish: Diadomingo, Dialuna, Diamars but
Diarason from Spanish dia plus a corrupted form of Dutch
rantsoen i n i t s older form ransoen because Wednesday was the
day on which the slaves got t h e i r food rations Diahuebes,
Diabiernes, Diasabra. Por the l a t t e r there may have been
an influence of Dutch Zaterdag on Spanish sabado.
Other instances are colours. Black i s pretu (Portu-
guese and older Spanish)} white - blancu, which may just as
well have come from Dutch blank, an older and poetic form of
wit; red - corra ( c f . c o r a l ) ; green - berde, Spa. verde; but
blue i s blau, Du. blauw (Maduro ascribes i t to Catalan blau);
yellow i s geel (or heel) as i n .Dutch; purple i s puus, a cor-
ruption of Dutch paars; pink i s roos, Du. rose; brown i s
b r e i n (with a normal sound change from Du. b r u i n ) . However,
we f i n d also moran, which i s Iberian-derided. I n t e r e s t i n g
expressions are black pretu and black geel, which are "black
shoe p o l i s h " and "yellow shoe p o l i s h " r e s p e c t i v e l y .
The points of the compass are also Dutch: noord, dost,
zuid or seid, west. There are also Papiamentu circum-
l o c u t i o n s f o r them, but not Spanish equivalents.
- 57 -
Another f i e l d where one can f i n d Dutch-derived names as
well as Iberian-derived ones i s that of the parts of the
body, f o r instance, wenkbrauw, Du. wenkbrauw "eyebrow";
kenchi, Du. kin(net,je); l i p , Du. lip-; " l i p " ; scouder, Du.
schouder "shoulder"; h i l c h i , Du. hiei>(t.je) "heel".
One may j u s t i f i a b l y wonder why the Iberian influence
i n Papiamentu was so much greater than the Dutch one.
Usually the Dutch are blamed f o r t h i s phenomenon. They are
said to have been unwilling to teach t h e i r language to the
black servants i n order to keep them at a distance. How-
ever, another consideration i s expressed by Van Wijk as
follows:
Este fenomeno tiene su e x p l i c a c i o n en e l hecho de que
l b s holandeses nunca se han preoc^ipado de d i f u n d i r su
propia lengua, esforzandose a l contrario, por hacerse
con l a de l o s pueblos sometidos. A s i es que en e l
s i g l o XVII l o s eapitanes de l a f l o t a de l a Compafiia de
l a s Indias Occidentales estaban bastante f a m i l i a r i z a d o s
con e l portugues por razdn de su frecuente paso por el
A f r i c a Occidental y e l B r a s i l . l
Another reason could be that the ministers sent out by the
West India Company did not do t h e i r duty to convert the
Africans to the C h r i s t i a n f a i t h . Soon, t h i s task was taken
over by Spanish Roman Catholic p r i e s t s who came at f i r s t
clandestinely, l a t e r with permission, from the mainland and,
n a t u r a l l y , used Spanish i n t h e i r work among the slaves. This
would explain why so many r e l i g i o u s terms are of Spanish
Van Wiik, "Origenes j evolucldn del papiamentu,"
Neophilologus, 42 119587,172.
d e r i v a t i o n where the Roman Catholic church i s concerned
(80$ to 90fo of the population of the Benedenwindse Eilanden
i s Roman C a t h o l i c ) , whereas Dutch-derived words are used i n
connection with the Protestant form of worship: k e r k i , Du.
kerk "church" (the Roman Catholic church b u i l d i n g i s c a l l e d
misa); preekstoel " p u l p i t " ; dommi, Du. dominee "minister";
dop, Du. doop, beside bautismo f o r the Roman Catholic, "bap-
tism". Again, some overlapping takes place here too: i n
both r e l i g i o n s Hemelvaartsdag e x i s t s beside Ascencidn
"Ascension Day". The Lord's Supper i s c a l l e d Nachtmaal,
Du. Avondmaal (Nacht = night; avond = evening; maal =
meal.)
Prom 1776 on, the Spanish p r i e s t s began to be replaced
by Dutch ones i n Curacao. On Aruba i t started i n 1791. By
that time, Papiamentu had already developed and the Dutch
Franciscans used i t i n t h e i r teaching beside Dutch and
Spanish. An i n t e r e s t i n g d e t a i l i s that they had to know
French i n order to be appointed. Naturally, they made, at
times, errors i n Papiamentu, mainly by t h e i r s t r e s s i n g the
wrong s y l l a b l e or using the wrong p i t c h , thus changing the
meaning of what they were t r y i n g to say considerably. As a
r e s u l t , the f a i t h f u l were not always able to suppress t h e i r
laughter and maintain the required solemnity during the
sermons
I am indebted to W.M. Brada f o r t h i s information.
- 59 -
U n t i l 1816, there had been only private teachers and
private schools. In that year, education was o f f i c i a l l y
introduced by the government while the former were allowed
to continue t h e i r task. In 1824, M.J. Niewindt, a p r i e s t ,
founded a Roman Catholic school. Another category of Dutch
words from the f i e l d of i n s t r u c t i o n entered into the l a n -
guage, i n c l u d i n g words such as.skol, Du. school "school";
pen, Du. pen "pen"; ink, Du. inkt "ink"; potlood, Du. pot-
lood " p e n c i l " ; g r i f , Du. g r i f f e l "-slate-pencil"; buki, Du.
boek "book"; s k r i f , Du. s c h r i f t "notebook".
I t i s d i f f i c u l t to determine at what point the black
slaves abandoned t h e i r own languages i n favour of Papiamentu.
I t happened probably i n the l a t t e r part of the eighteenth
century and was, of course, a gradual process. For some
time, there s t i l l existed a language c a l l e d Gene (from
Guinea), a sort of secret A f r i c a n creole language of which
there were even four d i f f e r e n t d i a l e c t s corresponding to the
plantations Lagun, Knip, Portomarl and Savonet. The d i s t r i c t
of Bandariba also had a d i a l e c t of i t s own, though
V. Brenneker (who also signs h i s works at times as Paul
Brenneker or Pader Brenneker) wrote i n 1961 that no one could
speak i t any more and that i t was known only i n a hundred or
so songs and some f i x e d expressions.
1
Other names f o r i t
are geni, lenga d i luango, macamba, masopaso and makwiba.
V. Brenneker, O.P., Curacaoensia (Curacao: Boekhandel
St. Augustinus, 1961), pp. 61-63,.
- 60 -
Gene may also have the meaning of a "gene-speaking slave".
Furthermore, i t may be used to i n d i c a t e > that something has
an ambiguous or i n s i n u a t i n g meaning. Formerly, slaves would
have worksongs i n t h i s Gene, sung on the plantations and at
the s a l t pans. There were d i f f e r e n t songs f o r the various
kinds of work performed.
1
They were often s a t i r i c a l songs
about t h e i r white masters. However, the slaves would even-
t u a l l y sing them without knowing what the words meant.
Brenneker has recorded and studied them, as well as other
Papiamentu songs. Some are completely i n Gene, others only
p a r t i a l l y so. The age of h i s informants ranges from 50 to
90 years. In Sambubu Wo. 2 (1970) he includes a picture of
a baas d i gene, M a r t i l i P i e t e r s , one of the few master
2
singers who are s t i l l able to sing i n the slave language.
Since these informants had no idea of what the words meant,
with few exceptions, one may conclude that they had l o s t
t h e i r meaning i n the l a s t quarter of the nineteenth cen-
tury. This may, well be the r e s u l t of the emancipation of
the slaves i n 1863. Brenneker t e l l s us that the kind of
animals which are mentioned i n the songs point to t h e i r
A f r i c a n o r i g i n , as i n t h i s one about a t i g e r who encounters
a l i o n :
Brenneker, Curaeaoensia, p. 232.
p
Brenneker, Sambubu: Volkskunde van Curacao, Aruba en
Bonaire . 2 (Curacao: Paul Brenneker, 1970), p. 398.
- 61 -
Tjaka main bovi
djama main "bovi
"bovi jetan
tajka contra bovi
anto hou-hou.l
A few words from Gene are kanga "empty, poor"; jecan "sea-
t u r t l e " ; 'ftpcan "Indian"; kambao " i n v a l i d , neglected". Some
f i x e d expressions: Dama s i l w e l a "the sea beats against the
rocks"; S a i t a nora "shut up"; Avu babe "you are l y i n g " .
2
Hartog gives the Papiamentu f o r these three expressions
as laman ta b a t i , keda ketu, and bo ta gana (Curacao,,. p. 158) ,
As i n Dutch, there are words and phrases of Hebrew
o r i g i n i n Papiamentu. Some examples from Emmanuel, History
of the Jews of the Netherlands A n t i l l e s (p. 482) are:
Beshimantob, from the Hebrew Bessiman tob "with good augury",
used f o r someone who has concluded or l i q u i d a t e d a matter i n
a r a d i c a l manner; Beth Haim ta spok, where Beth Haim or. Beth
Hahaim i s cemetery; ta i s the Papiamentu verb f o r "to be",
and spok comes from Dutch spoken "to haunt" or "to walk l i k e
a ghost". The phrase means "the ghosts of the Jewish
cemetery are s t a l k i n g " . This i s said of a hungry person.
Panim beganab, instead of the Hebrew panim shel ganab,
meaning a dishonest face. Hohkma, the Ashkenazi equivalent
of Hohom, r e f e r r i n g to the a i r s of importance a person gives
himself. Kidusin, from the Hebrew kiddushin "marriage",
"wedding r i n g " . There can also be traced an influence of
Brenneker, Sambubu 5,> p. 1033.
Brenneker, Curaeaoensia, p. 63.
the Ladino of the Sephardic Jews of the Balkans. One
example: Su Mala, from Spanish su and the Hebrew ma * a l a
"highness", meaning the Chief Rabbi.
The words of French o r i g i n i n Papiamentu may have come
from d i f f e r e n t sources: through the Huguenots, through con-
t a c t with people from the French Caribbean i s l a n d s or also
from Sint Maarten, which i s h a l f Dutch, h a l f French, and
from the French s e t t l e r s . The most l i k e l y p o s s i b i l i t y i s
that they entered the language v i a Dutch, which has a large
number of French or French-derived words i n i t s l e x i c o n .
Examples are: petitpwas (also known i n Venezuela) from
p e t i t s pois; chandelier; trasher or trashet from etagere;
s h i l e t or z j i l e t from g i i e t "waistcoat". A c o l l o q u i a l
form of address i s Mushe with the name of a person, from
monsieur. This i s also found i n Guyanese."
1
"
As f o r the English-derived words, they are mainly
modern terms, such as tayer " t i r e " ; waya "wire"; brek
"brake"; r i n "ring of the telephone"; rim "rim of a car::..
1
wheel"; f.jus "fuse"; t,jub "tube"; swichi " l i g h t switch";
and zip "zipper". A l l the above are..words connected with
goods imported from the United States. Other words of
E n g l i s h o r i g i n are muf "to move" and chens "chance". The
following are taken from an a r t i c l e by Maduro: berom
"bay-rum"; b u l f a i t " b u l l f i g h t " (a wild dancing party);
Marguerite Saint-Jacques Fauquenoy, "Guyanese," p. 31.
djuboks "juke-box"; hodok "hot dog"; l e s "to l a c e " . Of
e a r l i e r date are the following n a u t i c a l terms: tentu .^turn
p
to"; d j i p " j i b " . Strangely enough, the period of B r i t i s h
r u l e did not leave any traces i n the language. Dutch
remained the o f f i c i a l language during that time and most
government documents had to be translated.
The only word I have noticed that may have come from
the Dutch East Indies i s toko "shop". Naturally, Malay
has words of Portuguese o r i g i n which also f i g u r e i n Papia-
mentu, f o r instance, sepatu "shoe" i s Pap. sapatu; bendera,
Port, bandeira, Pap. bandera. Both these words could well
have entered Papiamentu from Spanish.
The Portuguese who a r r i v e d i n the twentieth century
were gardeners, garbage c o l l e c t o r s and ice-cream s e l l e r s
i n the s t r e e t s , jobs which the native coloured b l u e - c o l l a r
workers do not l i k e to do, p a r t i c u l a r l y not the gardening.
A f t e r more than a century since the emancipation of the
slaves, t h i s kind of work remihds/them s t i l l too much of
the labours of t h e i r ancestors on the plantations. The
presence of these Portuguese immigrants does not seem to
have any influence on modern Papiamentu.
At the same time as Papiamentu became the mother tongue
f o r the slaves, i t started to be the means of communication
Maduro, "Enkele Opmerkingen over Richard Wood's A r t i k e l
over 'The Engl'ish Loanwords i n Papiamentu.,'" Nieuwe West-
Indische Gids '48 (1971), 190-92.
2
These terms were brought to my a t t e n t i o n by A.J. Maduro.
bet ween t he P o r t u g u e s e - s p e a k i n g S e p h a r d i c Jews and t he
D u t c h - s p e a k i n g p a r t of t he p o p u l a t i o n . I n t h e b e g i n n i n g
of t he n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y t he use o f Pa pi a ment u became
wi d e - s p r e a d . Many Du t c h f a m i l i e s p r e f e r r e d t o s peak i t
r a t h e r t h a n Du t c h , a l t h o u g h t h e r e were o b j e c t i o n s t o t h a t
f r o m t hos e who c o n s i d e r e d i t h a r mf u l t o t he c h i l d r e n ' s
i n t e l l i g e n c e , and t o t h e i r s peec h h a b i t s i n D u t c h . Among
t ho s e who h e l d t h i s o p i n i o n were Ger a r dus B a l t h a z a r Bo s c h,
a P r o t e s t a n t mi n i s t e r , who made a s t a t e me n t t o t h a t e f f e c t
-] 2
i n 1815 , and Gov er nor C a n t z ' l a a r , who d i d so i n 1823.
Papi ament o began t o r e p l a c e n o t o n l y Du t c h , but a l s o
P o r t u g u e s e and S p a n i s h . By 1800, one c o u l d no l o n g e r s peak
of any i n f l u e n c e o f P o r t u g u e s e on P a p i a me n t u . The
E n c y c l o p e d i e v an de Ne d e r l a n d s e A n t i l l e n ( p. 464) p l a c e s
t he d i s a p p e a r a n c e of P o r t u g u e s e as t he mot her t ongue of t h e
S e p h a r d i c Jews a t ar ound t he mi d d l e o f t he n i n e t e e n t h c e n -
t u r y . F i r s t , i t was r e p l a c e d p a r t l y by S p a n i s h , l a t e r i n
g e n e r a l by Pa pi a me n t u . U n t i l r e c e n t l y , many c o n t i n u e d t o
c o n s i d e r Pa pi a ment u as an i n f e r i o r l a n g u a g e . However , i t
does n o t meet wi t h t he cont empt t h a t o t h e r C r e o l e l a ng ua g es
have e x p e r i e n c e d a t t i me s .
I n o r d e r t o o b t a i n an i n s i g h t i n t o t he d i f f e r e n t
o p i n i o n s about t he n a t u r e of Pa pi a me n t u as a l ang uag e d u r i n g
Van Wijk, "OrigenesJ" p. 169.
Hartog, Curacao, Eng. ed., p. 298.
- 65 -
the last three centuries, the following statements may be of
interest. In 1704, Michael Alexius Schabel, S.J. made his
often quoted statement that the Negro slaves on Curacao
spoke a "broken Spanish". According to Latour, Schabel, a
Jesuit from Bohemia, knew European languages such as German,
French, Spanish and Polish. He wrote two works in Latin and
had a certain command of Flemish. He was also acquainted
with some Indian languages of Venezuela.
1
Hartog comments:
"Having no Portuguese, he was unable to trace the Portuguese
2
elements in what he heard." However, Maduro feels that
3
Schabel
f
s judgement must have been correct.
The Prefect Agustin de Gaysedo asked in a letter writ-
ten in the year 1732 for more priests, stipulating that they
had to know el idioma del pais. Since he mentions Dutch,
Spanish and Portuguese in the same letter, that phrase must
refer to whatever stage Papiamentu found itself in at that
time.
An ordinance of 1769 was read to freed Negroes "in the
creole tongue of those people".^"
A Father Schinck described the language, in 1786, as
being Spanish with Dutch words in i t and felt that i t could
be learnt in half a year.
x
Latour, "De Taal Papiamento en Haar Oorsprong," p. 3.
2
Hartog, Curacao, p. 157.
Maduro, Papiamentu: Origen i Formacion (Corsou: n.p.,
19.65)*, p. 5.
^Hartog, Curacao, p. 157-
- 66 -
In a report by the co-governor William Garlyle Hughes
of August 18, 1802, Hartog found the first mention of the
language as such by the name PapimentoA few years later,
in 1805> the governor Pierre J. Changuion wrote in a letter
p
about an officer "who understands Papiments".
Father Johannes Stoppel, O.F.M., who arrived in 1816,
mentions that the early Mass was conducted in Papiamentu,
which he calls Papiamentice, the following one, the tussen-
mis "the intermediate Mass" in Spanish, and late Mass in
Dutch. Only in a few Protestant churches were the services
conducted in Papiamentu. In the others they were in Dutch.
This is s t i l l the case in our time.
Mr. A. Jesurun of Curacao declared in 1897, in the first
annual report of the Geschied-, Taal-, Land- en Volkenkundig
Genootschap of Willemstad:
Op het eiland Curacao en de naburige eilanden Bonaire
en Aruba wordt algemeen gebruik gemaakt van een patois
of volkstaal, die oud-Spaans of Portugees tot grondslag
heeft en waarin een niet onaanzienlijk aantal Hollandse
woorden, meestentijds met een zeer gewijzigde uitspraak,
voorkomt.
and:
Le regels der taal zijn weinig. Verschillende vormen om
een zelfde denkbeeld uit te drukken, worden daar niet
aangetroffen. Abstracte denkbeelden mogen met de woorden
Hartog, Curacao, Dutch ed., p. 453; Eng. ed., p. 157.
Hartog, Curacao, Dutch ed., p. 433.
'Hartog, Dutch ed., p. 433; Eng. ed., p. 157.
- 67 -
d i e r v o l k s t a a l n i e t behandeld worden. Het i s slechts een
t a a l voor dagelijks gebruik. Het dient dan ook n i e t voor
l i t t e r a t u u r . t Is n i e t s anders dan een gesproken t a a l ,
die e i g e n l i j k dus geen s p e l l i n g h e e f t . l
N.J. Evertsz says i n the Prdlogo to h i s Compendio de
l a gramatica del papiamento i n 1898:
No es nuestro objects hacer una Gramatica 6 un
D i c c i o n a r i o del papiamento (tarea muy d i f i c i l por
c i e r t o ) sino dar algunas ideas de' e l hasta donde nos
l o permitan nuestros humildes conocimientos, con e l
deseo d e " f a c i l i t a r a l o s Venezolanos, Colombianos,
Dominicanos, etc., que con frecuencia v i s i t a n esta
I s l a , e l aprendizaje de nuestro d i a l e c t o .
En e l papiamento (que se habla en estas i s l a s de
Sotavento) se distiriguen t r e s d i a l e c t o s :
1. e l de l a s personas i n s t r u i d a s en e l castellano,
que se aproxima a l a pronunciacion y l a orto-
g r a f i a espanolas;
2. e l de l o s holandeses, que p a r t i c i p a de l a pro-
nunciacidn y l a o r t o g r a f i a holandesas;
y
3. e l del pueblo, que p a r t i c i p a de estos dos
idiomas, suprimiendo, cambiando 6 combinando
una 6 mas l e t r a s .
Solo nos mueve, a l publicar esta o b r i t a , e l deseo de
s e r v i r en algo a l a s personas que se dignen hacer
uso de e l l a , y de c o n t r i b u i r a l a vez con un grano
de arena a l conocimiento de nuestro pobre idioma . . . .
G.J. Eybers, a Protestant minister, who l i v e d f o r a
long time i n Curacao and Aruba, and under whose' supervision
Quoted by;,.Latour i n "De Taal Papiamentu," pp. 5- 6.
N.J. Evertsz, Compendio de l a gramatica del papiamento,
d sea metodo para aprender a hablarlo y a e s c r i b i r l o en
corto tiempo (Curazao: T i p o g r a f i a Bethencourt, 1898),
Prologo, n. pag.
- 68 -
a number of Aruban l a d i e s translated the whole New Testament
into Papiamentu i n 1916, wrote i n the Amigoe d i Curacao of
October 2, 1915:
Wanneer een Colombiaan of Venezolaan, om van een
Spanjaard n i e t eens te spreken, h i e r komt, dan kan h i j
Papiamentu onmogelijk verstaan, en omgekeerd een
Curacaoenaar, die nooit Spaans geleerd of gehoord
heeft, verstaat eenvoudig geen Spaans. Papiamentu
i s plus minus voor d r i e kwart Spaans, maar i s zozeer
van de hoofdtaal afgeweken, dat hoofdtaal en afwijking
elkander n i e t meer verstaan. Zo i s dus Papiamentu,
hoewel van Spaanse oorsprong, geen d i a l e c t van net
Spaans, maar wel d e g e l i j k een t a a l op z i c h z e l f . In
hoofdzaak z a l het h i e r beweerde wel n i e t t;egengespro-
ken kunnen worden. Een tweede verbreide mening onder
de ontwikkelde of onontwikkelde Benedenwindse e i l a n -
ders i s deze: Papiamentu i s een mengelmoes van a l l e
t a l e n (alweer door hen uitgesproken met een soort
minachting). In de eerste plaats i s het n i e t waar.
In hoofdzaak i s het Spaans. Daarna v r i j sterk de
invloed ondervonden van het Hollands en v e r r i j k t met
Hollandse woorden; verder een stuk of wat Portugese,
Engelse en Pranse en misschien z i j n er nog wel enkele
K a f f e r - of Indiaanse woorden onder.1
and:
Ik z e l f ben h i e r ruim zeven jaar en kan zeggen, dat i k
wel i e t s van Papiamentu afweet en t o t nog toe z i j n er
heel wat terreinen i n Papiamentu, waarop i k n i e t thuis
ben en ook heb i k tot nog toe geen vreemdeling ontmoet,
' t z i j t i e n of twintig jaar of langer i n de.Kolonie,
die het Papiamentu met zuiver accent en vloeiend
spreekt.
I t would seem that Ds. Eybers was the f i r s t to consider
Papiamentu an independent language i n i t s own r i g h t . The
1
Quoted i n Latour, "Le Taal Papiamentu," p. 6; and Maduro.
Origen, p. 6.
2
Latour, "De Taal Papiamentu," p. 7.
- 69 -
term mengelmoes, to which he objects, may also be found i n
a passage from De Regenboogkleuren van Nederlands Taal by
Jac. van Ginneken and J . Endepols. I t reads:
West-Indische mengtaaltjes Vertoonde het Nederlandsch
a l s zelfstandige t a a l weinig expansie-vermogen, van meer
gewicht i s de r o l , die het speelde a l s samenstellend
element van v e r s c h i l l e n d e i n West-Indie heerschende
mengtaaltjes. Merkwaardig i s het mengelmoes van sommige
dezer mengtaaltjes. Er z i j n er, die n i e t u i t twee maar
u i t v i e r of v i j f v e r s c h i l l e n d e t a l e n z i j n ontstaan. Zoo
wordt 1. i n een deel van Nederlandsch Guyana een meng-
t a a l t j e het Djoe-Tongo gesproken, dat ontstaan.. i s u i t
het Portugeesch-Hollandsch van naar West-Indie'getrok-
ken Portugeesch-Amsterdamsche Joden. Y/ij vinden er
2. het Neger-Engelsch (Ningre-Tongo) van slaven en
plantage-bezitters. Nederlandsch, Portugeesch, Joodsch,
Engelsch en Afrikaansche negerdialecten vormen samen de
bestanddeelen van deze talenpoespas. Op Curacao, Aroeba,
enz. wordt 3. het Neger-Spaansch of Papiamentoe gespro-
ken, dat behalve op de reeds genoemde talen, vooral nog
op het Spaansch en een Caraibische inboorlingentaal
berust.1
and further on:
Het Neger-Spaansch. Het Neger-Spaansch of Papiamentoe
( a f g e l e i d van papia = spreken, beteekent: t a a l ) i s een
vermenging van Spaansch, negerdialecten, Portugeesch en
Nederlandsch. Het Spaansch, sterk gecreoliseerd, vormt
het voornaamste bestanddeel van deze mengtaal, ongeveer
90$. De overige 10$ z i j n overwegend Nederlandsche
elementen. Het Nederlandsche deel van het Papiamentoe
bevat honderden woorden en uitdrukkingen, maar ook h i e r
herhaalt z i c h het boven besproken v e r s c h i j n s e l ; het
z i j n meestal lage cultuurwoorden en a l s zoodanig
behoorende tot de meest alledaagsche en g e b r u i k e l i j k e .
Zoo komen er de volgende woorden voor: toch, net, hopi
(hoopje = v e e l ) , oen t i k i ('n t i k j e ) , danki Dios (Go.d
Jac. van Ginneken-^a^rfcLif. Endepols, D'e Regenboogkleuren
van Nederlands Taal (Nijmegen: Malmberg, 1917), p. 237
Cp. 222 i n the 1931 e d i t i o n ) . I t i s noteworthy that the
only difference between the two editions i s that the pejora-
t i v e talenpoespas has been changed to talenmengsel. /poes-
pas = hotchpotch; mengsel = mixture; t a l e n = of languages/
- 70 -
dank), ba(a)s, winkel, skol, stem, keire (kuieren),
flesji, oen koker di pen (een pennekoker), oen rampi
di skeif (een schuifraam) . . . .
Het Papiamentoe maakt dezelfde ontwikkeling door als
het Neger-Engelsch. Ook hier verdringen de Nederland-
sche woorden langzamerhand te Spaansche negerwoorden.
Ook hier geschiedt dit van de steden uit. Merkwaardig
is echter, dat de Spaansche elementen meer weerstand
bieden aan de vernederlandsching dan de Engelsche in
het Neger-Engelsch. De toestand is nog altijd van die
aard, dat een huisvrouw op Curacao op straffe van niet
door haar ondergeschikten verstaan te worden, dit
mengtaaltje moet gebruiken.l
Rodolfo Lenz, considered by many the greatest expert on
Papiamentu calls it "el mejor ejemplo de una lengua criolla
que se ha levantado hasta el nivel de 'una lengua de alta
2
cultura.'"
In his "Observaciones sobre el papiamento," Tomas
Navarro gives an adicion fonetica to Lenz's work. The
following evaluation is taken from i t :
Como se ha visto, no se trata en realidad sino de un
dialecto afroportugues desarrollado en Curacao desde
el siglo XVII bajo la dominacidn holandesa, al que
el contacto con el espanol le ha hecho adquirir
elementos que le han ido enriqueciendo, hispanizahdo
y desacriollando.3
Further quotations would lead to a discussion of the
opinions of modern linguists. They are not included here
because they are mainly concerned with non-Dutch elements
"""Van G-inneken and Endepols, Regenboogkleuren, 1917, p. 238;
1931, pp. 224-25.
2
Rodolfo Lenz, El papiamento: la lengua criolla de
Curazao: la gramatica mas sencilla (.Santiago de Chile:
Universidad, 1926), p^ 33
3 f
Tomas Navarro, "Observaciones sobre el papiamento,"
Nueva Revista de Filologia Hispanica, 7 (1953), 189.
- 71 -
i n Papiamentu. Since H a l l has been r e l i e d upon f o r d e f i n i -
tions, the l a s t quotation i s taken from Pidgin and Creole
Languages, where he states:-
Along the south shore of the Caribbean, to the west
and o f f the coast of Venezuela, are the i s l a n d s of
Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire, where an old-established
Creole named Papiamentu . . . i s spoken. I t i s often
stated that Papiamentu i s an outgrowth of an e a r l i e r
Pidgin Portuguese, but a l l of i t s regular phonetic
and morphological correspondences point rather to a
Spanish o r i g i n . I t may well represent a f u s i o n of
two e a r l i e r pidgins or Creolesone based on Spanish
(which constitutes the dominant element i n present-
day Papiamentu), and one based on Portuguese.
1
R.G. Rb'mer mentioned i n 1958, i n h i s "Geheimen van
het Papiamentu," that i t had been spoken f o r a hundred
and seventy-five years and written f o r a hundred and
p
twenty^five. This would bring the beginnings of the
spoken language to around 1783 and would mean that one
could expectyto f i n d correspondence or printed material
from around 1830 on.
As f o r the written word, i n the l a t e n i n e t e e n - s i x t i e s ,
the discovery of a l e t t e r written i n 1775 "by Abraham de
David da Costs Andrade, J r . , to Sarah de Isaac Pardo y Vaz
Parro, as well as two documents concerning a law s u i t i n
H a l l , Pidgin and Creole Languages, pp.. 17-18.
2
R.G. Romer, "Geheimen van het Papiamentu," i n De Neder-
landse A n t i l l e n i n de A c t u a l i t e i t , ed. J . van de Walle
(Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 1958), pp. 120-29.
- 72 -
1776
1
were of great i n t e r e s t to every scholar concerned
with Papiamentu. Not only did i t push back the date of
the e a r l i e s t known written Papiamentu by f i f t y years, i t
also provided important information concerning the f e a -
tures of Papiamentu at that point i n time. A photograph
of a fragment of the l e t t e r may be found i n Emmanuel,
History of the Jews of the Netherlands A n t i l l e s between
pages 256 and 257. Unfortunately, the l e t t e r i t s e l f d i s -
appeared mysteriously from the archives where i t was kept;
at least, i n 1975 there was no trace of i t . D e t a i l s of the
l e g a l case i n which Abraham de Andrade and Sarah Parro were
p
involved may also be found i n Emmanuel.
A word-list of Papiamentu seems to have been composed
5
i n 1790 , but no copies appear to be extant.
As f a r as i s known, the oldest printed text was the
catechism published i n 1825 or 1826 by Mgr. M.J. Niewindt,
V i c a r Apostolic of Curacao: Declaracion C o r t i c u d i Catecismo
pa Uso di C a t o l i c a di_ Curacao. This may have been l o s t
Maduro, Bon Papiamentu ( i un Appendix interesante)
(Korsou, 1971), pp. 55-57; Wood, "New Light on the Origins
of Papiamentu: An Eighteenth-Century L e t t e r , " Neophilologus,
7 (1972), 21-28; Prank Martinus, B i b l i o g r a f i e van het
Papiamentu (Curacao-Amsterdam, 1966-72)7 pp. xix-xx; and
German de Granda, " E l r e p e r t o r i o l i n g u i s t i c o de l o s sefar-
d i t a s de Curasao durante l o s s i g l o s XVII y XVIII y e l
problema del origen del papiamento," Romance Philology,
28 ( 1974) , 1-16.
2
Emmanue1, History of the Jews of the Netherlands
A n t i l l e s , pp. 271-75.
3
Pather Brada provided me with t h i s information during a
conversation.
- 73 -
during the fire in Curacao in May 1969. If this is so,
then the Catecismo Corticu pa Uso di Catoliconan of 1837,
also by Mgr. Niewindt, would be the oldest existing cate-
chism in Papiamentu.
1
Manuel Alvarez Nazario of the University of Puerto Sico
has drawn attention to a Papiamentu song, composed in 1830
by an anonymous author for the festivities in connection
with the celebration in Puerto Rico of the marriage, con-
tracted in 1829, of Ferdinand VII, King of Spain and the
Indies, to Maria Christina de Bourbon, Princess of Sicily,
p
and of the birth of their daughter, the future Isabel II.
Since 1766, immigrants from Curacao white, mulattoes,
blacks, freed slaves, who came for economic reasons
had been settling in Puerto Rico. In the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, slaves had been brought from
Curacao to Puerto Rico.^
Papiamentu translations of the Gospels according to
St. Matthew and St. Mark were published in 1844 and 1865
respectively.
Martinus, Bibliografie, pp. vi and 56.
%anuel Alvarez Nazario, "Un texto literarib del papia-
mento documentado en Puerto Rico en 1830," mimeographed,
n.d., p. 6; and "El papiamento: Ojeada a su pasado his-
tdrico y vision de su problematica del presente," mimeo-
graphed, n.d., pp. 3-r4-
Alvarez Nazario, "El papiamento," p. 3.
Alvarez Nazario, "Un texto literario," p. 2.
- 74 -
J . J . Putman, a Roman.
:
Catholic p r i e s t , published, with
h i s s i s t e r , the Meditashon arieba Soefrimeentoe d i Noos
Senjoor Hesoe Kriestoe; P a r t i e r na H i s t o r i a , Exemplo i
Orashon. The t i t l e page continues:
pa J . J . Putman, Pastoor; i soe roeman, Joanna Adr.
Putman, fundadora d i skool pa moetsja moeheer pober
na s t . Rosa:.'. Imprimier na s t . Roaa. 1853.
The following passages may serve to i l l u s t r a t e the
orthography used i n the middle of the nineteenth century.
Sienjameentoe a d i l a n t i .
Meditameentoe di pasjon i moorto d i noos salbadoor
ta oen debosjon d i mas koestoemaar bau d i bon k r i s -
tiaan; eel mesteer ta i eel poor ta tambe oen d i mas
saloedabel debosjon, i koe toer ees eel ta pa moetsij-oe
he:ehde d i poko p r o b e t s j i (p. 111).
And on page 3:
Hesoes noos exemplo.
1. Hesoes ta deen h o f f i d i Getsemani oen exemplo
pa noos. E e l a jega deen d i mas t e r i e b e l ansja.
i l o noos kieer anto, k i toer seemper toer d i s -
goestoe, toer ansja i miedoelo ta aleeuw foor d i
noos?
2. Deen soe ansja d i mas grandi Hesoes tabata reza.
Pakiko anto noos ta bisa: mi ta moetsjoe ansjaar -
mi no poor reza?" Hoestameentoe deen momeentoe d i
ansja, orasjon ta noos oenikoe joedanza, ta'hoesta-
meentoe ees ora, k i noos t i e n d i mesteer d i mas
tantoe d i klama na Dioos.
Por those who know Dutch the s p e l l i n g used may not be
too much of a hindrance. I t shows how p r i e s t s and mis-
sionaries t r i e d to represent the sounds of Papiamentu
according to Dutch orthography. H a l l c a l l s t h i s
- 75 -
"ethnophonemic". I t also shows us a great deal about the
way i n which Papiamentu was pronounced i n Putman's time.
Some bibliographies r e f e r to a Nederlandsch-
Papiamentsch-Spaansch Woordenboekje by P.H.J.A. van Ewijk,
dated 1875. A word-list with t h i s t i t l e , published i n
Curasao, but printed i n Arnhem, The Netherlands, i s at my
d i s p o s a l . I t does not bear an author's name. The foreword
i s i n Dutch and i t i s signed "H. Mei 1875". There would
seem to be no doubt that t h i s i s the one by Van Ewijk. I t
provides an excellent i n s i g h t into the nature of Papiamentu
as a "mixed" language.
In 1885, a Woordenlijst en Zamenspraak i n de Nederland-
sche en Curacaosche l a n d s t a a l door N./Lista d i Palabranan
i Kombersasjoon na Leenga Oelandees i Papiamentoe pa N.,
G-edrukt en te v e r k r i j g e n b i j C . J . & A. W. Neuman Fz.,
Curasao 1885, was published. Like other p u b l i c a t i o n s of
that nature i t l i s t s words according to subject, nouns and
numbers. Then there are f i v e pages with adverbs, adjectives,
prepositions, and four-and-a-half pages with verbs, and then
more nouns. The word-list i s f o r t y - t h r e e pages long, the
Zamenspraak ("dialogues") part, i n r e a l i t y phrases, t h i r t y -
eight pages.
Evertsz divides h i s Compendio de l a gramatica del papia-
mento d sea metodo para aprender a hablarlo y a e s c r i b i r l o
en corto tiempo (1898) into three parts. In the f i r s t he
deals with the alphabet, s p e l l i n g , pronunciation, stress,
grammar and a l i s t of verbs which i n Papiamentu d i f f e r s l i g h t l y
- 76 -
or completely from the Spanish equivalent. The second part
i s devoted to a Spanish-Papiamentu vocabulary according to
subject (also one headed Miscelanea). He marks Papiamentu
words which are the same as i n Spanish, and the ones of
Dutch o r i g i n i n two d i s t i n c t ways. I t i s d i f f i c u l t to say
whether he was biased i n favour of Dutch or whether
Papiamentu has changed since, but the a s t e r i s k s marking
Dutch words are very numerous indeed, so that the figure of
10/o f o r the proportion of Dutch elements i n Papiamentu given
by Van G-inneken i n 1917 and 1931 and by others doe.s:hot seem
to be accurate.
The l a s t t i t l e of the nineteenth century at my d i s -
posal i s also the l a s t one to be included here. It i s the
Gramatica corticoe d i Idioma Papiamentoe by Alfredo P.
Sintiago, published i n 1898 i n Curacao and printed by
Bethencourt. It i s written i n Papiamentu. In h i s preface
he says:
Mi no ta kere mi un autoridad, pues mi ta pfrece es
Gramatica corticoe d i idioma Papiamentoe pa loke e.
ta, deseando pa'pago d i mi trabao, koe l e haja un
bon acohida. cerca toer hende.
Pronto es boeki aki l o mira luz na hoelandes i span?.-
j o l , a f i n koe PAPIAMENTOE por ta extendi na toer
camina.
Many catechisms and other r e l i g i o u s publications were
put out i n the nineteenth century as well, but were not
accessible during the preparation of t h i s study.
- 77 -
Three i n t e r e s t i n g points may be i n f e r r e d from the
information given i n the foregoing pages. In the f i r s t
place, the clergy has played an important r o l e i n the
propagation of Papiamentu; secondly, with one exception,
the books were published i n Curacao i t s e l f ; and t h i r d l y ,
the number of books on Papiamgntu b e l i e s the frequently
repeated statement that there was or i s a l a c k of i n t e r e s t
i n i t .
The p r i n t i n g of books also reveals the presence of a
p r i n t i n g press. The Emmanuels report that:
Although nothing i n the old archives of Curacao or
i n the inventories of decedents' estates (of C h r i s -
tians and Jews a l i k e ) d e f i n i t e l y says so, there must
have been a p r i n t i n g shop on the i s l a n d i n the second
h a l f of the 18th century. The inventory of the estate
of Jeosuah Guidon Mendes (d. 1797) l i s t e d among other
belongings "a small p r i n t i n g press". The Scotsman
William Lee i n s t a l l e d a p r i n t i n g shop i n Curacao i n
1812. During the second h a l f of the 19th century
a number of p r i n t i n g houses burgeoned. . . .1
Hartog claims that before 1812 government communications
had to be duplicated by hand or to be sent abroad f o r
2
p r i n t i n g , usually to New York. He mentions f u r t h e r that
Niewindt saw to i t that the V i c a r i a t e had two p r i n t i n g
o f f i c e s at i t s disposal, one i n Barber, established i n 1843,
another one at Santa Rosa, i n 1848. Putman brought a
p r i n t i n g press for the l a t t e r and also a p r i n t e r . Between
Emmanue1, History of the Jews of the Netherlands A n t i l l e s ,
p. 464.
2
Hartog, Curacao, Eng. ed., p. 227.
- 78 -
1850 and 1901, the mission published seventy-two t i t l e s :
grammars, school texts and church books.
In 1867, Agustln Bethencourt, a poet of Isleho descent,
who l i v e d on Curacao from 1860 to 1885, founded the
Publishing and P r i n t i n g Company A. Bethencourt e H i j o s ,
where works of authors and composers (he was an amateur
musician himself) of Curacao and surrounding countries
were p r i n t e d .
A great number of newspapers, weeklies and l i t e r a r y
p e r i o d i c a l s somein Papiamentu, others i n Spanish or
Dutch, some b i l i n g u a l also came into being during the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some had a short l i f e ,
others s t i l l e x i s t .
The s p e l l i n g of Papiamentu has been and s t i l l remains
a thorny question. For almost a century, there have been
attempts to a r r i v e at a uniform system. Studies have been
made, by i n d i v i d u a l s as well as committees formed f o r that
purpose, and commissions have been given to scholars i n the
f i e l d . They have come f o r t h with extensive documents con-
t a i n i n g worthwhile proposals. Newspapers and p e r i o d i c a l s
have published arguments f o r and against those proposals.
However, by August 1977, no decision had been made. C l e a r l y ,
a whole chapter could be devoted to t h i s subject. S u f f i c e
i t to say that the lack of an o f f i c i a l s p e l l i n g f o r
Papiamentu i s a serious handicap. In t h i s paper quotations
from Papiamentu sources appear i n the s p e l l i n g used by the
respective writers. In the next chapter no attempt w i l l be
made to regularize the orthography. In f a c t , an author
may change h i s s p e l l i n g from one work to another or even
from one part of an anthology to another. Moreover, i t
may happen that a word i s spelled i n various ways within
one composition.
So f a r , t h i s study has dealt with the h i s t o r y of
Papiamentu and the impact which the various contributing
elements have had on i t . The next chapter w i l l be con-
cerned with i t s present form and the extent to which the
Dutch language i s represented i n i t .
- 80 -
CHAPTER THREE
THE DUTCH ELEMENT IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY PAPIAMENTU
The influence of the Dutch language on Papiamentu has
v a r i e d over the centuries. The extent to which Dutch was
spoken at d i f f e r e n t periods depended on the number of
people of Dutch descent on the i s l a n d s and upon t h e i r
status. I t was replaced by Papiamentu i n the f a m i l i e s of
a lower l e v e l of education already i n the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
1
Among the senior c i v i l servants and
t h e i r f a m i l i e s Dutch was maintained u n t i l the F i r s t World
War, although the women would speak Papiamentu with the
servants. At that time, the number of native speakers of
Dutch who came to the A n t i l l e s increased considerably.
Their Dutch must have been d i f f e r e n t from that which was
current on the i s l a n d s , since a language spoken i n geo-
g r a p h i c a l l y separated areas i n v a r i a b l y develops l o c a l
p e c u l i a r i t i e s . Perhaps the new a r r i v a l s harboured a cer-
t a i n sense of s u p e r i o r i t y about t h e i r language. In any
case, at that time most of the Dutch speaking people born
on the Benedenwindse Eilanden began to use Papiamentu as
t h e i r main language, p o s s i b l y to set themselves apart from
the new-comers.
This information i s taken from the -Enby.^
de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n , pp. 405-406, 441-442; and. Hartog,
Curacao, Eng. ed., pp. 305-306.
- 81 -
A f t e r the Second World War, the influence of Dutch
grew stronger because of the ever-increasing governmental
involvement i n the a f f a i r s of the i s l a n d s , the greater
attention given to the educational system and the large
number of A n t i l l i a n students who went to The Netherlands
f o r t h e i r u n i v e r s i t y or other post-secondary education and
returned to the i s l a n d s afterwards. Many of them had
married Dutch women whom they brought back with them. This
i s s t i l l the case today.
I t i s a d i f f i c u l t task to determine p r e c i s e l y the
extent of the Dutch element i n Papiamentu. The influence
of the Dutch language on the l a n d s t a a l covers several
areas: l e x i c o n , grammar and syntax. I t i s also present i n
Papiamentu phonology, but, except i n s p e c i a l instances,
t h i s w i l l not be discussed i n t h i s study.
During the e a r l i e s t stages of research on the present
study i n 1969, i t became c l e a r through reading Papiamentu
texts that there are a great number of caiques on Dutch i n
the language. That aspect of Dutch influence had long been
neglected. This opinion was shared by Van Wijk, who wrote
i n 1958:
Sin duda por desconocimiento del neerlandes l o s
eruditos extranjeros descuidan con exceso l o s
abundantes calcos neerlandeses semanticos en
vocablos y expresiones curazolenas.^
Van Wijk, "Origenes y .Ivolucion del papiamentu," p. 178.
- 82 . -
More recently, Wood has dealt with the subject of syntactic
caiques in his Ph.D. thesis, s t i l l listed as unpublished in
1971, but made available through an authorized facsimile
in 1973.
1
His conclusions are confirmed by many of my own
findings.
Jespersen defines a .caique as a "translation loan word"
and describes words of that nature as "modelled more or less
closely on foreign ones, though consisting of native speech-
2
material". In other words, a caique is a word or phrase
which came into a language by translating the component
parts directly. Sometimes, that involves a literal trans-
lation, at others, the transfer of a meaning. The word
"sky-scraper" is a good example. In Spanish i t became
rascacielos, in French gratte-ciel, through a literal trans-
lation, but in Dutch wolkenkrabber "cloud-scraper" the
meaning was transferred. The same applies to German
Wolkenkratzer. Rumanian has zgirie-nori from zgiria "to
scratch, scrape" and nori "clouds".
However, caiques do not consist of borrowing of words
only. They may involve sentence structure. In that case
"loan translation" is one of the term used. A significant
number of the Papiamentu caiques on Dutch are of this kind.
In this study, no distinction will be made between the
two applications of the term "caique". Only this term will
be used rather than "loan translation" or "loan word".
Wood, "Papiamentu :Dutch Contributions."
- 83 -
The reason f o r t h i s i s that the word "loan" or "borrowing"
conveys the meaning of a temporary state of a f f a i r s ,
whereas the words and expressions which come into a language
by t h i s process of adoption remain i n i t .
Dutch influence on Papiamentu may be divided into the
following categories:
A. Words adopted from standard Dutch.
Examples:
belasting taxes (also belaster, see
under B.)
bleek pale
b r i l glasses (also b r e l , see
under B.)
Chines Chinese
dokter doctor
dozijn dozen
duim (as measurement) an inch
f l u i t (also spelled f l e i t ) a f l u t e or to whistle
geel yellow
geheel adv. t o t a l l y
However, Du. geheel, adj.,
"complete" i s (h)enter.
glas glass
(un) gros (a) gross
gulden ( c f . f l o r i n ) g u i l d e r
(pronounced heeldu)
- 84 -
stem
voice
Words adopted from d i a l e c t a l , non-standard or e a r l i e r
forms of Dutch.
Example s
Papiamentu
belaster
b l a c h i
b r e l
dashi
d i k i
dipchi
hap
pelushi
s e l i g a
stonkene
Dutch
b e l a s t i n g
blaadje
b r i l
das(je)
dik
duhbeltj e
c o l l . : dupje
gapen
v i t t e r i g
E n g l i s h
taxes (See also under A,
p. 83}
l e a f o_r page
glasses (See also under A,
p. 83.)
t i e
f a t
dime
to jawn
n i t - p i c k i n g , nagging,
fussy
Pelushi must have, come, with a change of
meaning, from Du. plij.is.ie " b i t of f l u f f " ,
pluusje; d i a l . G-roningen: ploes, with
metathesis: p e l u s h i . The Papiamentu
adjective also means "jealous" and "envious
1
The verb i s pelusha "to f i n d f a u l t " , "carp
at", "nag".
z e i l g a r e n yarn to r e p a i r s a i l s
stommeknecht -_a_ hat-and-eoat stand
i . e . kapstok l i t . a mute v a l e t
- 85 -
tayd t e l l o o r
Zeeland d i a l . <
Fr. t a i l l o i r
"chopping board"
a plate f o r food
G. Words with Dutch or Romance etymologies,
Example s:
bote Du. boot
palco
p a r t i
t r i s t u
cur a
Du. balcon
Du. part
Du. t r i e s t ( e )
Du. k r a a l
Sp. bote
Sp. baleon
Sp. parte
Sp. t r i s t e
Sp. c o r r a l
Port, c u r r a l
boat
bal c ony
part
sad
k r a a l or c o r r a l =
grounds, yard
Jan de Vries writes under k r a a l 2 . . . .
'veekraal, inboorlingendorp, ouder-nl. koraal <
port, c u r r a l , c o r r a l ^ And: 'inboorlingen-
2
dorp', vroeger koraal < portug. c u r r a l . I t
must have come into Dutch from Afrikaans, which
has words from Portuguese. The s p e l l i n g "kraal"
i n E n g l i s h shows that i t came i n t o the language
v i a South A f r i c a , as the Oxford d i c t i o n a r y says
"adoption from Colonial Dutch, adoption from
Portuguese U.
Jan de V r i e s , Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek
(Leiden:
?
B r i l l , 1971), p. 355.
2
De V r i e s , Etymologisch Woordenboek: Waar Komen Onze
Woorden Vandaa'n? (Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 1971), p. 121.
- 86 -
famla Du. f a m i l i e , but o l d - Pr. f a m i l l e r e l a t i v e s
fashioned pronunciation
/ f a ' m i j a /
shofer Du. chauffeur Sp. chofer chauffeur
D. Words adopted from another language v i a Dutch.
Examples:
b i f s t i k Du. biefstuk from Eng. beefsteak
canope Du. canape from Pr. canape (17th century)^
or: I t . canape 4 mlat. canopeum ^
canape l a t . conopeaum < G-r. ko"nopeion
"sofa".
d j e l e i Du. g e l e i from Pr. gelee, possibly also
also: from Port, gelea " j e l l y " ,
z j i l e i ,
z j i l e a
djem Du. jam from Eng. jam.
enfin Du. enfin, sometimes a f i j n from Pr. e n f i n
" i n short".
potmoni Du. portemonnaie from Pr. portemonnaie
"purse".
- 87 -
E. Words b'r.--;B!to aji&yI-berjfan' elements-.
1
Example s:
barika-gel
or; barika heel
esei ke meen
un of otro
traha smid
scarsedad
boda d i coper
jagmentu
s u i k e r d i e f j e from Sp. barriga " b e l l y "
and Du. geel "yellow"; name of the
mocking b i r d .
Sp. eso quiere d e c i r and Du. verb
menen (root meen), here i n the sense
of betekenen "to mean".
of i s Du. f o r or. It occurs i n
Papiamentu only before a vowel.
Before a consonant i t i s o_.
traha from Sp. trabajar "to work" .
and Du. smid "smith": "to forge".
Du. schaars "scarce" plus Sp.
s u f f i x -dad.
Du. koperen b r u i l o f t , l i t . "copper
wedding anniversary" from Sp. bo|la
"wedding" and Du. koper "copper".
Du. jacht "hunt from Du. verb .jagen
(root: jaag) "to hunt" plus Spanish
s u f f i x -mento.
These are words or phrases which are a combination of a
Dutch root or word with an Iberian s u f f i x , or words whose
component parts are taken from Dutch and an Iberian
language.
stoeimentu
- 88 -
"horseplay" from Du. verb stoeien "to
romp" plus Sp. s u f f i x -mento.
verloofmentu Du. v e r l o v i n g "engagement to be married"
from Du. root v e r l o o f plus Sp. s u f f i x
-mento.
subi f l i Du. een v l i e g e r oplaten "to f l y a k i t e "
from Du. v l i e g e r plus Sp. subir
blekero Du. b l i k s l a g e r "tinsmith" from Du. b l i k
(M.N. b l i c or blec) plus Sp. s u f f i x -ero.
verfdd Du. verver "painter" from Du. root verf
plus Sp. s u f f i x -dor (with apocopation of
the - r > -do).
In t h i s category would also f a l l the verbs with a
Dutch root and Spanish verb ending -ar (with apocopation
of the - r ) , f o r instance, bora, Du. boren "to d r i l l " ;
f e r f e l a , Du. vervelen "to bore"; f u l a Du. voelen "to
f e e l " ; fura, Du. voeren "to l i n e clothes" (Sp. f o r r a r ) ;
l e s a , Du. lezen "to read"; raporta, Du. rapporteren "to
report"; sara, Du. sarren "to pester"; spoela, Du. spoe-
l e n "to r i n s e " ; s t r i c a , Du. s t r i j k e n ( d i a l , strieken)
"to i r o n " . I t should be mentioned here that i n most
parts of The Netherlands the f i n a l -n of the verb ending
i s not pronounced. Another explanation f o r the ending -a
could, therefore, be that the remaining /'9 / ending
became -a i n Papiamentu. Sometimes a Dutch-derived verb
- 89 -
ends i n -u, e.g. fangu, Du. vangen "to catch"; ferdwalu,
Du. verdwalen "to lose one's way"; f l e k t u , Du. vlechten
"to braid"; l e k t u , Du. l i c h t e n "to l i f t " .
Noteworthy i n the verb-group are the past p a r t i c i p l e s
i n Dutch-derived verbs, e.g. gebukt, Du. gebukt "bent
over"; gebuk, Du. geboekt "booked"; gedruk, Du. gedrukt
"printed"; gehap, Du. gegaapt "yawned"; gemors, Du.
gemorst " s p i l l e d " ; gezaag, Du. gezaagd "sawn". I t i s
i n t e r e s t i n g that the verb dal "to beat" a l s o forms i t s
past p a r t i c i p l e i n t h i s fashion: gedal or hedal. This
may be due to the f a c t that i t endslin a consonant,
r e s u l t i n g , no doubt, from the apocope of the f i n a l -e_
of the imperative dale pegas (golpas), and, thus, g i v i n g
i t the appearance of a Dutch verb form.
In many cases there i s redundancy. For instance:
sapatu d i voetbalschoen Du. voetbalschoen (heard i n a
record by E l i s Juliana) "soccer
shoe" or " f o o t b a l l shoe".
luna ta volmaan Du. Het i s vollemaan. "It i s f u l l
moon." Both luna and maan mean
"moon".
Bio sunu i s an i n t e r e s t i n g example. Bio = Du. bloot =
"naked"; sunu from Sp. desnudo = "naked". Bio sunu i s
"stark-naked". In other words, the i n t e n s i t y i s not
represented here by r e d u p l i c a t i o n (sunupsunu or blor-blo),
- 90 -
but by elements from two composing languages i n which they
have the same meaning.
Although they w i l l not be assigned to a separate cate-
gory, mention may be made of some words which have changed
meaning. A few .examples: l a f , which i n Dutch means
"cowardly" (persons) or " i n s i p i d " (food), has i n Papiamentu
the meaning of " d u l l " , Du. saai; Du. pret i s a noun: "fun",
whereas Pap. pret i s an adjective: "witty", Du. geestig;
Du. kr i,jt i s "chalk" (for w r i t i n g ) ; i n Papiamentu i t i s
used f o r that same substance, but also f o r " p l a s t e r " , Du.
p l e i s t e r or gips.
Caiques.
Examples:
mita d i diez
tur dos
Du. h a l f - t i e n , l i t . "half ten", "half past
nine". Sp. l a s nueva y media, which found
i t s way into Aruban nueve i mei.
Du. a l l e b e i , l i t . " a l l both".., "both"
Sp. l o s dos or ambps.
fuera d i esei Du. bovendien or buitendien, l i t . "above or
outside of that", "besides".
tres ana pasa Du. d r i e .jaar geleden, l i t . "three years
past!^, "three years ago", Sp. hace tres anos
trabou f o r s a Du. dwangarbeid "hard (forced) labour",
whereas Spanish has p l u r a l : trabajos f o r -
zosos or forzados.
The examples cited above are taken from vocabularies
and word-lists compiled up to 1953, and serve only to
illustrate general tendencies. In order to obtain a more
precise picture of the extent of Dutch influence in modern
Papiamentu, a prose work by a prominent author will be
analyzed. The results of this analysis will be divided
into categories similar to those already indicated above.
Prom the works at my disposal Ora Solo Baha, a collection
of children's stories by Pierre Antoine Lauffer, was chosen,
since i t seemed to be the most suitable for the purpose of
this study.
1
The eleven stories in the collection were
written between 1964 and 1968; some of them are based on
the folklore of Curacao.
The translation of the title is When the Sun Goes
Down. It is the time when parents or grandparents for
that matter tell their children or grandchildren stories.
As a Dutch title Schemeruurtje ( l i t . "twilight-hour") would
reflect precisely the atmosphere which Lauffer describes in
his introduction.
Pierre Antoine Lauffer was born in Curacao in 1920.
He was a student at the St. Thomas College (Praters van
Tilburg), where great ..attention was paid to the writing
of compositions concerning works of well-known Dutch
Pierre Lauffer, Ora Solo Baha (Corsou: Libreria Salas,
1968).
- 92 -
authors, in which task Lauffer excelled. After his school
years, he was in business and also held various positions
with governmental agencies, including the Ministry of
Education, until 1970, when he became a teacher of English
and subsequently of Papiamentu.
Lauffer has published collections of poetry, including
Patria, Kumbu, and Kantika pa Bientu, for which the Cultureel
Centrum awarded him the Pri.js pa Literatura. Furthermore,
he has written short stories, such as M.japa, Raspa, and
Lagrima i Sonrisa. Besides Ora Sola Baha,. for which he
obtained the Cola Debrot Pri.js in 1969, he has written other
children's stories: Un Dia Tabatin, and Mangusa. Lauffer is
the author of a great number, of text-books which are used
in the local schools, and he has contributed to the literary
periodical "Kristof". In 1975, he received the STICUSA
Prijs voor Litteratuur and in 1976, a special committee
paid him homage for his accomplishments in the fields of
literature and music, for Lauffer is also a composer, among
other things of tumbas, waltzes and danzas.
- 93 -
In the analysis, the context of the words l i s t e d i s
indicated by g i v i n g the t i t l e , page and l i n e number of
each story. The abbreviations are as follows:
Introduction I n t r .
Mushe Raton M.R.
Bas P i p i ku e barika-hel B.P.
Awa d i wowo na labizhan Awa
Masu Boro Masu
Ngano ku Mali Ng.
Peperin, D j o d j i i Shi Bitwel Pep.
D o l f i
Do.
Chiku i su kabai Chi.
Klof d i Shinshon Klof
Nati a bula bai Nati
Manuel i Menatao MM
- 94 -
Dutch Elements i n the Papiamentu of Qra Solo Baha
Words adopted from standard Dutch.
1
Examples:
Papiamentu Dutch
M.R. 5.27 row, also
spelled
rouw
M.R. 7.25
B.P. 9-
t i t l e
rouw
stem
Bas
stem
Baas
B.P. 9.3 ?mashin", d i trapnaaimachine
B.P. 10.15
Awa 13.9
p i a
s t u l
b l a r
Awa
:
13.14 lamoengras
s t o e l
hlaar; he_rej,
.plur. blaren
both lamoen and
gras are Dutch
words, but
lamoengras i s
not
E n g l i s h
mourning
voice
boss
sewing machine
with traedle
c h a i r
b l i s t e r
lamoen "carriage
pole"; gras
" gra s s*
4
; lamoen-
gras i s a plant
Masu 17.4
dak dak roof
Attention must be drawn to the f a c t that Du. -aa- /a:/
i n closed s y l l a b l e s may be found represented i n Papiamentu
"by -a- or -aa-; Du. -ee- /e:/ i n closed s y l l a b l e s by -e_-
or -ee-; Du. -oo-/o:/""by -- or -oo-.
Masu 18.3 Pa Cheli
Masu 18.14
Om Dani
Masu 19.27 flur
Pep. 25.22 owel
Pep. 26.21 dam
Pep.
26.29
un remedi
3-0.- 32.7
wilnan;
plur. of
wil
Pap. i =
A /
Do. 32.7 muzik
Do. 33.4 glas
Do. 33.6 mest
Do. 33.14 smak
Do. 37.13 stap
Pa l i t . father, but
here used as a
form of address
Oom a form of ad-
dress; l i t .
uncle; cf.
Sp. tio
vloer floor
oh, wel oh, well
dam dam
een remedie; now remedy
more fig.;
usual: genees-
middel
w-iel : wheel
muziek
glas
mest
smak
stap
music
glass (for
drinking)
manure
taste
step
Do. 37.20 presis precies precisely,
exactly
Do. 38.13
vakansi(nan) vacantie(s) holidays
Chi. 39.24
stal
stal stable
Chi. 41.10 tas tas
briefcase
Chi. 41.18 los
los maken to loosen
Du. los is anc.
ajd., here used
as a verb.
Chi. 41.26 Klaas Klaas boy's name:
Claus
Chi. 41.28 bog(nan) boog (bogen) arch(es)
Klof title Klof Kloof
Cave
Klof 49.5
auto auto
car
Klof 49.6 glas
glas, but here (car) window
with the older
meaning of
raamp ,i e
Klof 49.16
Indjan(nan) Indianen Indians
Klof 49.31
men menen, root: meen, to mean
but here modern Du.
would be betekenen
Klof 50.27
tent tent tent
Klof 50.28 hagel hagel small shot
Klof 52.25
net e
net op het moment
at the very
momentu
moment
- 97 -
Klof 53.12 nort Noord (pronounced: North; here:
Noort) or Noorden; adj. nor-
here: adj. =
thern
noordelijk
Klof 53.14
oost Oost or Oosten East
Klof 53.14 west West or Westen West
Klof
53.29
meter meter a meter
Klof
55.31
kap
kappen to cut (wood
or tree)
Klof 55.32 graf graf
a grave
Nati 58.30 blow (also blauw (Maduro: blue
spelled also Galician
blau /or
blao and Catalan
blauw) blau)
MM 61.1 dek dek a deck
MM 61.15
matroo s matroo s a sailor,
seaman
MM 62.4
anker anker an anchor
MM, 62.10 mangel popular form of almond
amandel
In West Frisian a mangelt
f
je is a kind of
candy (zuur tje). This exists also in
Papiamentu.
MM 65.3/4 smal smal narrow
MM 67.* 5
plat plat flat
- 98 -
MM 68.13 l a t l a a t l a t e
.MM 71.33 slap slap lax, limp
B. Wordsadopted from d i a l e c t a l , non-standard or e a r l i e r forms
of Dutch.
1
Examples;
I n t r . d j i s j u i s t just
l i n e 1
The most prevalent opinion i s that i t came from .
Eng. " j u s t " . However, people of mixed parentage
i n the Dutch East Indies used to pronounce j u i s t
as d j u i s t or d j u i s . Wood s p e l l s i t with y_:
/yf'yst/ and /y<wst/.
I n t r . hopi hoopje, dim, of many, very
l i n e 2
hoop l i t . "a heap of"
Hopi i s often;'
;
reg.arded as the most frequently
used word of Dutch o r i g i n . Dutch hoop i n > ; t hr s
sense i s "a heap of", hoopje "a small heap of".
Een hele hoop "very many", Pap. masha hopi.
The Dutch diminutive does not n e c e s s a r i l y denote small
s i z e . It i s often used i n an endearing capacity. Maatje
or moedertje does not mean a l i t t l e mother hut a dear
mother. Maatje gave Pap. Machi, sometimes used f o r "grand-
mother" .
Words i n t h i s category may have been taken over without
change i n the period when they entered the language, e.g.
under d i a l e c t a l influence of because of the form which they
had i n the Dutch of the time.
- 99 -
There are several reasons why Dutch words entered
Papiamentu i n t h e i r diminutive form. In the f i r s t place,
there i s a wide-spread use of the .dim-inuj7iye.^in ;the_Butbh
language. The s u f f i x i s b a s i c a l l y - j e , but epenthetic
vowels or consonants or vowels plus consonants are added
according to the f i n a l l e t t e r of the word i n question. In
West F r i s i a n the diminutive ending - i e , with or without
epenthetic consonant, occurs very f r e q u e n t l y .
1
In other
parts of The Netherlands the ending - i e may be heard i n
c o l l o q u i a l speech, but only i f the diminutive i s formed
by - j e .
A second reason f o r the a d d i t i o n of - i _ may well be the
presence of the C V C V system. Besides, most of the
words l i s t e d by Latour as taken from an Indian language end
i n a vowel, and among these the ones i n - i are in.:the
majority. Then:,, the unstressed Portuguese e_, pronounced
/ i / , i s also present i n Papiamentu: d i l a n t i . I t should,
f u r t h e r , be kept i n mind that the l a r g e s t proportion of
Spanish words end i n a vowel and that Aragonese and Leonese
seem to favour an ending i n unstressed - . i , rare i n G a s t i l i a n .
Dutch used to have a great number of words with a f i n a l
vowel, i n casa -e_, already i n the seventeenth century, but
i n many t h i s -e_ has been l o s t .
^-Langedijk, He, Is Dat Westffies?, p. 130.
- 100 -
I n t r . stupi stoepje front-door step;
l i n e 3
i n Pap.: porch at
the back or f r o n t
of the house
I n t r . kura k r a a l or koraal c o r r a l (for c a t t l e )
l i n e 4
Whether the Portuguese took the word over from the
Dutch i n A f r i c a or whether the Dutch took i t from
Portuguese i s d i f f i c u l t to determine. See p. 85.
I n t r . ma maar but (Sp. mas)
l i n e 9
Since there has been a tendency to drop the f i n a l
-t ( c f . the Papiamentu verbs and the noun-suffix
-do) rather than the -s, i t seems j u s t i f i e d to
take Dutch as the source language f o r ma. Maduro
writes:
E 'r' f i n a l . . . no ta un konsonante ku nos
pueblo ta gusta^pronunsia. A l kontrario, nos
ta s i n t i mas bien repugnansia p ' e . l
Pero i s also used. A quick count shows about an
equally divided number of occurrences i n Ora Solo
Baha. However, although ma and pero are used side
by side, i n some of the s t o r i e s ma i s more pre-
valent, i n others pero.
'Maduro, Bon Papiamentu, p. 51.
- 101 -
M.R. 5.3 dams dame; p l u r a l ; lady-
dames
In Papiamentu dams i s singular and p l u r a l ,
although under c e r t a i n conditions i t takes the
p l u r a l ending -nan. This i s a case where a
Papiamentu word has been taken from a Dutch
p l u r a l , no doubt because i t i s mostly used i n
that number.
M.R. 5.4 krenchi krentje l i t . " l i t t l e cur-
rant", meaning
a small portion,
"a l i t t l e b i t "
Both Maduro and Wood give as etymon greint.je
1
,
which i s the diminutive of grein, c f . French
grain " p e l l e t " . Greintje i s used mainly i n the
negative geen g r e i n t j e with the noun i n apposi-
t i o n i n order to express "not even $he smallest
amount of", "not a grain of", "not a f r a c t i o n of",
"not one t i t t l e " . In krentje there i s the same
idea of something very small. The Dutch word
krent, l i k e E n g l i s h currant, i s a corruption of
Corinth, where the early Dutch traders went to
Maduro, Ensayo, p. 80; Wood, "Papiamentu," p. 151.
- 102 -
get t h e i r wares. I t s old form was karent, i n
which form i t s t i l l exists i n Papiamentu.
1
M.R. 5.10 s k e i r u schuieren to "brush, to sweep
The sk sound i s d i a l e c t a l i n Zealandic and West
F r i s i a n , which are of p a r t i c u l a r i n t e r e s t f o r
t h i s study, but i s also heard i n regional speech
i n other parts of The Netherlands. In Zealandic
the diphthong ui_ i s s t i l l pronounced e i .
M.R. 5.11 baki bakje ( c o l l . : a cup, small or
bakkie) large bowl
M.R. 5.11 h o f i hofje l i t t l e garden
Hof i s an obsolescent and l i t e r a r y word f o r
garden.
M.R. 5.18 plaka plak money
The words pifyacke, plecke, plac were already used
i n Middelnederlands "Middle Dutch", henceforth
referred to as M.N. Among other things, a plac
was a coin of copper, s i l v e r or gold. The older
generation of West F r i s i a n s i s s t i l l f a m i l i a r
with the name 'n plak f o r a two-and-a-half cents
p
piece. The -a ending i n Papiamentu plaka may
have been influenced by Spanish p l a t a " s i l v e r "
'"Wood, on d e r i v i n g krenchi from greint je, states that
t h i s i s the only case where gr> kr.
2
Langedijk, He, Is Dat Westfries? p. 35.
- 103 -
or, at l e a s t , have been r e i n f o r c e d by i t , but
could well be a version of plaeke, c f . the
Dutch-derived verbs i n -a, such as f u l a and
s t r i k a . Plaka i s an important concept i n the
Benedenwindse Eilanden. Amounts of money are
expressed i n i t , f o r example: diez placa i s
"a quarter"."''
M.R. 5.20 d r e i draaien to turn
Mvl. 5.22 kurashi courage, pronounced: courage
/ku ra :j? a/ cj? /ku
1
ra :^ i /
M.R. 5.25 Mushe Raton a k i n i p i e dams un wowo.
Mushe Raton gaf de dame een knipoogje.
Mushe Raton winked an eye at the lady.
M.R. 6.1 pikete, pikt. . term used i n
f encing
M.R.. 6.3 frepostu v r i j p o s t i g impudent
(-ig = /dx/)
M.R. 6.12 angel engel /'iljal/ angel (Sp. angel)
Since i t i s often spelled anguel, the sound thus
represented may i n d i c a t e Dutch o r i g i n .
M.R. 6.22 kuki koekje cookie (also
from Dutch)
Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n , p. 391.
- 104 -
M.R. 6.25/26 In these two l i n e s one f i n d s :
Mesora mi ta drenta e sosiedad d i mal h a l t u .
Mi ta b i r a persona d i a l t a kategoria.
Not only i s the s p e l l i n g of the adjective
d i f f e r e n t , i t i s also noteworthy that i n the
second instance use i s made of the Spanish
feminine form i n -a. Papiamentu adjectives
do not show the d i s t i n c t i o n between masculine
and feminine. Only i n some cases have the
forms i n -a become standardized f o r both
genders, f o r example: bunita " b e a u t i f u l " ;
coqueta "coquettish", marga " b i t t e r " .
M.R. 6.27 damsnan dames
;
' l a d i e s
(See also p. 101.)
M.R. 7.13 razu razend furious
M.R. 7.32 sunchi zoentje a k i s s (dim.)
Du. zoentje i s a noun; Pap. sunchi i s used
both as a noun and a verb. The Dutch verb i s
zoenen "to k i s s " , which i s meant here.
B.P. 9.1 snejru obs.: s n i j d e r t a i l o r
Note -u where Du. has /a/ + a nasal or
l i q u i d , f or e-xaffljple: ,t&e~Xabove raz.u; f l e k t u ,
Du. viechten "to b r a i d " ; wordu, Du. worden
"to become, to be"; mespu,, Du. mispel
"medlar".
- 105 -
B.P. 9.4 wak waken to watch
The use of wak f o r "to see" i s becoming more
frequent i n modern Papiamentu. However, the
Papiamentu f o r "to see" i s mira, Sp. mirar "to
look, watch" or weta from Am. Span, agiieitar
and d i a l e c t a l Spanish guaitar. Maduro d i s -
approves of t h i s use of wak.
B.P. 9.13 k l a k l a a r ready
Another case where the - r has been deleted. In
other instances k l a = Du. klaar i n the sense of
duideli.jk "clear", Sp. c l a r o . Also k l a = klaar
" l i g h t " i n the sense of l i g h t - c o l o u r e d .
B.P. 9.14 bachi baadje or kind of jacket
baatje or baaitje
B.P. 9.21 tamarein tamarinde tamarind
Sp. tamarindo. This name came o r i g i n a l l y from
Arabic tamr hind!-, Indian date .
1
B.P. 9.22 laga
Although t h i s verb i s derived from Iberian
l a r g a r
t
there has been, no doubt, the influence
of Dutch l a t e n "to l e t , to leave". Further d i s -
cussion of t h i s w i l l follow under s y n t a c t i c
calques,
f
pp. 215-217.
De V r i e s , Nederlands Etymologisch YJoordenboek, p. 721.
- 106 -
B.P. 9.23 d i k i dik f a t , t h i c k ;
The - i _ can he explained only by the G V G V
preference, the influence from languages other
than Dutch or an analogy with the diminutives,
since dik i s an adjective and no diminutives are
formed i n Dutch on a d j e c t i v e s .
B.P. 9.28 b r e l b r i l glasses
B.P. 9.28 nanishi neusje nose (dim.)
Maduro: from Sp. p l u r a l narices. I f t h i s i s so,
then .j;t was possibly reinforced by Du. neusje.
B.P. 10.4 wardami wacht op mij wait f o r me
or me
Sp. aguardar, but reinforced by wachten.
B.P. 10.5 un t i k i een t i k j e or a l i t t l e b i t
een t i k k e l t j e
c o l l . een t i k k i e
(See also under caiques.)
B.P. 10.7 'tajo o_r .> tel-ropr , . i ..... plate or--dish
tajd f o r food
This word i s s t i l l i n use i n Zeeland. I t existed
already i n M.N. (+ 1200 to + 1500) as t a e l j o o r
and d i f f e r e n t other s p e l l i n g s , denoting l ) a
dish, above a l l serving f o r the c u t t i n g of meat;
2) a cut. Prom French t a i l l o i r " c u t t i n g board",'
a derivation, of . t a i l l e r ; Ir.. TAilARE "t
:
split-, -
- 107 -
to cut". In other regions of The Netherlands
i t i s t e l l e r with emphasis on the f i r s t s y l -
l a b l e . T e l l o o r i s stressed on the l a s t one.
B.P. 10.11 pik pikken to pick
B.P. 10.15 l e n leunen to lean
B.P. 10.16 un doshi d i een l u c i f e r s d o o s j e a match-box
lusafe
Dutch distinguishes between een l u c i f e r ( s ) -
doos.je, which i s the container
i
> and een
doosje l u e i f e r s , which i s "a box of matches".
Papiamentu does not seem to make that d i s t i n c -
t i o n . In t h i s text Papiamentu has di_, the
equivalent of E n g l i s h "of" and Sp. de,
whereas i n Dutch the two nouns are i n apposi-
t i o n . The word f o r "match" on Bonaire i s fofo
from Sp. fdsforo, and on Aruba swafu from Dutch
zwavel "sulphur".
B.P. 10.29 danki
B.P. 11-.-1
B.P. 11.4
dank ij e or
dank U or dank
neshi . nest je
t
/< ,r\-
. . . mi ta gusta mi p l e i z i .
thank you or:
4
thanks.
_ n-es\.(
!
dim:.'-')--,'
. . . dat doet me p l e i z i e r .
. . . that gives me pleiasure.
Another case of the d e l e t i o n of - r . I t i s
i n t e r e s t i n g to note the use of gusta as a
personal verb with mi as subject, whereas
- 108 -
Spanish gustar i s an impersonal verb with me
as i n d i r e c t object. Noteworthy too i s the
tautology of the Spanish gustar and Dutch
p l e i z i e r "pleasure".
B.P. 11.16 k&fi k o f f i e coffee
B.P. 11.18 pik bek (with which a beak
b i r d picks Du.
root: p i k and
taps. No doubt
influenced by
Sp. pico.
B.P. 11.26 kusinchi kussentje pillow, cushion
Wood f e e l s that the word comes d i r e c t l y from
French coussin, since the stress f a l l s on the
second s y l l a b l e . As was seen i n t e l l o o r and
t e l l e r , stress may change. Moreover, kussen
already existed i n M.N., also with the s p e l l i n g
cussi.jn, which would i n d i c a t e that the l a s t
s y l l a b l e was stressed, and cussin, diminutive
cussenkijn. This i s noteworthy i n connection
with what Maduro writes i n Ensayo (p. 64):
"cushinki, cusinchi coxim (port., pron. coshin);
cojxn (sp.) kussen(tje) ( u l . ) " . In other words:
cushinki must be r e l a t e d to cussenkijn.
- 109 -
B.P. 12.6 kamber kamer room,
M.N. camere bedroom
L. CAMERA and
CAMARA
Old Spanish i s camera, modern Spanish camara,
i n other words, the i n t e r t o n i c L a t i n vowel was
not lo;st, so that i n Spanish the normal develop-
ment of m' r ) mbr ( c f . HOMINEM hombre, Pap.
homber) did not take place. However, Maduro
(Ensayo, p. 87) l i s t s besides "kamer ( u l . ) " also
"(cambra, gay. ant. /J5l& G a l i c i a n / ) " . The same
phenomenon takes place i n Du. emmer > Pap. ember
" p a i l , bucket", probably by analogy with kamber.
The opposite took place i n PLUMBUM") Sp. plomo.
B.P. 12.13 bora
B.P. 12.14 k l a
B.P. 12.17 kashi
Awa 13.17 katuna
geboord,, past
part-.. of boren
klaar
.kast j e
katoen
d r i l l e d
ready
chest of drawers
cotton or cotton-
wool. I t i s
also a shrub.
katunbom = kapok "kapok"
The equivalent i n Dutch of the expression baha
na katuna i s het hazenpad kiezen, l i t . "to
choose the hare's path" or: zi.jn h i e l e n l i c h t e n
"to take to one's heels". Baha na katuna must
- 110 -
r e f l e c t the f a c t that an animal hides himself
under the shrubs.
Awa 13.28 trupa troep f l o c k
Awa 13.28 rondona to surround
I t would seem that t h i s verb i s based on the
Dutch p r e p o s i t i o n rondom "around". The verb to
express rondona would be omringen, l i t . 'to put
a r i n g ( c i r c l e ) around something", Sp. rodear.
Awa 13.29 beheit commotion
Although t h i s word would point at a d e r i v a t i o n
from a Dutch word, I could not f i n d a s a t i s -
factory explanation f o r i t . P o s s i b i l i t i e s were:
laweit "noise, r i o t by workmen", now more common:
lawaai "noise"; h e i b e l "a brawl, uproar" from
Hebrew hewel "vanity"; hejbei, which i n the
northern Netherlands means "a fussy, snappish
woman", i n the southern Netherlands " f u s s "
1
,
now haaiebaai "an aggressive woman". Then, I
found i n Langedljk (p. 28): zo'n beheeftig
vent,je "such a fidgety, nervous fellow". Since
i n seventeenth-century Dutch ee_ at times became
e i (Weijnen, p. 30) and hi.j h e i t i s low-standard
f o r hi.j heeft "he has", the West F r i s i a n
beheeftig may be a p l a u s i b l e etymon f o r beheit.
1
N. van Wijk, Franck's Etymologisch Woordenboek der
Nederlandsche Taal (
1
s-Gravenhage: Martinus N i j h o f f , 1912 ;'
r p t . 1949), p. 240. De V r i e s , Nederlands Etymologisch
Woordenboek, p. 244, gives "coarse, quarrelsome woman".
- I l l -
The ee>ei_ change could also have taken place i n
the M.N. beheeten "to threaten with something".
Furthermore, behept met " a f f l i c t e d with" was
f e l t to have a connection with hebben "to have"
(De Vries) and could be the etymon of beheit,
as could h e f t i g "turbulent, boisterous" with the
p r e f i x -be. S t i l l another p o s s i b i l i t y and
perhaps the most p l a u s i b l e one - - i s the
adjective heet "hot", i n Old North Frankish h e i t .
In other words, beheit would be "a heated
debate".
Awa 13.31 warda d i p o l i s politiewachtpost p o l i c e station
p o l i t i e pronoun-
ced: ,/pc-"Mlsi/
Awa 14.5 hinca hinken to limp, hop
play at hop-
scotch
Normally hinca means "to put i n , to put under",
from Sp. hincar "to thrust, drive, plant".
I t appears i n t h i s sense i n Awa 14.2: E l a
hinka e dos webunan bow d i su brasa "He stuck
the two eggs under h i s arm". "To hop" i s
Papiamentu coha from Sp. cojear.
Awa 14.25 wak waken, u i t k i j k e n to look
here: k i j k e n
Masu 15.7 skol school school
- 112 -
Masu 15.9 Tur mainta e mama mester a l a n t a masha trempan.
Iederen morgen moest de moeder heel vroeg
opstaan.
Every morning, the mother had to get up very
early.
Spanish haber menester; Portuguese: mister.
Change of word c l a s s , which i s one of the
phenomena of creole languages, but also
influenced by Dutch mo est(en), past tense of
moeten "must".
Masu 15.10 famia f a m i l i e , o r i g . family
pronounced
/fa'mijs/
Wood l i s t s f o r f a m i l i e : f a m i l i and contrasts i t
with /famia/ "family; family, surname"."'" For
"surname, family" he l i s t s also "fam Du.
van, prep., "of, from!. Unusual development
prep.^> noun." However, i n Dutch van i s i n t h i s
context considered to be a noun: Wat (Hoe) i s
z i j n van? "What i s h i s l a s t name?" This must
stem from the f a c t that so many Dutch names
s t a r t with van, i n d i c a t i n g o r i g i n , which was
i t s e l f the r e s u l t of the Napoleonic decree that
everyone should have a l a s t name.
"Wood, ^Papiamentu," p. 117.
"Wood, p. 116.
- 113 -
Masu 15.15 un "bleki d i buscuchi
, een b i s c u i t b l i k j e
a b i s c u i t t i n
Buscuchi could be "from Dutch biscuit,]e "cookie"
o r
"beschuit je "Dutch rusk". In M.N. beschuit
occurred i n the following forms; bischoo.t,
bischuut, bischot, b i s c o t , bischuyt, buscuut.
Cf. also Sp. bizcocho.
Masu 15.29 popchi d i botter
poppetjes van f l e s s e n gemaakt
d o l l s made out of b o t t l e s
An obsolete word f o r f l e s was b o t t e l .
Masu 15.31 merdia middag or afternoon, noon,
's middags at noon
Although derived from Sp. mediodia, the - r - may
be by analogy with Dutch middernacht "midnight".
Cf.. Diasabra, Sp. sabado with possible influence
of Du. Zaterdag.
Masu 16.'; 12 skref schreef l i n e drawn with
p e n c i l or chalk,
l i m i t ; here:
s l i t
Masu 16.33 "bio bloot only
Dutch bloo.t has d i f f e r e n t meanings: adj. bloot
"uncovered, naked"; as. adj. and adv. "simple,
simply; sole, s o l e l y " .
- 114 -
Masu 17.11 skorpidn schorpioen scorpion
Although the z o o l o g i c a l term i n Spanish i s
escorpidn, the usual name i s alacran.
Masu 17.22 welek weerlicht l i g h t n i n g
Masu 17.31 mesla metselaar mason
Masu 18.3 l u r loeren to peer, spy
Masu 18.30 awa a skuma het water schuimde the water was
foaming
Masu 18.31 sak zakken to sink
Masu 19.13 keshi kaasje cheese (dim.)
Although the d i a l e c t a l form kees f o r kaas i s
very wide-spread, Sp. queso and Port, .cjueijo
may have reinforced the /e/.
Masu 19.15 wairu waaier a fan
Maduro i n d i c a t e s that wairu i s popular language,
whereas waaier i s used by cultured speakers of
Papiamentu. Waya i s the verb "to fan oneself".
(Ensayo, p. 130.)
Masu 19.25 s t r o i s t o s t r o o i s t e r t j e f l o w e r - g i r l at
a wedding
Cf. strooien "to -strew".
Ng. 1 2 0 . 5
krikinan krekels
Du. krekel i s onomatopeic.
a l s o .
c r i c k e t s
Pip. k r i k i probably
- 115 -
Ng. 21.4 manera s a l d i n c h i
a l s sardientjes ( i n een b l i k j e )
l i k e sardines ( i n a t i n )
Note the confusion of the l i q u i d s - r - and -1-.
This phenomenon takes place i n other languages
also, c f . Sp. p l a t i c a from L a t i n PRACTICAM.
1
Ng. 21.4
stiwa
stuwen to stow
Ng.
21.8 haf
haven a harbour
Ng. 21.9
k l a klaar ( i n the clearly-
sense of
d u i d e l i j k )
Ng. 21.10
Sorsaka Zuurzak l i t , sour
This i s the
name of a p l a n t a t i o n i n Curasao
l a i d out before 1725. Sorsaca i s a plant,
Anona muricata or sour-sop, zuurzak. d u l t i v a t e d
on the Benedenwindse Eilanden, wild and c u l t i v a -
ted on the Bovenwindse Eilanden. The name of
the f r u i t zuurzak i s a folk-etymological corrup-
t i o n of Tamil s i r u - s a k k e i .
Ng. 22.5 plenchi p l e i n t j e a square (dim.)
Ng. 22.4 hadrei gaanderij or a g a l l e r y ,
g a l e r i j verandah
Pap. hadrei i s now "'aroom i n a house, the l i v i n g
room.!
1
,. Galeri.j comes from Pr. g a l e r i e , I t .
' - gaT-leifia^ - 'Be" VMe s*.
:
tr a c e s ;--i t as - far'.? baVk a s
"'"Robert K. Spaulding, How Spanish Grew (Berkeley:
U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a Press, 1967), p. 96.
- 116 -
G a l i l e a .
1
G-aelderie, with an epenthetic -d-
between a l i q u i d and -er-, existed already i n
M.N., galdery i n the seventeenth century.
G-aanderi j i s a folk-etymological form of
g a l e r i j , influenced by the verb gaan "to go".
Ng. 22.20 koki kok (masc.) a cook
kokkin (fern.)
In the Dutch East Indies the cook was c a l l e d
kokkie a l s o .
Ng. 22.25 jonkuman
Ng. 23.4 span
Ng.. 23.5 huki
Pep. 25.21 wal
Pep. 26.8 k e i r u
j onkman, j ongman,
jongeman
spannen, here:
opensperren or
inspannen
hoekje
walgen
a young man
to open wide o_r
to s t r a i n
a corner (dim.)
to become
nauseated
to walk, s t r o l l
kuieren; i n Zea-
landic e i 3 u i i s
normal
Pep. 26.32 Su plumanan ta hole masha s t i n k i
Z i j n veren stinken v e r s c h r i k k e l i j k .
His feathers are t e r r i b l y smelly.
An i n t e r e s t i n g combination of hole, Sp. oler and
stinki.,: .ad j . and adv., from Du. verb stinken.
De V r i e s , Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek, p. 181.
- 117 -
Pep. 26.34 gom d i palu gom (and not: gum, r e s i n
houtlijm! ) or
hars
Palu means tree, wood, pole.
Pep. 26.34 (maron) k l a klaar; here: l i g h t - c o l o u r e d ;
l i c h t van kleur, here: l i g h t
i n casu: l i c h t - brown
bruin
Pep. 27.17 un klompi grandi d i gom
een grote klomp gom
a big chunk of r e s i n
Pep. 27.32 pa e ankra su kurpa
om z i c h te verankeren
to anchor himself
Pep. 28.4 sara gesard; past part, pestered
of sarren
Pep. 28.5 un bon sota d i bulpes (also spelled bolpees
or bolpes)
een goede slag met de bullepees
a firm lash with the b u l l whip
Pep. 28.6 s l a slaag (noun of a beating
slaan); pak
slaag
Pep. 28.8 rondo prep., rondom around
Pep. 28.10 dobbel
Pep. 28.19 kowchi
or;
kouchi
- 118 -
double
cage, p a r t i -
c u l a r l y f o r
b i r d s . Also
chicken run,
which i s the
case here.
short f o r
Adolphus
carriage,
cart
a l l e y , street,
narrow s t r e e t
threshold,
d o o r s i l l
Thank you very
much. o_r
Well, thank
you.
Do. 29.23 tantan tante aunt
In Papiamentu i t does not n e c e s s a r i l y show blood
r e l a t i o n s h i p . Gf. Sp. t i a Mar-a.
Do. t i t l e D o l f i
Do. 29.14 garoshi
Do. 29.. 15 hanchi
Do. 29.17 drempi
dubbel; c o l l . and
d i a l . : dobbel
kooitje;. regional:
kouwtje;
M.N. couwe;
kowchi d i ga-
l i n j a =
kippenren
Dolf or Dolph
or D o l f j e
karosje (kar or
wagen)
gangetje
drempel
Do. 29.22 Bon danki. Wel bedankt. or
Goed, dank U.
Do. 29.23 Mena
Mina, abbrev. of
Wilhelmina
g i r l
1
s name
- 119 -
Do. 29.24 bio here: slechts only
Bio t o f e r ku su galinjanan.
Ze prutst a l l e e n maar (slechts) met haar kippen.
A l l she does i s occupy h e r s e l f (fuss with) her
hens.
Do. 29.24 t o f e r
Do. 29.28 un t i k i
t r i s t u
Do. 29.30 rankanan
(plur.)
Do. 29.31 pampuna
(Cucurbita
pepo)
Do. 29.32 baki
l i t . toveren
een t i k j e t r i e s t
here: with adj.
ranken (plur.)
pompoen
l i t . to prac-
t i s e magic
a l i t t l e sad
s t a l k s
squash, pump-
k i n
c i s t e r n
Do. 30.5 seldu or
selder
Do. 30.11 kanika
celery
small jug, j a r
bak (here not a
diminutive)
s e l d e r i j or
s e l d e r i e
kanneke, now:
kannetje
-ke i s another s u f f i x f o r the diminutive. I t
occurs mainly i n d i a l e c t s , but i s extensively
used i n Flemish. I t may be preceded by epen-
t h e t i c l e t t e r s where necessary f o r ease of
pronunciation.
Do. 30.15 boshinan
(plur.)
bosjes bunches
- 120 -
Do. 30.19 lesa lezen to read
Do. 30.28 Pero Pa Chein a wak un chens. Here: wak =
Du. afwachten. Translation: However, father
(no relationship) Chein was waiting for a
chance. Sp. would be esperar
Do. 31.31 mespu mispel medlar
(fruit)
Do. 31.32 garashi garage garage
Do. 32.2 banki bankje seat, bench
Do. 32.5 ajo ajo good-bye,
farewell
Though from adios, i t may have come into
Papiamentu from Malay-Portuguese via Dutch
(Dutch East Indies).
Do. 32.6 klap klappen, laten to crack (a
klappen whip)
Do. 32.6 zjwip ^sicj zweep whip
also spel- M.N. swiep
led shwiep
Other M.N. forms were: swepe, zwepe, sweep,
swiepe, suepe. Du. verb: zwiepen, "to swish, to
lash".
Do. 32.6 blachi blaadje leaf of a plant
- 121 -
Do. 32.16 r a l raar odd, strange,
also: r a r rare, unwell
and raar
The -1 may well be under influence of Iberian
r a l o , which came, with interchange of the two
l i q u i d s -1- and - r - from L. RARUM. Another
p o s s i b i l i t y i s that i t i s a case of d i s s i m i l a -
t i o n .
Do. 32.21 pushi poesje pussy, cat
Do. 32.28 papa pap mush
Do. 32.30 flektunan vlechten braids
Do. 32.30 zoja or " . zwaaien to swing, sway,
zoya turn
Some comment i s c a l l e d f o r with regard to the
etymon zwaaien for. z d j a . The context i s : Tantan
Mena su dos flektunan tabata zoja bai b i n i . . .
"Aunt Mena's two braids were swaying back and
f o r t h . " Maduro mentions i n Procedencia, I I , 56,
that Latour thought at f i r s t that the o r i g i n was
to be found i n Du. zwaaien, but that, sub-
sequently, he changed h i s mind. Unfortunately,
no i n d i c a t i o n i s given concerning the l o c a t i o n of
Latour's statement or about h i s l a t e r opinion as
to the o r i g i n of zoya. Maduro himself gives
Sp. a r r u l l a r "to l u l l " , claiming that the
Spanish - r r - i s responsible f o r the z of zoya.
- 122 -
Jansen lists in his Nederlands Papiaments
Handwoordenboek: "zwaaien - zwaai, bira"; and in
his Papiaments Mederlands Handwoordenboek:
"zo ja - wiegen, schommelen". Maduro states
further that the Dutch zwaaien does not have the
meaning of "making a child sleep, lulling a child
to sleep". Dutch says een kindje wiegen, that is,
"to rock in one's arms". Jansen gives for wiegen;
Pap. wieg, zoja. Schommelen =. to rock. It is
noteworthy that a schommelstoel (schommel = swing;
stoel = chair) "rocking chair" is stoel di zo.ja
in Curacao. In Aruba, where we find more Spanish-
derived words, i t is stoel di rabu l i t . "a chair
with a t a i l " . "Suja, suja, kindje" is found in a
Dutch lullaby.
Do. 33.2 lampi lamp lamp
Do. 33.22 prikichinan parkietjes parakeets
Prikichinan is the plural of prikichi, which came
with metathesis from Du. parkietje.
Do. 33.29 fula voelen to feel
Do. 34.3 rek rekken to stretch
Here: El a rek su kurpa "He stretched his body",
that is, "he stretched himself". Papiamentu has
no reflexive pronoun. It uses either the per-
sonal pronoun or su kurpa. For more on the
reflexive see pp., 185-189.
- 123 -
Do. 34.7 minit (pop.) minuut
minuut ( c u l t . )
Do. 34.16 "Bon. Papia
numa."
minute (time)
Could be from " A l r i g h t . Speak
Dutch: "Goed. up then."
Praat nu maar."
Do. 35.5
wak
Do. 35.7 skop bala
Do. 35.11 konenchi
Do. 35.15 f l e k t u
waken, but here: to watch
k i j k e n naar
de bal schoppen to k i c k the b a l l
k o n i j n t j e ( s ) r a b b i t ( s ) (dim.)
Do. 35.22 plenchi
vlechten ( t h i s
time the
verb)
p l e i n t j e
Do. 35.25 l a g a d i s h i
to p l a i t ,
weave
a square; here:
an open space
i n the woods
l i z a r d (dim.)
hagedisje
Maduro derives i t from Sp. l a g a r t i j a "wall
l i z a r d " ; Port, l a g a r t i x a (x = /^/) (Ensayo,
p. 90). De Y r i e s (Nederlands Etymologisch
Woordenboek, p. 231) i s not c e r t a i n about the
etymology of Dutch hagedis. I t i s a West Ger-
manic word and i t may be, folk-etymology that
has l e d to a connection with haag "hedge". M.N.
was egedisse, egetisse, eggedisse, beside
hagetisse, which meant " l i z a r d " as well as
"witch", "hag" (Du. heks). Wood thinks of a
mixed form from hagedisje and Sp. l a g a r t i j a .
He also gives the a l t e r n a t i v e form r a g a d i s i .
- 124 -
S t i l l another possibility is that lagadishi'
originated from el hagedisje, in other words,
from the combination of the article and the
noun, as is the case in lareina (although one
may also find reina) "queen", laria "air",
lama-n- "sea".
Do. 36.7 stropi
Do. 36.17 masashi
stroopje
massage, pro-
nounced with
syrup, treacle
here: honey
massage
Sp. masa.je
Do. 36.20 kalbas
' 3 '
kalebas
pumpkin, squash,
gourd
The ultimate origin of the word is uncertain.
It is found in Dutch since the sixteenth
century, from Pr. calebasse, which came into
French from Sp. calabaza in the sixteenth
century."
1
' It seems most likely that kalbas
came into Papiamentu via Dutch.
Do. 36.30 kishiki onomatope to tickle
The Dutch sav~kiesh-kiesh when tickling a child.
The verb is kietelen".
-'"Albert Dauzat, Dictionnaire etymologique de la languor
francaise (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1938j, p. 129*
- 125 -
Do. 37.8 . kinipi this time; knijpen to pinch,
to knip
Do. 38.6 sen cent(en) cent or
or or money
cen geld
Chi. 39.3 spula spoelen to rinse
Chi. 39.4 tranke di datu is a phrase which should not go
unnoticed. The Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse
Antillen lists "trankeer, omheining . . . van
cactuszuilen, waarmee erven en tuinen of akkers
worden afgezet", .in other words, "a fence formed
by a row of cactus plants". The word must be
derived from Sp. tranquera "palisade". In com-
mercial documents,: wM t i en
:
:..-in .Du,t.ch, sent from
Curacpao to Holland around the year 1700, -the' ..;
words trankeer and trankeeringe are found. The
latter is particularly interesting, since i t
would represent a Spanish word with a Dutch suf-
fix.
Chi. 39.7 konchi kommetje a small bowl
or komchi
Chi. 39.8 un pida suku di klenku
Note di and compare with line 26/27: un pida suku
klenku Por absence of di see section on caiques,
p. 227.
suku is suiker "sugar"; klenku, Du. klinker
- 126 -
"brick". Suku (di) klenku (Jansen s p e l l s sucu
k l i n k e r ) i s harde bruine suiker i n klinkervorm
"hard brown sugar i n the shape of a b r i c k " .
Chi. 39.10 kantu d i porta
aan de kant van de deur
at the side of the door
The usual expression i s banda d i .
Chi. 40.2 kui kooi cage to cafch
also spelled game or a trap
cui or cui f o r birds
Cf. kowchi " b i r d cage", once the b i r d has been
caught. In t h i s case the diminutive s u f f i x
-t,je serves to indicate an actual diminutive.
Chi. 40.18 f l o r i n f l o r i j n g u i l d e r
Chi. 40.30 baki d i awa waterbak c i s t e r n
Chi. 40.31 rbskam roskammen to curry
Ros already i n M.N., v a r i a n t ors, "horse".
Kammen i s "to comb".
Chi. 41.1 k e i r u kuieren to s t r o l l
Chi. 41.12 hember emmer p a i l , bucket
For -mb- see kamber, p. 109.
In l i n e 21, the s p e l l i n g i s hember. Jansen
reserves t h i s f o r Du. gember, which occurs i n
Maduro (Ensayo, p. 79) as ehember (Zingiber
o f f i c i n a l i s ) "ginger".
- 127 -
Chi. 41.17 F o r t i het Fort the Fort
Chi. 42.1 plenchi d i F o r t i
het p l e i n t j e vddr het Fort
the square i n front of the Fort
Here plenchi i s a c t u a l l y a "square". In D o l f i
35.22 i t was an open space i n the woods.
Chi. 42.12 trompet trompet trumpet
Maduro believes t h i s word comes from Catalan.
Chi. 42.13 jama ajo ajo roepen to c a l l good-
bye, to bid
farewell
Ajo was used i n the Dutch East Indies and also
i n Holland, although i t comes from Iberian
adids.
Chi. 43.2 Shon Carlo l o bin buska mi drechi.
Shon Carlo z a l d i r e c t naar me komen zoeken.
Shon Carlo w i l l shortly come to look f o r me.
I f the assumption that drechi comes from Dutch
d i r e c t i n the sense of onmiddellijk "without
delay" i s correct, then t h i s i s a case of e l i s i o n
rather than a d d i t i o n of a vowel. This would -be
explained by the f a c t that d i r e c t i s often
pronounced d'rek i n low-standard speech.
- 128 -
Chi. 45. 19 I ramanan a sker su pia di karson.
En de takken scheurden zijn broekspijpen.
And the branches tore the legs of his trousers.
Contrast sker /skr/ = Du. schaar "scissors" with
sker /sker/ = Du. scheur, scheuren "a tear" and
"to tear". In seventeenth-century Dutch e_e would,
at times, replace eu (Weijnen, p. 27).
Chi. 45. 33 mik mikken to aim
Note: mik riba, Du. mikken op "to aim at". Por
comment on riba, see under caiques, pp. 172-178.
Chi. 45. 34 el a lbs e bala
hij loste een schot
he discharged the bullet
Chi. 46. 13 pushi-pushi
zo zachtjes als een poes.je loopt
as softly as a pussy walks
Reduplication to indicate intensity.
Chi. 46.14 un triki
Chi. 47-15 respet
Klof 50.23 kamper
Klof 50.27. dekel
Klof 53.26 kuu
Klof 55.26 Spanjonan
Nati 57.3 wak
Nati 57.14 skerpi
een trucje
respect
kamperen (root:
kampeer)
deken
koeren (onomatope)
Spanjolen
bewaken
scherp(e)
a l i t t l e trick
respect
to be camping
blanket
to coo
Spaniards
to watch over
sharp
- 129 -
Nati 58.28 zwai su zwaaien met z i j n to wave one's
mannan handen hands
Note that here zwai i s used and not zoya or
zoja (see pp. 121-22 under Do. 32.30).
Nati 58.29 Wespen Westpunt West Point
This i s a v i l l a g e at the West Point Bay at the
northern t i p of Curasao.
heel klaar Nati 58.31 k l a - k l a
Reduplication f o r i n t e n s i t y .
very c l e a r l y
MM 61.26 master
62.4 zoja
mast
already M.N.:
mast and maste_
here: schommelen,
wiegen, heen en
weer zwaaien
mast
to swing, rock,
r o l l
. . . e barku a keda zoja r i b a anker
. . . het schip bleef aan het anker heen en
weer wiegen
. . . the ship was rocking on i t s anchor
Por zoja and zwaaien, see pp. 121-22.
MM 62.11 d r i f or
d r i ef
.64.1 t r b s h i
d r i j v e n ,
d i a l . :
drieven
t r o s j e
to soar
cable (nautical)
e a r l i e r : bunch
- 130 -
64.1 jola jol dinghy, yawl
MM 64.23 . . . i landa bai na e jola.
. . . en hi] zwom weg naar de jol.
. . . and he swam away to the dinghy.
Here: na = Du. naar "to, toward". For further
comment on na see pp. 168-172.
MM 66.9 vlandam vlammen flames
Vlandam is an interesting plural form. Nor-
mally, i t would be vlamnan. Cf. apeldam,
plural of apel, Du. appel "apple".
MM , 66.28/29 rondo di e kandela
rondom het vuur
around the fire
Note Spanish influence in di through analogy
with alrededor del fuego.
MM 66.32 penchi pinnetje or l i t t l e peg
pennetje
MM 67.15/16 Manuel a realisa ku loke el a mira move . . .
Manuel realiseerde zich, dat wat hij had
zien bewegen . . .
Manuel realized that what he had seen
moving . . . .
The Spanish verb realizar "to accomplish" has
not the same meaning as Pap. realisa. Dutch
zich realiseren is a reflexive verb. As seen
earlier, "bon papiamentu" has no reflexive
- 131 -
pronoun. Further comment on this subject may be
found on pp. 185-189.
MM 67.28 varios sorto di flecha
allerlei soorten pijlen
a l l sorts of arrows
It would seem more likely that Pap. sorto came
from Du. soort rather than from Sp. suerte.
However, Portuguese has sorte.
MM 67.29 Manuel a forsa pa . . . .
Manuel forceerde zich . . . .
Manuel forced himself . . . .
Again, absence of a reflexive pronoun.
MM 70.33 bom di e jola de bodem van de jol the floor of
the dinghy
MM 71.29 nodi nodig necessary
MM 72.23 Spanja Spanje Spain
MM 73.24 kokchi kokertje an elongated
round case
MM 73.24 kashi kastje cupboard
- 132 -
C. Words with Dutch or Romance etymologies.
Where necessary f o r the context, a whole sentence
may be quoted. Unless indicated otherwise, Spanish w i l l
be the Romance source f o r the words i n the following
l i s t .
Exampie s:
M.R. 5.4 Mushe Raton a hanja ku e mester subi un
krenchi . . . .
Mushe Raton vond, dat h i 3 wat op moest
klimmen . . . .
Mushe Raton f e l t that he had to climb
somewhat . . . .
Mester, Sp. haber menester "to need", ser
menester "to be necessary". The noun
menester has changed i t s word c l a s s from
noun to verb, which i s a normal phenomenon
i n creole languages. No doubt, there i s an
influence of the Dutch verb moeten "must",
more p a r t i c u l a r l y of the past tense
moest(en), though one can not ignore the
Portuguese mister i n t h i s respect either.
M.R. 5.8 The following example strengthens further the
suggestion of Dutch influence:
Sigur mester tabatin un den nan . . . .
Er moest zeker een van hen z i j n . . . .
For sure, there must be one of them . . . .
- 133 -
Papiamentu Dutch Romance English
M.R. 5.10 pomada pommade pomada pomade
M.R. 5.15 mama mama mama mother
M.R. 5.24 koketa coquet coqueta coquettish
(-t_ pro-
nounced )
As mentioned on p.104 a few adjectives appear
i n Papiamentu i n the Spanish feminine form.
M.R. 5.1 pikete piquet piquete a fencing
term
M.R. 6.6 t r i s t u t r i e s t ( e ) t r i s t e sad
M.R. 6.10 h i s a h i j s e n ; Pr. h i s s e r to h o i s t ,
d i a l . ; Sp. i z a r and haul
hieschen Port, i c a r
Both De V r i e s and Dauzat claim that Pr. h i s s e r
(sixteenth century) came from Netherlandic.
To t h i s should be added: i n i t s M.N. form,
that i s , hischen. De Vries quotes "1461".
M.R. 6.24 Mi ta b i r a persona d i a l t a kategoria.
Dan word i k iemand van goeden stand.
Then I become a member of the upper classes.
B i r a i s obviously derived from Spanish v i r a r ,
a n a u t i c a l term f o r "to wind, twist". Pap. b i r a
i s "to turn, s t i r , turn over, turn around, become".
Por the l a t t e r , Spanish uses, among others,
- 134 -
another verb with the meaning of "to turn" i n
order to express the sense of "to become", that
i s , volverse. However, Pap. b i r a may well be
the r e s u l t of a reinforcement by the regional
past tense of the Dutch verb worden: seven-
teenth-century and d i a l e c t a l wier (standard form:
werd). Worden i s the a u x i l i a r y f o r the passive
voice, but as an independent verb i t has also the
meaning of to become. I t should be noted that
the verb wieren "to turn, revolve" i s found i n
M.N.
M.S. 7.11 f i n i f i j n (fien) f i n o f i n e
B.P. 9.25 hala halen halar to haul,
(naut.) p u l l , rub,
massage
B.P. 10.22 ma maar mas but, however
As mentioned on p.100, since the - r of the o r i g i n a l
etymon i s often dropped, Dutch d e r i v a t i o n , rather
then Romance, seems more l i k e l y .
B.P. 11.9 un par d i een paar un par de a couple of
(used i n l i t . a p a i r
apposition)
However, un par d i dia, Du. een paar dagen "a
couple of days" i s i n Spanish unos dias.
- 135 -
Awa 13.28 trupa troep tropa
Awa 14.2
Awa 14.3
polis politie policia
warda di polis
politie(wacht)post
guardia de policia
police guard, police station
Awa 14.7 warda
(verb)
Awa 14.24 hiba
Awa 14.18 , skupi
(verb)
Awa 14.19 skupi
(noun)
Awa 14.26 riska
Masu 15.32 suku
Masu 18.4 ronka
wachten, also
bewaken,
bewaren
heffen (cf.
German
heben)
spugen
with meta-
thesis
spuug
(with meta-
thesis)
riskeren
suiker
ronken
guardar
llevar
escupir
a crowd,
multitude
flock
police
to wait,
guard
protect
keep
to bring,
take,
carry
to spit
escupido spittle
arriesgar risk, dare
azucar sugar
roncar to snore
- 136 -
Ng. 20.12 solda soldaat soldado s o l d i e r
Ng. 20.17
ataca attaqueren atacar to attack
Ng. 20.18 lanza lans lanza lance
Ng. 21.4
barku bark Pr. barque ship,
Sp. barco v e s s e l
boat
Ng. 22.16 munstra demonstreren mostrar to show
-n- through the influence of Dutch.
Ng.
23.5
;isaku zak saco sack
Ng.
23.20 -kalmu
kalm
calmo
calm
Ng. 23.29
b r i s a b r i e s b r i s a breeze
Pep. 25.7/8 D j o d j i t a b a t i n e mal mania . . . .
D j o d j i had de manie . .
D j o d j i had the bad habit . . . .
I t should be. mentioned that Dutch manie i s
stressed on the l a s t s y l l a b l e .
Pep. 27.1
Do. 29. 4
Do. 29.7
tronkon tronk
s i h t i z i n t u i g
porta poort
tronco tree stump
sentido brain, sense
Port. door, gate-
porta way
Sp. puerta
The /o/ may be ascribed to Dutch influence of
poort or of Sephardic Spanish.
Do. 29.30 planta planten plantar t plant
- 137 -
Do. 29.32 palu paal palo s t i c k , pole
Sp. palo i s " s t i c k , pole, timber, log, wood",
but Pap. palu has here the Spanish American
meaning "tree". There are many names of trees
with palu: palu d i seda "cedar tree"; palu d i
f r u t a " f r u i t tree", as well as of objects made
out of wood: palu d i c o r t i n a " c u r t a i n rod";
p a l
1
i h i l u "bobbin". F i g u r a t i v e l y : palu d i
p i a "shin"
Do. 31.27 bolo bolus
(a special Sp. bollo
kind of
pastry)
Do. 31.34 kwartu kwart or cuarto
kwartier
Do. 35.34 kalma kalmeren calmar
(verb)
Do. 36.9 na naar
Port. b6lo cake,
pastry
a quarter
(of an hour)
to calm
to, toward Port, na
Por more extensive comments on na see pp. 168-
172.
Do. 37.11 papa
mushy, pasty
papperig,
p a
p a
pappig
noun: pap
In the combination papa soda" i t i s kletsnat,
Sp. empapado "soaking wet (with p e r s p i r a t i o n ) " ;
otherwise: papa mohd.
- 138 -
Do. 37.31 r i p i t i
Do. 38.1
Do. 38.5
Chi. 39.6
demonstra
repeteren
or from
noun
repetitie
demon-
streren
conjugated
form of
repetir
demostrar
to repeat
to show
Papa papa papa father
fornu fornuis _ Iberian: stove
f orno
Beside fornu exists forneshi, which leaves no
doubt as to derivation. It is from Dutch
fornuisje . W e i j n e n l i a t a forneyzen for fornui-
z e r r i n the seventeenth century.
Chi. 42.5 ordu
Chi. 42.22 komando
Chi. 42.22 komandant
Chi. 43.12 kalkula
Chi. 44.7 patruja
Chi. 46.23 lora
order
commando
commandant
calculeren
patrouil-
leren
Lorre, name
for a
parrot
orden
comando
comandante
calcular
patrullar
loro,
Span.-Am.
lora
order
command
commander
to cal-
culate
to patrol
parrot
13 -
Chi. 46.30 bordo boord
Chi. 47.12 bira loko
(here:
bira
with
ad j. )
Klof 50.1 fantasia
Klof 51.9 rasca
Klof 52.7 lanternu
gek worden
(wier)
See pp.
133-134.
fantasie
(stress on
last syl-
lable)
with meta-
thesis of
bordo (which
itself may
have come
'/from Dutch)
virar
board of
ship <
Dutch
boord
to become
crazy
fantasia
phantasy
rascar
to scratch
krassen
lantaren or 1interna
lantaarn
lantern
Old-Sp.:
lanterna
M.N. lanterne, laterne, latterne, dial, lanteren.
Klof 52.18 te
Klof 54.32 homber
blanku
Nati 57.1 grupo
MM 64.9 detaje
thee /te/ te
de blanken los biancos
MM
65.11 boto
groep
detail
/detaj/
boot
grupo
detalle
bote
tea
the white
men
group
detail
boat
- 140 -
MM 67.26 karko karakol caracol s n a i l
From the context i t becomes c l e a r that kuchu
traha d i karkd are knives made out of s n a i l -
s h e l l .
MM 71.11 kantu kant canto edge,
border
Noteworthy i s that here kantu d i t e r a i s used
f o r shore l i n e and that kantu d i awa i s found
i n Ohiku 45.25 to express the same concept.
MM 71.17 senjal signaal senal signal
/ s i f a l /
D. Words adopted v i a Dutch from another language.
Examples;
Awa t i t l e labizhan dame-Jeanne Fr. dame- demijohn
j eanne
Masu 15.10 famia f a m i l i e Fr. f a m i l l e r e l a t i v e s
(formerly
pronounced
/fa'mija/)
Do. 52.24 Pai paai Port, pai da'ddy
N. van Wijk states that paai probably developed
from M.N. pade (now: peet) "godfather".
1
De
Vries i s of the opinion that i t came from
N. van Wijk, Etymologisch Woordenboek, p. 484.
- 141 -
Malayo-Portuguese, most l i k e l y v i a the
Dutch East Indies. I t exists also i n
Afrikaans.
MM 7K23 pagai pagaaien Malay: pengajoeh paddle
(verb) (noun: (for a
pagaai) canoe)
De Vries gives as etymon Malay pengajoeh.
Gorominas l i s t s :
PAGAYA, 'especie de remo , 1884. Del
malayo pangayong, por conducto del
holandes y del f r . pagaye, 1686.1
G.B. van,Haeringen comments that older
New Netherlandic pangaai was c l o s e r to the
2
Malay form.
MM 71.23 kajuka kajak Eskimo: kayak kayak
E. l o r d s or phraser combining Dutch, and Iberian elements.,
Examples:
M.R. 5.7 barika-gel o_r barika-heel
Iberian barriga " b e l l y " plus geel or gel or
heel, Du. geel "yellow" gave barika-geel.
The Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse A n t i l l e n
^-Joan Corominas, Breve d i c c i o n a r i o etimoldgico de l a
Lengua -castellana (Madrid: Gredos, 1961).
2
G.B. van Haeringen, Franck's Etymologisch Woordenboek der
Nederlandsche Taal, Supplement, 1936.
- 142 -
r e f e r s from t h i s word to s u i k e r d i e f j e , l i t .
" l i t t l e sugar t h i e f " (Coereba f l a v e o l a ) and
gives as second name: Yellow breast. This
may well be the bird's name on the E n g l i s h -
speaking Bovenwindse Eilanden.
Pep. 25.17 old s t i n k i
Sp. olor "smell" plus a form of the Dutch verb
stinken, possibly the gerund stinkend "stinking".
Old i s here a noun; s t i n k i an adjective. Of.
26.32: Su plumanan ta hole masha s t i n k i , where
hole i s a verb, Sp. o l e r "to smell", and s t i n k i
and adverb.
Do. 37.16 "Kon bo ke men?"
Combination of Spanish: ;.Que quieres decir?
and Du. "Hoe meen je (dat)? "What do you
mean?"
Chi. 41.10 tas sera
Du. tas(ch) "handbag, b r i e f c a s e " and Sp. cerrado
"closed, locked", i n other words, "a bag with a
lock".
Chi. 41.24 hopi be
Dutch derived hopi "many" and Sp. veces, "many
times, often".
- 143
F. Caiques.
The caiques on Dutch in Ora Solo Baha may be
divided into two sub-categories:
1) lexical caiques; i i ) syntactic caiques.
Caiques that could be based on Dutch or Spanish form
are not included.
i) Lexical Caiques.
Examples:
Intr. Nos komo mucha . . . .
line 5
Wij als kinderen
We as children .

M.R. 5.4 manera
op de manier van
like (adv.)
M.R. 5.11 banda
Since banda has numerous meanings, it
will be dealt with under a special
heading of its own. See pp. 164-166.
M.R. 5.25 Mushe Raton a kinipi e dams un wowo.
Mushe Raton gaf de dame een knipoogje
Mushe Raton winked at the lady.
- 144 -
M.R. 6.3 Ma e para d i misa a traha un kara masha frepostu.
Maar de kanarie trok een heel vri.jpostig gezicht.
But the canary pulled a very i n s o l e n t face.
M.R. 6.4/5 B'a mirami pa kende loko?
Zag j i j mij voor gek aan?
Did you take me f o r a f o o l ?
M.R. 6.15 E blenchi a g r i t a h a r i .
De c o l i b r i e g i l d e van het lachen.
The humming b i r d screamed with laughter.
M.R. 6.22 T'esei ta mi kuki.
Dat i s voor mij gesneden koek.
That i s my cup-of tea.
-
l i t . That i s my cookie.
M.R. 7.2 sera kabes
de hoofden aaneensluiten, Sp. cerrar
now: de hoofden b i j elkaar steken
to get together i n order to scheme
M.R. 7.3 Kestion ku t i n ,
De kwestie i s . .
De zaak l i g t zo,*' dat. . . .
En zo. . . .
Hoe het z i j . . . .
l i t . The question (case) i s that. . . .
And, therefore. . . .
Whatever the case may be. . . .
- 145 -
M.R. 7.9 Su dianan siguiente
This is an idiomatic expression which is dif- .
ficult to explain. It is in itself not a
caique on De volgende dagen "the following
days", but may have been influenced by the
Dutch expression op zijn ouden dag "in his old
age", l i t . "old days".
M.R. 7.16 morto kansa
doodmoe
dead tired
M.R. 7.19 pa pon'e traha mata su kurpa
oi hem zich te laten doodwerken
to have him work himself to death
M.R. 7.21 Mushe Raton a sinti e palabranan korta te den
su alma.
Mushe Raton voelde de woorden tot in zijn ziel
snijden.
Mushe Raton felt the words cut into his soul.
M.R. 8.4 Mushe Raton i e dams raton a kasa su mes manise,
Mushe Raton and juffrouw Muis zijn nog den vol-
genden dag getrouwd.
Mushe Raton and Miss Mouse got married the very
next day.
The very day may be translated into Dutch by
de eigenste dag. For the use of mes in
Papiamentu for the reflexive and, hence, cases
where Spanish would have prppio see under mes
- 146 -
pp.185-189. I t should be noted that su mes
her.e \ i s not the equivalent of -se i n Spanish
casarse. For su see M.R. 7.9, p. 145.
M.R. 8.5/6 te dia d i awe
tot op den dag van heden
u n t i l today
B.P. 10.10 e barika-hel a b a t i a l a
het s u i k e r d i e f j e heeft z i j n vleugels uitgeslagen
the yellow breast spread i t s wings
B.P. 10.26 te jena su barika jen-jen
tot buikje-vullens toe
u n t i l her b e l l y was f u l l
l i t . u n t i l f i l l i n g her b e l l y f u l l - f u l l
B.P. 11.3 Bas P i p i a dal un g r i t u h a r i .
Bas P i p i gilde van het lachen.
Bas P i p i screamed with laughter.
Bas Pipi. went into screams of laughter.
B.P. 11.20 "Bosnan sa kiko."
"Weten j u l l i e wat."
"You know what."
B.P. 11.27/28 Un kentura a dal mi abow.
Koorts heeft me neergeslagen.
A fever has struck me down.
- 147 -
B.P. 12.8 a basha kansjon
s t o r t t e liedj.es u i t
poured out songs
B.P. 12.20 jama danki
dank-je roepen
to c a l l out "thank you"
B.P. 12.26/27 te su dedenan a hasi dwe
tot z i j n vingers p i j n deden
u n t i l his..flingers hurt
B.P. 12.28 Nan a . . . pasa un p l e i z i di g r i t a
Z i j hadden een gev/eldig ( l i t . schreeuwend)
pleizier.,
They had a marvellous time
l i t . They had a shouting fun
Dutch om van te schreeuwen, Pap. d i g r i t a
"to shout about" i s used to express the
sense of excessive(ly), awful(ly), f o r
example, een schreeuwend onrecht "a f l a g r a n t
i n j u s t i c e " ; schreeuwend duur "outrageously
expensive".
Awa 13.26 . . . d i k i t a sombre, l i t . om je petje (hoed)
voor af te nemen, i n other words, something
f o r which you show respect (to take o f f your
hat f o r ) . F i g u r a t i v e l y , something great,
- 148 -
impressive. Here:
un zundra d i kita, sombre
een geweldige s c h e l d p a r t i j
a v i o l e n t brawl
Masu 16.1 tramerdia (tras + mediodia)
i n den namiddag
i n the afternoon
Masu 16.15 e chubatu d i k a b r i t u
de geitebok ( l i t . de bok van de geiten)
he-goat.; ( l i t . the buck of the goats )
Kabritu i s one of the non-Dutch words which
appeared i n the commercial reports from around
the year 1700. I t was made into kabriet,
Iberian c a b r i t a " l i t t l e she-kid". There are
about twenty words i n Papiamentu which show a
d i f f e r e n c e i n the gender of a person or animal,-
and chubatu "buck" and k a b r i t u "goat" are an
example of t h i s . In other cases the gender i s
expressed by a d d i t i o n of some other words, such
as homber "man", muhe "woman", hembra "female",
chubatu, machu "male".
1
E..R.; Goilo, Papiaments Leerboek (Aruba, N.A.: De Wit,
1968),
P
. 79.
- 149 -
Masu 17.8 Mi nomber ta G r i s t a l i n a .
Mijn naam i s C r i s t a l i n a .
My name i s C r i s t a l i n a .
This can also be expressed by Mi jama C r i s t a l i n a ,
Du. i k heet C r i s t a l i n a . I f jama (also spelled
yama) means "to c a l l " , ta has to be added.
Mi jama Klaas = Ik heet Klaas "I am c a l l e d
Claus", whereas Mi ta jama Klaas = I am c a l l i n g
Claus.
Masu 17.22 manera welek
a l s de bliksem (het weerlicht)
l i k e l i g h t n i n g
Masu 18.27 dal un g r i t a
een kreet slaken (slaken i s a cognate of slaan)
to shout
Masu 19.24 Tur hende a kome ran barika jen.
Iedereen at z i j n buikje v o l .
Everyone ate as much as he could.
Ng. 20.4 Tabatin un f r i w ta korta.
Het was snijdend koud.
I t was b i t t e r ( l i t . cutting) cold.
Ta + i n f i n i t i v e i s used to replace the present
p a r t i c i p l e .
- 150 -
Ng. 20.26 koh'e" presu
nam haar gevangen ( c f . also pri.jsmaken)
made her prisoner
Ng. 2d.28/29 Nunka mas Mali a tende algu d i su mama.
Nooit heeft Mali meer i e t s van haar moeder
gehoord.
Mali has never heard anything any more from
her mother.
This i s a case where there i s no double
negative i n the Papiamentu sentence. This
i s , no doubt, due to modern Dutch influence.
On the other hand, i t should be mentioned
that i n seventeenth-century Dutch there was
also a double negative beside the single
one (Weirjne'n, p. 77) .
Ng. 20.31 hopi dia largu
vele dagen lang (and not: vele lange dagen)
many a day (and not: many long days)
See also below, Pep. 26.23.
Ng. 22.33 '' -kamb'er grandi
de grote kamer
l i v i n g room
Ng. 23.21 luna
maan(d) (and not Sp. mes)
month
- 151 -
Pep. 26.15 drecha mi kold
om mijn kleur recht te zetten
i n order to make my colour r i g h t
Pep. 26.25 un ora l a r g u
een uur lang (not een lang uur)
one hour long, that i s , f o r the duration of
an hour (not one long hour). Cf. Ng. 22.33
above.
Pep. 27.15 e l a b a t i a l a bai
hij' vloog klapwiekend weg
he flew away, flapping h i s wings
Por bai see syntactic caiques, p. 223.
Pep. 27.16 manera hende loko
op de manier van een gek
l i k e a madman
Pep. 27.25 hamber a but'e bai lew
May be: h i j v i e l flauw van den honger
he f a i n t e d f o r hunger
However, from the context i t i s obvious that the
rooster died.of hunger. This makes the caique
a l l the more i n t e r e s t i n g , since i t shows a
confusion of Du. vergaan /var'xa:n/ with stress
on the l a s t s y l l a b l e , which means "to perish",
with Dutch vergaan, with stress on the f i r s t
s y l l a b l e , /'vgrxain/ "to go f a r " .
- 152 -
Pep. 27.25/26 den un r a t u d i ora
i n den t i j d van een uur or i n een uur t i j d s
ti.jds i s a genitive
i n an hour's time
Do. 29.21 "Kon ta ku tur hende?"
"Hoe i s het met iedereen?"
"How i s everyone?"
l i t . "How i s i t with everyone?"
Do. 29.27 maske ta un dos d i a
a l i s het maar een paar dagen
even i f i t i s f o r a couple of days
maske = although, Sp. aunque. However, t h i s
would not seem to f i t i n t o the context. I t
i s possible that misschien, d i a l e c t a l
misskien "perhaps, possibly" exerted some
influence here.
Do. 30.28 wak un chens
naar een kans u i t k i j k e n
here: z i j n kans afwachten
to wait f o r a chance to await a chance
Do* 31.17 D o l f i no por a pega sonjo drechi.
D o l f i kon de slaap n i e t d i r e c t vatten.
D o l f i could not immediately f a l l asleep.
pegar i s klemmen "to clasp, get a hold of,
to g r i p " . De slaap vatten i s l i t . "to
grasp sleep". Por drechi see p. 127, Chi. 43.2
- 153 -
Do. 32.2 d i l a n t i den e garoshi
voor i n den wagen
i n the f r o n t of the cart
Do. 32.21 Mena a s a l i bin kontra nan, ku kacho ku pushi
su t r a s .
Mina kwam naar buiten om hen tegemoet te komen
met de hond en de kat achter haar aan.
Mena came out i n order to meet them with the
dog and the cat following i n the rear.
bin kontra = tegenkomen or: tegemoetkomen.
bin = to come; kontra l i t . against. Tegen-
komen gives i n the f i r s t person: i k kom tegen,
and tegemoetkomen: i k kom tegemoet, both mean
"to meet". However, the f i r s t i s "to meet by
chance", the second "to meet on purpose i n
order to greet or welcome a person or to speak
to him".
Su tras i s i t s e l f not a complete caique:
achter comes before haar (su) and only aan
comes a f t e r haar (su). However, Nan ta kamna
su tras would be: Z i j lopen haar achterna. In
other words, achterna comes behind ha
?
ar (su).
An example of t h i s appears l a t e r i n this study,
i n Ng. 20.25/2 6: un d i e soldanan a kore su
t r a s , Du. een van de soldaten rende haar
achterna "one of the s o l d i e r s ran a f t e r her"
(see p. 219).
- 154 -
Do. 33.12 "Bati'e aden. . ."
"Sla net naar binnen. . ."
"Stuff i t down. . ."
Do. 33.29 tur dos
a l l e b e i
both
bo a dal e klabu r i b a su kabes
je hebt de s p i j k e r op de kop geslagen
you have h i t the n a i l on the head
nos di nos banda
wij van onze kant
we f o r our part
"Kiko asina?"
"Wat dan zo a l ? "
"Like what?"
Do. 37.9 rondo d i e palu
rondom de boom
around the tree
Instead of rondom de boom lopen Dutch would now
use: om de boom heen lopen, both meaning "to
walk around the tree". Maduro suspects
influence from Catalan rodo. Rondom i s s t i l l
current with a s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t meaning.
Do. 34.29
Do. 35.2
Do. 35.3
- 155 -
Chi. 39.12 tanta grandi
oud-tante l i t . groot(e) tante
great-aunt
Great-aunt i s Du. oud-tante, l i t . old-aunt.
Pap. tanta grandi, l i t . grote tante, must "be
by analogy with Du. grootmoeder "grand-mother".
In Van Dam's Dutch-Spanish d i c t i o n a r y oudje i s
given as abuelito (?-a), vie.jecito (-a).
Chi. 41.25 . .ku jama Klaas
. . .die Klaas heet
. . .whose name i s Klaas
Chi. 44.31 kore kabai
paardrijden
to go on horseback (to r i d e a horse)
Cf. Sp. cabalgar.
Chi. 42.12 supla alarma
alarm blazen
to" sound the alarm ( l i t . to blow the alarm)
Chi. 43.4 nos mester para k l a
wij moeten klaarstaan
we have to be (stand) ready
The caique i s based upon the word order i n the
conjugated form, f o r instance, wij staan klaar.
More about t h i s w i l l be said i n the section on
separable verbs, p. 218.
- 156 -
Chi. 43.23 hanja 6rdu di
order krijgen om
to get the order to
In Dutch krijgen "to get" and vinden "to find"
may, in certain expressions, be interchanged:
Ik heb het niet kurmen krijgen (when shopping)
"I was unable to get i t " is often heard instead
of Ik heb het niet kunnen vinden.
Chi. 43.28 e garoshi a para ketu
de wagen bleef stilstaan
the wagon stopped
This is a case of tautology, since para
by itself is already stilstaan "stand s t i l l " ,
"to stop" and ketu is also s t i l .
Chi. 44.21 Chiku a kunsumi te bira furioso
Chiku at zich op van woede
Chiku was consumed by fury (anger)
Dutch consumeren = to eat
Note: no reflexive in this sentence.
Por comments on the reflexive see pp. 185-189.
Chi. 46.11 Chiku por a hari te lora bow
Chiku kon wel omrollen van het lachen
Chiku could have rolled over from laughter
om is here omver, that is, landing on the
ground, which is reflected by bow "down".
- 1 5 . 7 -
Chi. 4 6 . 1 0 hala bai pariba
gaan optrekken (or oprukken)
to push on to, to move to
Halar i s normally trekken i n i t s t r a n s i t i v e
meaning "to p u l l something up". Note: pariba.
Chi. 4 6 . 3 3 pero e biaha a k i
maar deze r e i s
but t h i s time, l i t . " t h i s journey"
Modern Dutch i s maar deze ( d i t ) keer, maar.; d i t
maal. Reis i n t h i s sense i s s t i l l found i n
d i c t i o n a r i e s from the n i n e t e e n - f i f t i e s .
Chi. 4 6 . 3 4 kaminda grandi
de grote weg
highway
Chi. 4 7 . 5 "Pero kiko a para ku e Fransesnan?"
"Maar wat i s er met de Pransen gebeurd?"
"But what happened to the Frenchmen?"
Para should not be confused with pasa, Sp.
pasar, Du. passeren, although the sentence
could be translated by "Wat i s den Fransen
gepasseerd?" However, the caique i s on the
phrase te staan komen, which means, among
other things, "to r e s u l t i n " , although ku
r e f l e c t s the met i n gebeurd met.
- 158 -
Chi. 47.10 e komandant a bin kontra nan dos
de commandant kwam hen beiden tegemoet
the commander came out to meet the two of them
For bin kontra see Do. 32.21, p. 153.
Note also: nan dos, Du. hen beiden, l i t . "them
two", where Spanish would have los dos.
Chi. 47.14 dia mi bira grandi
als ik groot word
when I grow up ( l i t . become big)
Spanish would have 'fengrandecer or crecer
dia = when, that is, the day when
ora = when, that is, the hour when
Klo. 49.3 vakansi grandi
grote vacantie
summer holidays (for schools) l i t . great holidays
Klo. 50.22 grandinan (noun, plural)
grote mensen = volwassenen; here: ouders
grown-ups, adults (groot = great)
here: parents
Grandi may also mean grootje, colloquial for
grootmoeder "grand-mother"; also Du. oudje,
diminutive of oud, Pap. bieu "old, an old person"
or "little old grandmother". Grandi also
"grandparents". See also Klof 55.26, p. 161.
Klof 51.9 piedra tabata bio lora
de stenen bleven maar (= slechts) roll en
the stones did nothing but roll
Klof 51.14 asina tantu
zd zeer
so much
Although asina itself figures in older forms of
Spanish and in dialects, the phrase asina tantu
would seem to be a caique on Dutch zd zeer.
Klof 51.21 i a wak ariba
en keek op (= naar boven)
and looked up
Klof 51.22 Nan no por hole ku nos ta aki bow.
Zij kunnen niet ruiken (figuratively), dat wij
hier beneden zijn.
They cannot smell that we are down here.
Klof 52.6 nan a bati pan ku keshi
zij sloegen brood met kaas naar binnen
they gulped down bread and cheese
Klof 52.17 pa siguransa
voor alle zekerheid
to be certain
- 160 -
Klof 52.25/26 nan a b i r a lomba
z i j z i j n teruggekeerd
they turned back
B i r a < Sp. v i r a r "to twist", Du. keren (root:
keer) "to turn"; lomba, Iberian lomo "back";
Du. rug. Sp. volverse de espaldas. In other
words, z i j keerden naar de rugkant "they
turned to the back".
In Klof 52.24/25, the caique i s l e s s c l e a r :
e muchanan a b i r a lomba pa bai
de jongens keerden z i c h om om weg te gaan
the boys turned around i n order to leave
terugkeren = to return to a spot at a c e r t a i n
distance; omkeren = to turn around on the
spot.
Klof 52.26 un f l e c h a a ronka pasa
een p i j l snorde v o o r b i j
an arrow whizzed by
Du. snorren i s r e l a t e d to snorken "to snore".
Another word f o r snorken i s ronken "to snore,
to drone".
Klof 52.27 tur dos
a l l e b e i
both
Klof 52.27
Klof 52.27/28
Klof 52.32
Klof 53.6
Klof 53.15
Klof 55.16
Klof 55.26
morto spanta
doodsbang
frightened to death
Ku rosea tur kortiku
Helemaal buiten adem
l i t . met zijn adem helemaal kort
completely out of breath
halando rosea pisa
zwaar ademhalend
breathing heavily
saka un kareda
een weg nemen
to take a road
kla pa tira
klaar om te schieten
ready to shoot
un par di klompi chiki
een paar kleine klompjes
a pair of small l i t t l e chunks
su biewnan
zijn ouders or grootouders
his parents or grandparents
- 162 -
Klof 56.1 e muchanan a tuma despedida
de jongens namen afscheid
the boys said good-bye
Nati 57.4 hanja sedu
dorst krijgen
to get thirsty
For han.ia. = Du. krijgen see Chi. 43.23, p. 156,
Nati 57.13 ku rabia den nan bista
met woede in nun gezicht
with an expression of anger on their faces
Confusion of Sp. vista "sight" with Du.
gezicht "sight, face".
Nati 58.8 te ainda
tot nog toe; nog steeds
s t i l l
Nati 59.18/19 Nati a ganj'e kara seku
Nati loog tegen hem met een droog gezicht
Nati was lying to him with a poker face
l i t . a dry face
- 16:3 -
MM 64.5 bon na son jo
wel i n slaap
sound asleep
MM 64.8 f a l s u
v a l s
mean
MM 64.23 e l a sera djente
h i j sloot z i j n kiezen op elkaar (also klemde)
he closed h i s mouth t i g h t
MM 64.32 d i s i d i d u
gedecideerd (adv.)
decidedly
MM 65.10 Manuel su kurason tabata b a t i te den su garganta
Manuel z i j n hart klopte hem i n de keel
Manuel's heart was i n h i s mouth
l i t . beat him i n h i s throat
MM 67.6 no a dura muchu ku. . .
het duurde n i e t lang, totdat
i t did not take long u n t i l . . .
MM 67.25/6 p a r t i paden
binnengedeelte (or: binnenkant)
the inside
MM 69.8 saku di karson
broekzak
pocket ( i n trousers)
MM 73.16 bon bow
goed onder
well under
A number of l e x i c a l caiques appear so frequently i n the
pages of Ora Solo Baha that i t i s desirable to l i s t them
under separate headings. In t h i s way, more j u s t i c e can be
done to nuances of meaning.
Banda ( d i ) .
This preposition has been taken from one of the meanings
of the Spanish noun banda "bank, border, edge", used, however,
i n the extended sense of "neighbourhood", Du*, buurt, that
i s , the part within the borders. I t may indicate place and
d i r e c t i o n : i n de buurt van = naast "beside, near, next to"
or time: omstreeks "around", composed of om "around" plus
streek "region", hence an extension of buurt, plus the
genitive - j s . Por naast c f . z i j n naaste "one's neighbour".
Examples:
M.R. 5.11 Mushe Raton a. . .bai para banda d i baki d i awa.
Mushe Raton ging naast de waterbak staan.
Mushe Raton put himself beside the c i s t e r n .
B.P. 12.3 Bas P i p i tabata para banda d i bentana.
Bas P i p i stond i n de buurt van het raam.
Bas P i p i was standing near the window.
- 165 -
Chi. 40.15 e tabata sinta banda di pos
hij zat naast de put
he was sitting beside the well
Klof 49.19 banda di Ascension
in de buurt van Ascencion (a former plantation)
near Ascencion
Banda ,(d?i) may also be used with a personal pronoun or as
an adverb.
Examples:
B.P. 12.30 banda di dje
naast hem
near him
Nati 57.20 . para banda di dje
naast'hem staande
standing beside him
B.P. 9.5 Tur hende ei banda tabata konose Bas Pipi.
Iedereen in die buurt kende Bas Pipi.
Everyone in that neighbourhood knew Bas Pipi.
Chi. 46.19 den un kweba ei banda
in een hoi daar in de buurt
in a cave near there
- 166 -
Nati 59*33 banda d i seru d i San K r i s t o f
i n de buurt van de San K r i s t o f berg
near the San K r i s t o f mountain
In i n d i c a t i o n of time;
Masu 16.6 banda d i dies or d i mainta
omstreeks t i e n uur i n den morgen
around ten o'clock i n the morning
B.P. 12.14 banda d i a t a r d i
omstreeks den namiddag
around the afternoon
At times, banda may mean kant "side". Nos d i nos banda,
Du. wij, van onze kant "we f o r our part".
K l o f 49.16 Indjanan a bringa na banda d i Spanjonan.
De Indianen vochten aan de kant van de
Spanjaarden.
The Indians fought on the side of the Spanish.
Wood's statement concerning the prepositions " i n " and
"on", that i s , that i n Papiamentu there i s a three-way
d i s t i n c t i o n , /den/ " i n s i d e " , /na/ " i n " and / r i b a / "on"
1
does not seem to be supported by Lauffer's use of the
various prepositions. The following may be said about them.
Den " i n , i n s i d e " came from Iberian dentro "inside, within".
However, Dutch i n "ln{' i n s i d e " may have had a r e i n f o r c i n g
"H/ood, "Papiamentu," p. 60.
- 167 -
influence. It i s even possible that standard expressions
such as i n den beginne " i n the beginning" or i n den dienst
van " i n the service of", where den i s a c t u a l l y the accusative
masculine singular of the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e d_e, played a r 6 l e .
In some cases, Pap. den has the meaning of por dentro
"inwardly".
Examples of den used i n the sense of ^ i n t o " , Du. i n
or binnen, both of which may also be placed a f t e r the noun,
are the following:
Nati 59. 1 Shon a laga tirami den pos.
De Shon l i e t me i n de put gooien.
The Shon had me thrown i n t o the p i t .
Nati 59. 19/ 20 ta den mondi mi mester a bai
i k moest het bos binnen (or in) gaan
I had to enter the woods
MM 65. 7 kai den awa
i n het water v a i l e n
to f a l l into the water
Compare, however, na awa i n MM 69. 6:
. . . t i r a e k a r n i . . .na awa
. . .het v l e e s . . . i n het water te gooien
. . .throw the meat. . .into the water
Other examples could be quoted to show that i n the s t o r i e s i n
Ora Solo Baha, den and na are interchanged i n c e r t a i n expres-
sions, and where den does not have the meaning of " i n s i d e " ,
- 168 -
but rather "on": den tera, Du. op den grond ."on the ground"
(Klof 53. 1); a kai den dek, Du-. v i e l op het dek "on the deck"
(MM 69. 11); den bom d i e .jola "on the bottom of the dinghy"
It should be mentioned here that i n seventeenth-century
Dutch i n was sometimes also used with verbs of motion instead
of aan or naar " t o " .
1
Na.
Pap. na i s taken from Port, na = em " i n , at" plus a,
the feminine singular d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e . However, i t must
have been reinforced by Dutch naar or naar. . .toe "to,
i n t o , on, toward", sometimes with the meanings of "from,
a f t e r , at"; also aan. . .bi,j,..naar. . .beneden "onto";
tot.,- .aan, t o t . . .o_p_ "as f a r as, u n t i l " . I t should be
noted that i n the seventeenth century Du. na " a f t e r " and
p
naar were used i n d i s c r i m i n a t e l y .
Goilo states i n h i s Papiaments Leerboek that the Dutch
p r e p o s i t i o n naar remains untranslated i n most cases. His
examples are:
Mi ta bai cas. Ik ga naar huis.
Mi ta bai cine. Ik ga naar de bioscoop.
Mi ta bai stad cu auto Ik r i j d naar de stad.
Mi ta bula bai Amsterdam. Ik v l i e g naar Amsterdam.
Mi ta bai (mi) trabou. Ik ga naar mijn werk.
Mi ta bai a r i b a . Ik ga naar boven.
Mi ta bai abou. Ik ga naar beneden.
Weijnen, Zeventiende-eeuwse Taal, p. 105.
Weijnen, p. 103.
- 169 -
The t r a n s l a t i o n of these sentences i s :
I am going home.
I am going to the movies.
I am d r i v i n g to town (or downtown).
I am going to my job.
I am going u p s t a i r s .
I am going downstairs.
Goilo goes on to say that naar i s translated by na
c h i e f l y when i t means "toward a thing". His examples:
Mi ta bai na porta. Ik ga naar de^deur.
Mi ta bai na bentana. Ik ga naar het raam.
Mi ta bai (na) borchi. Ik ga naar het bord.
Translated:
I am going to the door.
I am going to the window.
I am going to the blackboard.
He further states that with parts of a house, naar i s
translated by den. His examples:
Mi ta bai den mi kamber. Ik ga naar mijn kamer.
Mi ta bai den cushina. Ik ga naar de keuken.
Mi ta bai den banu. Ik ga naar de badkamer.
Translation:
I am going to my room.
I am going to the kitchen.
I am going to the bathroom.
When naar indicates "to a person" i t i s transMed by
cerca (G-oilo's s p e l l i n g ) :
Mi ta bai cerca Meneer B. Ik ga naar Mijnheer B. toe.
Mi ta bai (na) (cerca) Ik ga naar de dokter.
dokter.
- 170 -
Translation:
I am going to Mr. B. ,
I am going to the doctor.
Examples of na i n Papiamentu with the value of Dutch
naar i n Ora Solo Baha are:
Chi. 44.19 Chiku a s i n t i k l a kon r a b i a a subi na su kabes.
Chiku voelde d u i d e l i j k , hoe boosheid naar z i j n
hoofd steeg.
Chiku f e l t c l e a r l y how anger went up to h i s head.
Chi. 46.25 k o r j e n d o d i un punta na otro
van het ene punt naar het andere rennend
running from one point to the other
K l o f 54.9 e l a h i s a man na l a r i a
h i j l i c h t t e z i j n handen op naar de hemel
he l i f t e d h i s hands up to the skjr
K l o f 55.19 Nan a hiba e Indjam na nan tentnan
Z i j brachten den Indiaan naar nun tenten.
They brought the Indian to t h e i r tents.
MM 70.52 Nan a landa bai na e j o l a .
Z i j zwommen weg naar de j o l .
They swam o f f to t h e i r dinghy.
G-oilo, Papiaments Leerboek, ,
:
5th ed., p. 44.
- 171 -
Naar in the sense of tot "to":
Do. 36.9 E palabrua a dirigi palabra na e lagadishinan.
De uil richtte zijn woorden tot de hagedissen.
The owl addressed his words to the lizards.
Naar in the sense of "into":
M.R. 6.7 Mushe Raton a sinti kon lagrima a hera di
basha na su wowo
Mushe Raton voelde, hoe tranen bijna tot in
zijn ogen opkwamen.
Mushe Raton felt that tears almost welled
into his eyes.
Naar in the sense of "onto":
Klof 54.26 e Indjan a kai drumi boka bow na swela
de Indiaan is met zijn gezicht naar beneden
op de grond gaan liggen
.the.Indian went to lie down on the ground
with his face down
Note that naar beneden is here expressed by
abow and op_ by na.
Naar with the meaning of aan, bij . .aan.
MM 66.11 el a pone su dos man na boka
hij zette zijn twee handen aan zijn mond
cf. bracht zijn twee handen naar zijn mond
he put both his hands to his mouth
Do. 35.19 nan a jega na un seru
zij kwamen bij een berg aan
they arrived at a mountain
- 172 -
MM 69.7 Ora e l a jega na e karabela. . .
Toen h i j b i j de karavel aankwam. . .
When he a r r i v e d at the caravel. . .
In the two foregoing examples the meaning of
jega has been reinforced by na.
Naar i n the sense of tot aan, tot op "as f a r as, u n t i l " :
Ng. 21.10 te na e asiento
tot aan de asiento
as f a r as the asiento
Chi. 45.4 te na ora reinforced by te
tot op het uur
u n t i l the hour
Riba.
Pap. r i b a i s derived from Spanish a r r i b a "above, high,
on high". However, i t has adopted the meaning of Dutch o_p_
and i n "on" and " i n " . Occasionally i t kept the o r i g i n a l
Spanish meaning. Examples:
0
I n t r . - s i n t a - r i b a
:
s t u p i
l i n e 2/3 . " ...
opr.de -stoep z i t t e n
to s i t on the potfch
B.P. 12.17 n^n
-
a keda drumi r i b a kashi
z i j z i j n b l i j v e n slapen op_ het kastje
they stayed '(overnight) sleeping on the chest
- 173 -
Do. 33.34 Compare:
D o l f i a k a i drumi pechu a r i b a ;
D o l f i ging met z i j n borst naar boven liggen,
i n other words: op z i j n rug;
D o l f i lay down with h i s chest up,
that i s , on h i s back;
and:
r i b a su pechu, which would mean op z i j n borst
"on h i s chest" ( i n other words: with h i s back
up_).
Do. 34.29 a dal e klabu r i b a su kabes
sloeg de;spijker op_ *.<&-e--' kop
he h i t the n a i l on the head
Do. 37.2 a kargu'e r i b a e paniweri
legden hem op_ de brancard
put him on the stretcher
Chi. 40.9 pa e s i n t a r i b a dje
om er op_ te z i t t e n
to s i t on i t ( i . e . , the horse)
Chi. 42.14 el a keda manera kos pega r i b a e banki
h i j bleef a l s vastgeplakt op_ de bank z i t t e n
he remained seated on the bench as i f glued
to i t
- 174 -
K l o f 55.23 i s i g u i biba r i b a kdsta d i Venezuela
en bleef op_ de kust van Venezuela wonen
and continued to l i v e on the coast of Venezuela
MM 70.30 r i b a dek
op het dek a l s o : aan dek
on deck
At other times, one may f i n d den dek.
Ng. 23.2 gatiando r i b a man ku p i a
op handen en voeten sluipend
crawling on a l l four
F i g u r a t i v e l y :
K l o f 50.30 nan a s a l i r i b a kaminda
z i j z i j n o_p_ weg gegaan
they got under way
Klof 51.1 no tabatin muchu t r a f i k o r i b a kaja
er was n i e t v e e l verkeer p_p_ straat
Note not op de straat
there was not much t r a f f i c i n the street
Klof 53.9
lastrando r i b a nan barika
op nun buik kruipend
crawling on t h e i r b e l l i e s
- 175 -
Direction:
M.B. 17.5 i a bai para riba muraja
en hij ging staan o_p_ de muur
and he went to stand on the wall
Chi. 42.23 a sali riba plenchi
is op het pleintje naar buiten gekomen
came out onto the square
Chi. 43.19 pon'e riba un garoshi
en zetten hem op_ een kar
and put him on a wagon
Chi. 45.9 subi riba e kabai
op het paard te gaan zitten
to mount the horse
Chi. 45.32 el a pone drumi e skopet riba e baranka
hij legde het geweer op_ de rots neer
he put the gun on a rock
Nati 58.17 a subi para riba un baranka
zij zijn op_ een rots gaan staan
they put themselves on a rock
MM 67.8 buta nan man riba su kabes
legden hun handen oj_ zijn hoofd
put their hands on his head
- 176 -
In time expressions:
M.R. 5.1 riba un bon dia
op een goeden dag
l i t . on a good day
B.P. 11.7 riba e mesun dia
op denzelfden dag
Miscellaneous:
B.P. 10.5 sinta riba mi bentana
l i t . zittend op_ mijn raam
raam must be raamkozi.jn "window s i l l " here
sitting on my window (sill)
An interesting phenomenon is its use in the following phrases:
Pep. 25.7 tabatin rabia riba
hij was boos op_
he was angry with
Chi. 43.10 su bista a kai riba e kaha grandi
zijn oog viel op_ de grote kist
his eye f e l l upon the large chest
Chi. 44.14 .a tira riba nan
. . . schoot op_ hen
. . .fired at them
- 177 -
Chi. 46.4 el a mik riba
hij mikte op_
he aimed at
Klof 51.14 e amhiente stranjo a traha asina tantu riba
e dos amigunan, ku. . .
de vreemde atmosphere heeft zodanig op de
twee vrienden ingewerkt, dat. . .
the strange atmosphere had such an impact on
the two friends that. . .
Klof 54.7/8 el a mira e dos skopetnan di-rig.i rjLba dje
hij zag de twee geweren o_ zich gericht
he saw the two guns directed towards him
MM 68.8 munstrando riba e pos
wijzende op_ de put
pointing at the well
With the sense of Du. over "over, about"
Do. 30.8 Dolfi a papia riba baimentu
Dolfi sprak over het gaan
Dolfi talked about going
Chi. 48.7 El a pasa man riba e kabai su klina
Hij liet zijn hand gaan over de manen van
het paard
He passed his hand over the manes of the horse
- 178 -
Nati 58.29 te nan a pasa r i b a Wespen
totdat z i j over We.stpunt vlogen
u n t i l they flew over Westpoint
The following usage i s i n t e r e s t i n g :
Awa 14.16 E l a pensa r i b a kos t r i s t u
H i j dacht aan i e t s treuri-gs
He thought about something sad.
Spanish would have pensd en "thought about".
Span, en = Du. op_, i n , Pap. r i b a . Hence the
quoted phrase with pensa r i b a . Spanish pensar
de "to think of, have an opinion of" i s Dutch
dertken over. However, D u l l a e r t wrote i n 1657:
eer dat i k op te landen dacht, which would now
be eer i k aan landen dacht "before I was thinking
of landing"j(Weijnen, p. 84). One may conclude
from t h i s example that there may well have been
reinforcement from seventeenth-century Dutch i n
the case of pensa r i b a .
Ng. 20.7 Su s i n t i a pasa r i b a tur e amargura. . .
Haar gedachten gingen over a l l e b i t t e r e
dingen. . .
Her mind went over a l l b i t t e r experiences. . .
- 179 -
Serka.
Spanish cerca "near, close by, nigh" has taken on a
different meaning in Papiamentu serka (also spelled cerca),
namely that of Dutch bi.j "at, with", probably because
cerca is in Dutch vlak bij "close by". Serka may also
mean naar "to, toward".
Examples;
Do. 29.27 bo ta bin pasa un dos. dia serka nos
,-ji-j komt een paar dagen bi.j ons doorbrengen
you will come to spend a few days with us
Do. 32.22 Dolfi a bin serka nos
Dolfi is naar ons toegekomen or: bi.j ons gekom
Dolfi has come to us
Do. -37.13 "Nos ta ban serka tantan Mena?"
"Gaan we naar tante Mina?"
"Are we going to Aunt Mina?"
Do. 38.3 Dolfi a bolbe serka su hendenan
Dolfi is bi j zijn familie teruggekomen
Dolfi has returned to his family
Chi. 43.34 e no a keda serka e kabai
hij is niet bi.j de paarden gebleven
he did not stay with the horses
- 180 -
Nati 58.7 D j o w i l i a jega serka Nati
D j o w i l i i s bi.j Nati aangekomen
D j o w i l i came to Nati
Jega i s here used with serka, since Nati i s
a person. In MI 69.7 (p. 172) .jega i s used
with na because of karabela "the c a r a v e l " .
However, serka has, at times, also the Spanish meaning
of "close by", Du. vlak b i j , d i c h t b i j , dichterbi.j.
For d i , also spelled f o i or f o ' i .
The Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indie* mentions
t h i s as possibly from an "Indian" source.
1
Although i t was
more l i k e l y derived from Port, f o r a , Sp. fuera de "out of,
outside of, besides, i n a d d i t i o n to", the Papiamentu phrase
f o r d i i s used f a r more i n the sense of Dutch van. . .af;
van. . . u i t ; r e s p e c t i v e l y vanaf, vanuit, which were f o r a
long time not accepted as correct Dutch; van. . .af aan;
van. . .p_; van. . .weg; u i t "from. . .down; out of. . .;
from. . .on; from. . .up; away. . .from, from", i n other
words, i n the meaning of Spanish de or desde.
Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indie, p. 548.
- 181 -
Examples:
Chi. 45.26/27 e l a baha f o r d i kabai
h i j kwam van het paard af
he came down from the horse
Chi. 42.29 f o r d i awe marduga
vandaag, van den vroegen morgen af aan
today, from daybreak on
Chi. 39.11 f o r d i seis or d i mainta
van zes uur i n den morgen af aan
from s i x o'clock i n the morning on
M.R. 6.26 f o r d i ora ku
van het uur, dat. . .af aan
from the time that he entered on
B.P. 11.16 f o r d i sink'or
van v i j f uur af
from f i v e o'clock on
K l o f 51.33 f o r d i den l a r i a
van de lucht u i t
from the sky
K l o f 53.11 f o r d i direkshon
vanuit de r i c h t i n g
from the d i r e c t i o n
Chi. 43.16 for di swela
van de grond op_
from the ground (up)
Pep. 26.13 for di mi kurpa
van mij weg
away from me
Nati 57.24 for di e luga aki
van deze plek weg
away from this spot
Masu 15.14 for di e shon su kas
uit de Shon zijn huis
from the Shon's house
Chi. 39.6 for di den fbrnu
uit het fornuis
out of the stove
Chi. 39.2 e lanta for di sonjo
hij staat op uit zijn slaap
he gets up from his sleep
Pep. 28.5 . . .lastra Djodji for di den awa
. . .haalde Djodji uit het water
. . .dragged Djodji from the water
- 183 -
K l o f 54.3 nan a bula s a l i f o r d i rama
z i j z i j n van tussen de takken u i t te
voorschijn gesprongen
they jumped f o r t h from among the branches
MM 71.16 e l a mira . . . s a l i f o r d i e mangelnan
h i j zag . . . u i t de amandelbomen steken
he saw . . . come out from among the almond
trees
Indications of time and parts of the day form another
group worth mentioning separately. In Ora Solo Baha the
following may be found:
Masu 16.1 tramerdia (tras + mediodia)
i n den namiddag
i n the afternoon
Masu 16.2 te kwat'or d i a t a r d i
t o t v i e r uur i n den middag
u n t i l four J-clock i n the afternoon
The context i s i n t e r e s t i n g . The complete
sentence reads: Anto tramerdia nan ta drumi
te kwat'or d i a t a r d i .
Do. 31.34 Kwartu pasa d i un
Kwart over een
At a quarter past one
Note: no preposition before kwartu and kwart.
- 184 -
Chi. 41.6 tur Diaweps mainta
iederen Donderdagmorgen
every Thursday morning
Klof 50.30 Dialuna mainta tempran
Maandagmorgen vroeg
early Monday morning
Klof 51.5 banda di och'or di mainta
omstreeks acht uur
f
s morgens
or: omstreeks acht uur in den morgen
around eight o'clock in the morning
Klof 53.18/19 Un tres kwartu di ora despwes
Een drie kwartier later
Three quarters of an hour later
Note un = Du. een "a" before tres, and also
the use of the singular in Dutch kwartier
after drie "three". After a numeral no
plural ending is necessary in Papiamentu,
unless the numeral is preceded by the
definite article or a possessive adjective.
It can, therefore, not be determined here
whether kwartu is in the singular or the
plural.
Klof 56.1 Diasabra mainta
Zaterdagmorgen
Saturday morning
- 185 -
K l o f 59.15 Banda d i un or d i merdia
Omstreeks een uur 's middags
At about one o'clock i n the afternoon
Note here merdia not tramerdia. Dutch varies
also between 's middags and namiddags.
Nati 59.17 awe mainta
hedenmorgen
t h i s morning
MM 62.1 mitar d i sinku
h a l f v i j f .
h a l f past four
In contrast to the Spanish method of i n d i c a t i n g time
f o r example, l a s ocho "eight o'clock", Dutch uses the
singular, acht uur and not uren. One may wonder whether
t h i s accounts for Pap. or instead of ora, which i s
singular and under c e r t a i n circumstances also p l u r a l .
Mes.
Papiamentu mes i s derived from Iberian mesmo or mismo.
Papiamentu does not d i f f e r from the contributing languages
Dutch and Spanish i n that the pronouns are the same f o r the
d i r e c t object, i n d i r e c t object and the r e f l e x i v e i n the
f i r s t and second persons singular and p l u r a l . However,
there i s a difference i n the t h i r d person singular and
p l u r a l , where Dutch has z i c h and Spanish s_e f o r both
- 186 -
singular and p l u r a l . Papiamentu has four p o s s i b i l i t i e s
f o r expressing the t h i r d person r e f l e x i v e , that i s , by
1) kurpa "body" preceded by the possessive adjective;
2) e_ (singular) and nan ( p l u r a l ) ;
3) e_ mes (singular) and nan mes ( p l u r a l ) ;
4) su mes ( s i n g u l a r ) .
The following comments may be made concerning the above:
1) Maduro considers the use of kurpa preceded by the
possessive adjective the purest way to express r e f l e x i v i t y
i n a l l persons singular and p l u r a l .
1
An example from Ora
Solo Baha i s the following:
Pep. 27.17 pa e ankra su kurpa
om z i c h te verankeren
i n order to anchor himself
2) This use of the d i r e c t and i n d i r e c t object pronoun
f o r the r e f l e x i v e as well was also a feature of seventeenth-
century Dutch (Weijnen, p. 49), so that t h i s could be a case
where Dutch exerted an influence on Papiamentu. A West
F r i s i a n never uses z i c h i n speech, but says H i j wast 'm
"he washes himself" (Langedijk, p. 83).
3) The a d d i t i o n of mes to the pronoun i s becoming more
frequent and i n places where Spanish would not add mismo I
consider t h i s , therefore, a caique on the Dutch use of the
Maduro, Bon Papiamentu,-pp. 7-8; Observacion- i Apuntenan
tocante E l papiamento: l a lengua c r i o l l a de Curazao (Santiago"
de C h i l e , 1928j d i Dr. Rodolfo Lenz (Corsou: n.p., 1967),
pp. 12-17; and Papiamentu: Errornan d i Diccion i Traduccion
(Corsou: n.p., 1966), passinu
- 187 -
personal pronoun plus zelf, where zelf does not necessarily
serve to indicate emphasis. This may be confirmed by the
fact that in seventeenth-century Dutch forms like sijn
selve(n), zijn zelf, syn eigen selven, sy selven appear
for the third person reflexive, beside sick, sigs, sichs.
In' the second person one may find di jn selven "yourself"
(Weijnen, p. 49). In the southern part of The Netherlands
or in the speech of older or uneducated people this would
be the possessive adjective plus eigen, l i t . "own". This
may account for the fact that Papiamentu applies mes also
in cases where Spanish would have propio.
4) The above-mentioned use of eigen may also explain
why in the third person singular su mes, no doubt a caique
on zijn eigen, z'n eigen, exists beside e mes and is more
frequently used than the latter.
Often, the concept of reflexivity is not expressed at
a l l , for example:
Chi. 44.21 Chiku a kunsumi te bira furioso
Chiku at zich op van woede
l i t . Chiku ate himself to the point of getting
furious
Certain verbs which are now reflexive in Dutch were not so
in the seventeenth century. Por example: vermaken, now
zich vermaken "to amuse oneself" and verblijden, now zich
verblijden "to rejoice" (Weijnen, p. 74). This phenomenon
could have been of influence on Papiamentu.
- 188 -
In other instances, r e f l e x i v i t y i s expressed by circum-
l o c u t i o n s , such as b i s t i pana "to dress (oneself); k i t a
pana "to undress (oneself)", whose equivalents i n Dutch and
Spanishare ref1exive.
Mes f u r t h e r assumes the meaning of Dutcii z e l f s , nog and
z e l f s nog "even", " s t i l l " , "the very".
Examples taken from Ora Solo Baha are the following:
M.R. 6.16/17 rebaha mi mes
mi
i.jzelf vernederen
lower myself
Nati 60.1 Nati a mara su mes
Nati bond z i c h z e l f vast
Nati t i e d himself
M.R. 8.3/4
su mes manise
nog den volgenden morgen
the very next morning
Awa 13.6 Ta nada mes
z e l f s n i e t s
not even a thing
Masu 18.13
masha duru mes
z e l f s nog harder
even louder
- 189 -
Pep. 28.3 i a basha poko g r i t u masha mahos mes
en h i j stootte enkele z e l f s nog l e l i j k e r
kreten u i t
and he uttered a few s t i l l u g l i e r c r i e s
Chi. 40.12 su mes kabai
z i j n eigen paard
h i s own horse
Papiamentu does not follow the Spanish pattern of
verb + r e f l e x i v e pronoun f o r the r e c i p r o c a l r e f l e x i v e ,
but uses otro to express r e c i p r o c i t y . Although t h i s could
have been taken from the Spanish uno(s) a o t r o ( s ) , which i s
added only f o r c l a r i f i c a t i o n or emphasis, i t i s f a r more
l i k e l y that otro i s a caique on Dutch elkaar = elkander
(elk + ander) "each other".
Examples:
K l o f 50.21 Nan a p r i m i n t i otro
Z i j beloofden elkaar
They promised each other
MM 73.11 E dos amigunan a keda mira otro
De twee vrienden bleven elkaar aankijken
The two f r i e n d s kept looking at each other
The assumption that otro i s a caique on elkaar i s confirmed
by MM 73.12: s i n papia ku otro, Du. zonder met elkaar te
praten "without t a l k i n g to each other"; and MM 65.13: tras
d i otro, Du. achter elkaar "one a f t e r the other".
- 190 -
I t i s debatable whether the demonstrative adjectives
and pronouns are a caique on Dutch. The adjectives are,
with buki "book": e buki a k i , e buki e i and e buki aya
" t h i s book", "that book" and "yonder book". The Dutch
emphatic forms are d i t boek h i e r , dat boek daar and dat
boek ginder. Since t h i s t h r e e f o l d d i s t i n c t i o n i s common
to both Dutch and Iberian, e.g. Spanish aqui (aca), ahi,
a l i i ( a l i a ) , the Dutch usage may have acted as a r e i n f o r c e -
ment. The demonstrative pronouns are esaki, e s e i , esaya;
1
Dutch deze or d i t ( h i e r ) , die or dat (daar) and die or dat
(ginder) " t h i s one", "that one", "that one yonder". Again,
the Dutch forms may be considered a reinforcement. However,
the demonstratives enter into phrases such as e i fo, aki den,
pa esei = pesei, den e s e i , e i banda, which d e f i n i t e l y appear
to be caiques on Dutch daarbuiten "out there"; hierbinnen
" i n here"; daarom, daarover "for that reason, because of i t " ;
daarop = op dat ogenblik "at that moment"; d a a r b i j , daar i n
de buurt " i n that neighbourhood". E i i s used not only f o r
daar, Sp. a l i a , but also f o r Dutch er, i n i t s meaning "there"
(unstressed).
Esun ku.-is compar'abl-e -to-Dutch - degene, die or diegene,
die "he who", "she who", "those who", "the one who".
Degene i s formed from de_ plus gene "the" + "yonder one".
The d e r i v a t i o n of the Papiamentu forms i s as follows:
ei<ahi, aya ( a j a ) f a l i a , esei either from e plus e_i with
connecting -s-, or from e_s, an older form of the demon-
s t r a t i v e pronoun, plus ei_. Likewise esun<e plus -s_- plus
un, or e_s plus un.
- 191 -
Examples:
M.R. 5.13 den esei
daarop
on that moment
M.R. 5.19 djei = den ei
daarop
thereupon
M.R. 6.22 T'esei ta mi kuki
Dat is voor mij gesneden koek
That is my cookie
M.R. 7.17 ei bow
daar beneden
down there
B.P. 9.5 ei banda
daar in de buurt
in that neighbourhood
Do. 35.20 ei tras
daarachter
behind i t
Do. 35.22 ei den
daarin
therein
- 192 -
Chi. 42,,34 aki den
hierbinnen
in here
Chi. 43.1 ei fo
daarbuiten
out there
Chi. 45.19 pesei = pa esei
daarover l i t . over dat
about that
Chi. 46.4 ei tras
daarachter
behind it . l i t . behind there
Chi. 48.1 pa e kabai ei
voor dat paard daar
for that horse there
Chi. 48.4 p'e mucha aki (p'e = pa e)
voor dezen jongen hier
for this boy here
Klof 49.25 pesei
daarom
for. that reason
Klof 51.19 aki bow
hier beneden
down here
- 193 -
Klof 51.10 ei
daar
there
MM 62.17 nan sa kaba ku nos t'ei (= ta ei)
zij weten al, dat we er zijn
they know already that we are there
Nati 57.23 esun ku kome salu
degene die zout eet
the one who eats salt
The adverbs paden; pafo and patras are, no doubt, .
caiques on Dutch naar binnen; naar buiten and naar achteren.
Examples:
MM 71.4- bai paden
naar binnen gaan
to go inside
Ohi. 44.23 sali pafo
kwam naar buiten
came outside
MM 72.31 mas patras
verder naar achteren
farther behind
- 194 -
Patras may be found as a p r e p o s i t i o n as w e l l :
Do. 32.3 E saku . . . a bai patras den garoshi
De zak . . . ging achter i n de wagen
The bag . . . went into the back of the cart
and paden occurs as the a d j e c t i v a l part of a compound noun
i n :
MM 67.25/26 ku nan p a r t i paden kora
met hun rode binnengedeelte
with t h e i r red inside
- 195 -
i i ) Syntactic Caiques.
The subject of syntactic caiques forms possibly the
most challenging part of t h i s study because an attempt w i l l
be made to show that c e r t a i n of the features considered
generally to be c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of pidgin or creole l a n -
guages as a r e s u l t of s i m p l i f i c a t i o n may, i n the case of
Papiamentu, very well be due to Dutch influence,, e s p e c i a l l y
seventeenth-century Dutch.
The syntactic caiques may be categorized as follows:
1. Omission of the D e f i n i t e A r t i c l e .
One of the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s l i s t e d by H a l l i s the use of
nouns without d e f i n i t e or i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e .
1
Goilo states
i n h i s Papiaments Leerboek that the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e has a
very demonstrative meaning and i s used only when i t i s
absolutely necessary to indicate a d e f i n i t e person or object.
I f one says e buki, e mesa, e s t u l , one i s r e f e r r i n g to a
s p e c i f i c book, table or chair. Por that reason the d e f i n i t e
a r t i c l e i s omitted i n many cases .-or, replaced by un. He
gives the following examples:
De vrouw i s de g e z e l l i n van de man.
Muhe ta companera d i homber r Un muhe ta companera d i
un homber.
De koning van Engeland.
Rey di I n g l a t e r r a .
H a l l , Pidgin and Cr eole.'Language s, p. 8.
- 196 -
But: E rey cu a muri na ana. . . .
De koning, die i n het jaar . . . gestorven i s ,
De pauw i s een mooie vogel.
Un pauwis ta un para bunita.
In West F r i s i a n , one of the contributing d i a l e c t s ,
the phenomenon of the i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e ' s r e p l a c i n g the
d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e i n statements of general f a c t occurs as
w e l l . Langedijk gives the following example: Een koe i s
'n herkauwend dier, Dutch De koe i s een herkauwend dier
"the cow i s a ruminating -animal" (p. 129).
Marguerite Saint-Jacques writes the following about
the omission of the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e i n Guyanese:
In Guyanese, nouns do not have to be accompanied by
a determinant l i k e the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e f o r French
and therefore may occur i n the utterance without
any determination, f o r instance /zozd sate/ 'birds
sang'. In the absence of any determinant, the noun
standing alone expresses a generic concept or an
undetermined p l u r a l i t y and i t corresponds to French
des. However, when a determinant i s used, i t w i l l
have a greater p r e c i s i o n than i n French l e , l a ;
French l a femme could mean either 'any woman
1
or
'a c e r t a i n woman'; i n Guyanese /fam-a/ always points
to a s p e c i f i c woman 'the one about whom I speak'.
Therefore, /a/ i n Guyanese stands between the
d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e and the demonstrative.2
However, i n the case of Papiamentu, a comparison may be
made with seventeenth-century Dutch usage i n the omission of
the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e .','Weijnen o f f e r s the following examples.
The d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e i s often l a c k i n g before a proper noun
^Goilo, Papiaments Leerboek, p. 15.
Marguerite Saint-Jacques Fauquenoy, "Guyanese: A French
Creole," pp. 33- 34.
- 197. -
preceded by an a d j e c t i v e , e.g. s t e r c k e n Samson "strong
Samson"; w i t h nouns which i n d i c a t e t h a t something i s unique
i n i t s k i n d , e.g. a l l e deelen van C h r i s t e n h e i t " a l l p a r t s
of Ghristiandom" ( i n Hooft, B r i e v e n ) ; onder maen "under
/Jthe/moon"; i n hemel " i n /ftiJ7sky". The d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e
i s f u r t h e r omitted, i f the nouns are s u f f i c i e n t l y d e f i n e d
from the context: d i e v i n g e r op den mont l e i .it "who l a y s
/his/ f i n g e r on h i s mouth"; ,naer s t a d t "to town"; op s t r a n d
"on /they
7
beach". Some of these examples show t h a t E n g l i s h
does not always add the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e e i t h e r , whereas
modern Dutch does. One of the authors of the p e r i o d , S i x ,
omits the a r t i c l e before the name of the r i v e r Mansannares;
Goster w r i t e s voor aer, modern Dutch voor den ander " f o r
the other". Other authors, too, leave out the a r t i c l e before
ander. Another case where the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e i s omitted
i s w i t h s i n g l e nouns which represent an o f f i c e , rank or
p o s i t i o n . Weijnen g i v e s the example: Rechtschapen vaendrigh
moet en w i l by 't vaendel sterveni." /the7 r i g h t e o u s ensign
must and w i l l die by the banner". On the other hand,
Bredero does use the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e before a proper noun.
I t a l s o stands before a class-noun p l u s proper name: De
Keyzer Geta "the emperor Geta"."
1
"
Other than the examples from G o i l o quoted on p. 195,
the absence of a d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e may be found i n the s e c t i o n
Weijnen, Zeventiende-eeuwse T a a l , p. 70.
- 198 -
on na, pp. 168-172 of t h i s study, e.g. hai cine, na porta,
na bentana, den cushina, na l a r i a , na swela, unless one would
consider the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e to be included i n na, as i t i s
i n Portuguese na.
In some cases Lauffer leaves out the d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e
with rank, even i f a s p e c i f i c person i s r e f e r r e d to. In
others he adds i t .
Examples:
Chi. 48.1 gobernador a puntra
de gouverneur vroeg
the governor asked
Chi. 48.9/10 G-obernador ku komandant
Pe gouverneur en de_ kommandant
The governor and the commander
Chi. 44.25 e l a b i s a e_ komandant
h i j z e i tegen den komandant
he said to the commander
2. Omission of the i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e before otro.
Lauffer writes i n Ora Solo Baha sometimes otro and some-
times un otro f o r "another". The former i s Spanish, the l a t -
t e r Dutch usage, een ander.
- 199 -
Examples:
Chi. 46.6 tras di otro baranka
achter een andere rots
behind another rock
but
Chi. 46.5 di un otro franses
van een andere Fransman
of another Frenchman
One may wonder whether in the following example the absence
of the definite article in seventeenth-century Dutch before
ander influenced Papiamentu:
Chi. 46.25 di un punta na otro, where modern Dutch would
have:
van het eene punt naar het andere (note first het)
from one point to the other
3. The Use.of the Possessive Adjective.
Another feature which Papiamentu has in common with Dutch
is that instead of using the definite article: with parts of
the body and articles-of clothing, as is usual in Spanish,
i t takes the possessive adjective.
Examples:
M.R. 5.19 pa mi penja mi kabei
om mijn haar te kammen
in order to comb my hair
- 200 -
Awa 14.2 e l a hinka e dos webunan bow d i su brasa
hij stopte de twee eieren onder z i j n arm
he stuck the two eggs under h i s arm
Pep. 27.31 i a span su pianan
en strekte zi,jn poten
and stretched h i s legs
Chi. 40.29 habri su kurason
z i j n hart open te leggen
to open up h i s heart
Nati 58.18 nan a span nan brasanan
z i j strekten nun armen u i t
they stretched out t h e i r arms
Chi. 45.18 i ramanan a sker su p i a d i karson
en de takken scheurden z i j n broekspijpen
and the branches tore the legs of h i s trousers
4 The adverb.
There are three kinds of adverb of manner i n Papiamentu:
1) those that are taken over i n the exact form i n which
they appear i n Spanish, that i s , formed on the feminine form
of the adjective, which does not e x i s t i n Papiamentu, plus
-mente. Examples from Ora Solo Baha are: MM 65.24: rapida-
rn ente ; MM 66.19: unikamente; B.P. 10.30: libremente and i n
B.P. 11.3: libramente.
2) those which are constructed with circumlocutions,
which i s also Dutch and Spanish usage: Pap. cu cariffo;
Du. met l i e f d e ; Sp. con c a r i n o . " l o v i n g l y " .
- 201 -
3) In most instances, Papiamentu follows the Dutch
example where adverbs have the same form as the corresponding
a d j e c t i v e . In a few idiomatic expressions Dutch has wel
and Papiamentu the a d j e c t i v a l form bon.
An i n t e r e s t i n g feature of the Papiamentu adverb i s that,
as i n Dutch, i t may take the diminutive form. In Dutch one
f i n d s flauwtjes. " f a i n t l y " , s t i l l e t j e s "quietly", i n Chi..46.18:
a kuminsa b i r a sukuritu " i t began to get a l i t t l e dark".
Examples from Ora Solo Baha are:
Nati 57.14/15 E punta . . . a buta e bestianan su p i a
sangra masha mahos.
De punt . . . deed de poten van de koeien
heel l e l i j k bloeden.
The point . . . made the legs of the cows
bleed very badly.
Nati 57.15/16 Dolo a buta e bakanan g r i t a t e r i b e l t r i s t u .
De p i j n deed de koeien v r e s e l i j k t r e u r i g
l o e i e n .
The pain made the cows low t e r r i b l y sadly.
Examples of adverbs and adverbial phrases of place and
time may be found on pp. 183-185 and 191-194.
5 Genitive marker a f t e r nouns.
Papiamentu has two ways of i n d i c a t i n g possession. One
i s the use of su " h i s " and nan " t h e i r " a f t e r the noun de-
noting the possessor. This i s a caique on c o l l o q u i a l Dutch
z'n ( z i j n ) f o r the masculine singular and nun f o r the mas-
culine p l u r a l , d'r (haar) "her" f o r both feminine singular
and p l u r a l . Por instance, de pastoor z'n koe "the p r i e s t ' s
cow", l i t . "the p r i e s t h i s cow"; de pastoors nun koeien
"the p r i e s t s ' cows", l i t . "the p r i e s t s t h e i r cows". One
- 202 -
may even hear de pastoors d'r koeien. The same phenomenon
occurred i n seventeenth-century Dutch.
Both i n c o l l o q u i a l Dutch and Papiamentu t h i s use of the
genitive p a r t i c l e i s permitted when the possessor i s animate.
Su and nan may also be used i n t h i s fashion a f t e r pronouns
and other parts of speech denoting that group.
Examples:
B.P. 11.8 den Bas P i p i su kura
op Bas P i p i z
1
n erf
i n Bas P i p i ' s yard
Masu 15.14 Mi shon su kasa
Mevrouw d'r man
Mylady's husband
MM 67.6 Manuel su kurason
Manuel z
1
n hart
Manuel
1
s heart
Lauffer seems to use su instead of nan f o r
the t h i r d person p l u r a l , which would indicate
an influence from the Spanish possessive
adjective f o r the t h i r d person singular and
p l u r a l : su. The following i s an example of
t h i s .
Chi. 43.23/24 e Fransesnan su intenshon
de Fransen hun bedoeling
the Frenchmen's i n t e n t i o n
- 203 -
B.P. 10.16 e para s_u kans j on
de vogel z'n l i e d
the bird's song
Chi. 46.5 esei su skopet
die z'n geweer
h i s (with emphasis) gun
MM 64.30 e eseinan su k l a r i d a d
die d'r helderheid
the c l a r i t y of those
Klof 50.26 Kada uno su b i s i k l e t a
Ieder z'n f i e t s
Each one's b i c y c l e
The second way i n which Papiamentu may i n d i c a t e posses-
sion i s by dir. _ _
Examples:
Pep. 26.29 un amigu d i mi
een vriend van mij
a f r i e n d of mine
i n which d i mi i s a caique on Dutch van mi j ,
c f . Sp. un amigo mio, but also un amigo de e l .
Masu 17.11 un k r i a d_i nos
een bediende van ons
a servant of ours
Cf. Sp. un criado nuestro
- 204 -
Chi. 48.25 e kabes d i su kabai
het hoofd van z i j n paard
the head of h i s horse
Ng. 20.27 tur e kasnan d i su t a t a
a l l e huizen van haar vader
a l l of her father's houses
In other words, a construction which e x i s t s
both i n Dutch and i n Spanish. Du. also a l
haar vader*s huizen. The question a r i s e s
whether t h i s construction was made necessary
by the presence of tur i n t h i s case.
6. The Use of k i i n Exclamations.
Lenz quotes two exclamatory sentences:
K i un d i s t a n c i a denter estado d i bjda d i nan dos!
-iCuanta d i s t a n c i a entre e l estado de vida de e l l o s dos!
and
F r i t s a yega kas, ma den k i un estado!
-Frederico l l e g o a su casa, pero ien que estado!
Lenz adds t h i s observation:
Aqui se t r a t a probablemente de una imitacion s i n t a c t i c a
de una frase holandesa, correspon&i.ente - a l Ingles ,what
a state.1
Lenz, E l papiamento, p. 165.
- 205 -
The Du t c h t r a n s l a t i o n o f t h e s e s e n t e n c e s woul d he: Wat een
v e r s c h i i i n ( l i t . a f s t a n d t u s s e n ) de s t a n d v a n hen b e i d e n
"What a d i f f e r e n c e i n s t a t u s bet ween t he two o f t h e m! " and
F r i t s kwam t h u i s , maar i n wat v o o r een t o e s t a n d ! " F r e d came
home, but i n what a s t a t e ! " Wood c i t e s t hes e ^exampl es and
giv.es. t he f o l l o w i n g comment apout t h e l a t t e r :
The model i s c l e a r l y Du. wat een t o e s t a n d . Such a
c o mb i n a t i o n o f " wh a t " and t he i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e
woul d be i mp o s s i b l e i n S p a n i s h ; c o n t r a s t Sp. i e n
que e s t a d o ' . l
A l t h o u g h i n t h e s ent enc e f r om Mushe Ra t o n ( 6. 16/17) K i mi s h i
ami a k i r e b a h a mi mes i k a s a ku un l a d r o n ( wh i c h has t o be
t r a n s l a t e d f r e e l y as /at z ou i k me met een d i e f i n l a t e n
en me v e r n e d e r e n door met hem t e t r ouwen! "Why woul d I g et
i n v o l v e d w i t h a t h i e f and l o we r my s e l f by ma r r y i n g h i m! " )
k i i s n o t f o l l o we d by t h e i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e , one may wonder
whet her i t i s a n o t h e r c as e of Du t c h i n f l u e n c e i n an e x c l a ma -
t o r y s e n t e n c e . Two o b s e r v a t i o n s s h o u l d be made h e r e :
l ) i n t he c o n s u l t e d copy o f L e n z , E l papi ament o, a w r i t t e n
n o t e i n t he ma r g i n s a i d poco c o r r i e n t e , wh i c h may e x p l a i n
why t he s ent enc e quot ed above i s t he o n l y exampl e f ound
i n Or a S o l o Baha; and 2) Lenz d i d n o t know Du t c h , but bas ed
h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s on h i s knowl edge o f German and E n g l i s h .
I n Or a S o l o Baha a l l o t h e r e x c l a ma t o r y s e n t e n c e s a r e i n t r o -
duced by e s t a , e . g . M.R. 6. 12: A i , e s t a un a n g e l b u n i t a .
" Oh, what a b e a u t i f u l a n g e l ! "
' Wood, " P a p i a me n t u , " pp. 66- 67.
- 206 -
7. Pa.
Por the use of p_a under Dutch influence, Wood gives
the example "/ta taha pa huma/ 'no smoking, i t i s forbidden
to smoke' Du. verboden te roken."
1
Verboden te roken i s
short f o r Het i s verboden om te roken. Pa serves here as
the l i n k i n g element between the two verb forms. Wood con-
t r a s t s t h i s with Spanish se prohibe fumar, es / s i c /
7
pro-
p
hibido fumar.
In the examples which Lenz gives f o r p_a (which he
c a l l s a preposition) where i t stands f o r Spanish para que,
the Dutch meaning i s om te "to, i n order to". He writes
further:
La frase con p_a espresa l a idea del j u i c i o apodictico
que en espanol se i n d i c a por e l uso del subjuntivo.
Es notable que esta construccion del i n f i n i t i v o con
pa corresponde exactamente a l uso de l o s i n f i n i t i v o s
en! l a s lenguas jermanicas /si7
c o n l a s
preposiciones
to en ingles, _te en holandes, zu en aleman, que
indican l a d i r e c t i o n , e l f i n del verbo gramatical-
I t should be kept i n mind that, i n the seventeenth
century, Dutch knew the use of a p r e p o s i t i o n before an
i n f i n i t i v e without the i n t e r p o l a t i o n of te, as i s required
now. Weijnen states that the group om + i n f i n i t i v e i s
p a r t i c u l a r l y frequent i n writings of that period."^ This
Wood, "Papiamentu," p. 64.
Wood, p. 64.
Lenz, E l papiamento, p. 181.
"Weijnen, Zeventiende-eeuwse Taal, p. 83-
- 207 -
may explain the f a c t that i n Papiamentu p_a i s not followed
by ku (as i n Sp. para que) and that joa i s present before
i n f i n i t i v e s i n the f i r s t place, since Spanish has i n such
cases simply the i n f i n i t i v e . The pa-construction may,
therefore, j u s t i f i a b l y be ascribed to Dutch influence.
That p_a governs a subjunctive may be concluded from
the f a c t that the verb following i s not preceded by ta.
Dutch opdat = p_a may be used with the subjunctive.
Among the examples taken from Ora Solo Baha there are
also a number where p_a i s Du. zodat "so that", the meaning
of which i s only s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t from opdat.
The difference i n usage i n Papiamentu and Spanish i s
that p_a with a f i n i t e verb may be used and, indeed, i s
f a r more frequent i n Ora Solo Baha than with an i n f i n i t i v e
even when the subjects of the main and subordinate clauses
are the same. Although ta does not appear i n subjunctive
forms since ta i s i n essence the Spanish esta of the ,
progressive tense, which i s only very r a r e l y used i n the
subjunctive the f i n i t e verb can s t i l l be distinguished
from the i n f i n i t i v e by the presence of the personal pronoun,
Dutch allows both constructions: Ik ga naar huis om nog wat
te lezen "I am going home ( i n order) to s t i l l read a l i t t l e
b i t " and Ik ga naar huis, zodat (or opdat) i k nog wat kan
lezen "I am going home, so that I w i l l s t i l l be able to
read a l i t t l e b i t " . It i s , therefore, again quite possible
to see i n the Papiamentu use of p_a an influence from Dutch.
Pa and ku may both appear a f t e r ke "to want" and other
verbs which take the subjunctive, such as propone "to
- 208 -
propose", i n order to introduce the subordinate clause. In
other words, p_a may take the meaning of "that" i n such
cases.
Prom the more than eighty examples from Ora Solo Baha
the following may s u f f i c e . ( i t should be noted that i n
Papiamentu the subjunctive e x i s t s i n the present tense
only.)
K l o f 55.17 Ademas ta duru p_a molestia e Indjan su
sintimentu.
Bovendien i s het hard om de Indiaan's
gevoelens te_ kwetsen.
Besides, i t i s c r u e l to hurt the Indian's
f e e l i n g s .
MM 63.13/14 Ojeda l o s a l i . . ., pa bai deskubri . . . .
Ojeda z a l . . . uitvaren om te gaan ont-
dekken . . . .
Ojeda w i l l go out . . . i n order to d i s -
cover. . . .
MM 67.20/21 Menatao a kombida Manuel p_a bai mira kas
d i su t a t a .
Menatao heeft Manuel uitgenodigd om het
huis van z i j n vader te gaan bekijken.
Menatao i n v i t e d Manuel to go to look at
h i s father's house.
MM 62.18 Ban tera anto jaa mos mira.
Laten wij dan aan land gaan, opdat we
kunnen gaan k i j k e n .
Let us go ashore then i n order that we can
have a look.
- 209 -
63.9 Manuel a keda ketu, p_a Juan Luis no rabia
mas ku ne
Manuel h i e l d z i c h s t i l , opdat Juan Luis
niet nog bozer op hem zou worden
Manuel kept quiet, so that Juan Luis would
not be s t i l l angrier with him
63.19 i p i d i ' e p_a bai ku ne
en vroeg hem met hem mee te gaan
or: om met hem mee te_ gaan
and asked him to come along with him
MM 69.14 p_a e por kore bai skonde
zodat (opdat) h i j z i c h zou kunnen verschuilen
i n order that he would be able to hide himself
Nati 57.29 ku ta masha d i f i s i l p_a kome kuminda s i n s a l u
dat het erg m o e i l i j k i s om voedsel te_ eten
zonder zout
that i t i s very hard to eat food without s a l t
Do. 37.24 Pa Chein no ke p_a bo bolbe b i r a mankaron
Pa Chein wil n i e t , dat j l j weer mank wordt
Pa Chein does not want you to get lame again
MM 62.6/7 Vespucci a propone p_a nan drent'e, p_a hanja .
Vespucci stelde voor, dat z i j hem zouden
binnengaan om . . . te_ vinden
Vespucci proposed to enter i t (the i n l e t )
i n order to f i n d . . .
- 210 -
8. Ta.
Ta i s the verb "to be". It i s ,used. before most verbs
i n the present tense. Such an i n d i c a t o r i s very common i n
Creole languages. I t i s obvious that Pap. ta i s derived
from Iberian estar, used to form the progressive tense.
I t was, therefore, heard frequently by those who were exposed
to Iberian speech. This o r i g i n may be shown by the f a c t that
c e r t a i n verbs do not take ta, such as ta i t s e l f , t i n "to
have", por "to be able to", sa or sabi "to know how",
conoce "to know",that i s , "to be acquainted with", mester
"must", ke_ "to want". Papiamentu d i f f e r s from Spanish i n
that ta i s followed by the i n f i n i t i v e , rather than by the
present p a r t i c i p l e . I t should be added here that Dutch
has to use circumlocutions f o r the progressive tense and
that the combination of the verb zi.jn "to be" plus a
present p a r t i c i p l e i s rare. Esta llorando has to be
t r a n s l a t e d by hi.j i s aan het h u i l e n "he i s crying", c f .
Portuguese estar a chorar "to be crying".
Dutch-derived verbs and dal do not have a present
p a r t i c i p l e . The progressive tense i s l i t t l e used i n
Papiamentu and mostly replaced by other forms, e.g. by the
simple tense or by a phrase of na plus noun formed on the
verb i n q u e s t i o n p l u s -mentu. Goilo gives the following
examples;. Mi y i u a b i n i cas na yoramentu "My son came home
crying"; Nos a pasa brug na cantarnentu "We crossed the
bridge singing"- (G-oilo, p. 95). In order to express
- 211 -
emphasis, that i s , to imply "I am eating at t h i s very moment",
one can use the progressive tense: Mi ta comiendo, but also
Ta come mi ta come. In t h i s construction ta i s added to
verbs with which i t normally i s not used, e.g. ta ke mi ke,
ta mester mi mester. Mi a han'e skirbiendo may also be
expressed by Mi a han'e ta s k i r b i ' (which ..could well be
under the influence of Dutch Ik vond hem aan het schrijven)
"I found him w r i t i n g " .
1
Perhaps the same may be true of
Do. 29.16 ta den jega "he i s a r r i v i n g " .
There are other uses of ta where Dutch influence i s
more evident. One of them i s ta f o r Du. er i s , er z i j n
"there i s " , there are", Sp. hay.
.Awa 13.6 Ta nada mes. . .
Er i s z e l f s n i e t s . . .
There i s not even a thing. . .
.Ta
:
may also i n d i c a t e emphasis, probably as a caique on
Dutch Het i s . . ., e.g. Het i s n i e t mijn 66m maar mijn tante,
die verhuizen w i l , shortened to: Niet mijn 66m maar mijn
tante w i l verhuizen "(It i s ) not my uncle but my aunt (who)
wants to move".
Examples from Ora Solo Baha:
Awa 13.24 Ta mi amigu t o t e k i a regala mi nan.
Het i s mijn v r i e n d i n de boomhagedis, die
ze mij gegeven heeft.
(Mijn v r i e n d i n de boomhagedis. . .)
My f r i e n d the tree l i z a r d has given them to me.
These examples are taken from G-oilo, p. 95.
- 212 -
Pep. 25.9 Sigun Peperin ta e so tabatin drechi d i
kanta kokojoko. . . .
Volgens Peperin was h i j de enige, die het
recht had te kraaien. . .
According to Peperin, he_ was the only one
who had the r i g h t to crow. . . .
Ghi. 47.26/27 Ta e mucha aki a skapa nos t u r .
Het i s deze jongen, die ons a l i e n gered
heeft.
It i s t h i s boy who has saved us a l l .
I t should be noted that Papiamentu omits the
ku, die "who".
The inverted form i s het i s used i n Dutch to place
emphasis i n a question. Por example: Is het morgen of
overmorgen, dat de boot vertrekt? "Is i t to-morrow or
the day a f t e r to-morrow that the boat i s leaving?" and
Is het n i e t zo, dat mussen u i t Europa z i j n gekomen?
"Isn't i t that sparrows have come from Europe?" In
Papiamentu the inversion of subject and verb does not
take place i n questions, as i t does i n Dutch. In cases
where the sentence does not s t a r t with an i n t e r r o g a t i v e ,
i n t e r r o g a t i o n has to be indicated by intonation or the
question has to be introduced by ta_, following the Dutch
pattern of a sentence with emphasis, even where Dutch would
not have i t . The combination of ta plus i n t e r r o g a t i v e may
also be found.
- 213 -
Examples:
Awa, 13.21 "Unda b'a s a l i ku webu?"
"Waar ben je met de eieren vandaan gekomen?"
"Where did you come from with the eggs?"
Nati 59.16 "Ta unda b'a hinka bo kurpa?"
"Waar had je je verborgen?"
"Where did you hide y o u r s e l f ? "
Klof 55.15 "Ta kwantu or. . .?"
"Hoe l a a t . . .?"
"At what time. . .?"
Ng. 22.24 "Ta ken ta Ngano?"
"Wie i s Ngano?"
"Who i s Ngano?"
Ta appears also i n i n d i r e c t questions:
MM 67.34/ Manuel su lenga a k i s h i k i pa puntra Menatao
68.1 ta unda nan ta hanja oro.
Manuel's tong was geprikkeld om Men..-atao
te.vragen, waar z i j goud vonden.
Manuel's tongue was i t c h i n g to ask Mena-tao
where they found gold.
Papiamentu uses ta plus i n f i n i t i v e where Spanish would
have the present p a r t i c i p l e or que + a f i n i t e verb and Dutch
the i n f i n i t i v e .
- 214 -
Example:
M.R. 7.17 Den esei el a tende dos t r u p i a l . . . ta
bisa . . .
Op dat ogenblik hoorde h i j twee t r o e p i a l e n
. . . zeggen . . .
At that moment he heard two t r o o p i a l s . . .
saying . . .
Spanish: Entonces entendi dos t r u p i a l e s . . .
diciendo (or: que decian) . . .
9 The r e f l e x i v e .
For comments on the r e f l e x i v e see pp. 185-189.
10. The passive voice.
Maduro devotes a chapter i n Bon Papiamentu to the
wrong use of the passive voice and states that Papiamentu
adheres to the active form (pp. 43-45).
Wood writes:
The passive voice i s formed with the a u x i l i a r i e s
/wordu/-/wdrde/ or /ser/, which are not distinguished
semantically. Most speakers appear to use both
i n d i s c r i m i n a t e l y ; some conservative speakers, mainly
i n country d i s t r i c t s , use no passive at a l l , and both
forms appear to be the r e s u l t of comparatively recent
l i t e r a r y influences, probably during the l a t t e r h a l f
of the nineteenth century.^
G-oilo mentions the usage with worde, from Du. worden
and ser, from Iberian languages (Papiaments Leerboek, p. 114).
There are no examples of worde (more often spelled wordu,
r a r e l y wordo) or ser i n the passive voice i n Ora Solo Baha.
Wood, "Papiamentu," pp. 71-72.
- 215 -
I t should he kept i n mind that Dutch and the Romance
languages which have contributed to the formation of
Papiamentu prefer to avoid the use of the passive voice.
Ferraz writes i n "African Influences on Principense
Creole" (p. 11):
Westermann and Bryan (1952) /T.e. D. Westermann and
M.A. Bryan, The Languages of West A f r i c a (Oxford;,
U n i v e r s i t y Press, 1952/. state that the passive voice
does not occur i n the Kwa languages. In Principense
likewise there i s no passive transformation.
As Marguerite Saint-Jacques points out, the absence
of the passive voice i s also a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of Guyanese
and other French C r e o l e d i a l e c t s .
1
11. Laga.
Although laga i s derived from Iberian l a r g a r "to
loosen, slacken, l e t go, set f r e e , leave", i t must have
been r e i n f o r c e d by Dutch l a t e n " l e t , allow, have o_r make
someone do something, cause to be, leave", Sp \ dejar.
The use of laga as a u x i l i a r y of the imperative i s a
caique on the Dutch imperative f o r the f i r s t person p l u r a l :
l a t e n wij + verb " l e t us" + verb, and further on expressions
such as l a a t me. . . " l e t me;,i..V!; l a a t hem.. " l e t
him. . ."; l a a t ons. . . " l e t us. . ."; l a a t hen (for
persons) l a a t ze (.for objects). . . " l e t them. . . "fi
The form with laga e x i s t s beside the one used f o r the
"Guyanese: A French Creole," p. 34.
- 216 -
second person only, i . e . the verb without ta and, i n c e r t a i n
cases, a change i n stress i n the verb.
Dutch influence i s also apparent i n laga bay, Du^ l a t e n
gaan, l a t e n varen "to l e t go"; laga kay, Du. l a t e n v a l l e n
"to l e t f a l l , to drop"; laga para, Du. l a t e n staan "to
leave standing".
Examples:
M.R. 6.13 Lagami dedika
Laat mij wijden
Let me dedicate
B.P. 11.20 Laga nos pasa
Laten wij door . . . gaan
Let us go through
Masu 18.10 Lagami bai
Laat me gaan
Let me go
This i s an example of both the imperative and
the combination of laga and bai
Chi. 47.26 Lagami bisabo>
Laat me U zeggen
Let me t e l l you
MM 63.8 Laga d i ta sonja l a n t a
Laat af van dagdromen
Laat dagdromen varen
Stop day-dreaming
- 217 -
MM 71.34 Menatao a laga su garganta bai
Menatao l i e t z i j n (= J o s e l i t o ' s ) keel gaan (los)
Menatao l e t go of h i s (= J o s e l i t o ' s ) throat
Nati 59.1 Ata Shon a laga tirami den pos.
Zie hoe de Shon me i n de put heeft l a t e n gooien.
See how the Shon has had me thrown into the p i t .
Masu 18.11 Ami lagabo bai?
Ik je l a t e n gaan?
Me, l e t you go?
12. Separable Verbs.
A c l e a r i n d i c a t i o n of Dutch influence on Papiamentu i s
found i n the caiques on the phenomenon of the Dutch separable
verbs. These are compound verbs consisting of a preposition
or an adjective serving as a p r e f i x to the i n f i n i t i v e of a
root-verb, e.g. neerleggen "to put down"; doodslaan
M
t b
beat to death"; klaarmaken "to make ready".
In the simple tenses the p r e p o s i t i o n or adjective
comes a f t e r the verb, disconnected, thus playing the r o l e
of an adverb; i n the compound tenses i t precedes the verb
with which i t i s connected, i n t h i s case, with the p r e f i x
of the past p a r t i c i p l e , i . e . ge-. In other words, neer-
leggen gives i n the present tense i k l e g neer; imperfect:
ik'legde neer;. perfect: i k heb neergelegd; future: i k z a l
neerleggen. Por doodslaan these forms would be: i k s l a
dood, i k sloeg dood, i k heb doodgeslagen, i k zal. doodslaan.
- 218 -
For klaarmaken: i k maak klaar, i k maakte klaar, i k heb
klaargemaakt, i k z a l klaarmaken. In Papiamentu the root-
verb i s always placed f i r s t .
In a subordinate clause the p r e f i x has the same place
as with the i n f i n i t i v e : Ik hoor, dat ,je a l t i . j d vroeg op-
staat "I hear that you are always up early." In cases where
there i s a compound tense i n the subordinate clause, there
are two p o s s i b i l i t i e s : 1) Ik hoor, dat je vroeg bent opge-
staan or 2) Ik hoor, dat je vroeg op bent gestaan, y i hear
that you got up early.
The number of words or s y l l a b l e s that may come between
the root-verb and the separable p r e f i x i s more r e s t r i c t e d
i n Papiamentu than i n Dutch. However, some of the examples
from Ora Solo Baha show that the occurrence of a separation
by more than two or three s y l l a b l e s i s more frequent than
Wood
v
c l a i m s
1
The following examples show the separable p r e f i x as
found i n Ora Solo Baha.
a) Caiques on Dutch verbs consisting of a p r e p o s i t i o n plus
root-verb.
Do. 33.1 D o l f i a wak rondo d i e komedor.
D o l f i keek de kamer rond.
D o l f i looked around i n the room.
Wood, "Papiamentu," p. 59.
- 219 -
B.P. 11.20 Laga nos pasa den j a l u s i bai paden.
Laten wij door de j a l o u z i e naarbinnengaan.
Let us go inside through the Venetian blinds.,
Lo. 33.24/25 Pa Ghein ta butabo aki bow un ratu.
Pa Ghein zet je h i e r een poosje neer.
Pa Chein i s putting you down here f o r a while.
Chi. 43.15 Dos solda a kamna jega serka.
Twee soldaten z i j n naderbijgekomen.
or: Twee soldaten kwamen naderbi j
Two s o l d i e r s approached.
Ng. 20.25/26 un . . . a kore su t r a s
ee"n . . . rende haar achterna
one . . . ran a f t e r her
The i n f i n i t i v e i s achternarennen. Contrast
t h i s with the following:
M.R. 7.26/27 Mushe Raton a b i r a i topa ku un dams raton
para su t r a s .
Mushe Raton keerde z i c h om en botste op tegen
een muizendame, die achter hem stond.
Mushe Raton turned around and c o l l i d e d with
a lady mouse who was standing behind him.
There i s no such verb as acht erst aan.
Hence, achter i s here a p r e p o s i t i o n .
- 220 -
b), Caiques on Dutch verbs c o n s i s t i n g of an adjective plus
root-verb.
Klof 5.2.17/18 i a pone nan machete k l a
en legden hun machete klaar
and put t h e i r machete i n readiness
Chi. 41.1 pa. . . nan hanja nan kabai k l a
zodat z i j hun paarden klaar zouden vinden
i n order that they may f i n d t h e i r horses
ready
Chi. 45.4 Te na ora ku fransesnan t i r ' e mata
Totdat de Fransen hem doodschieten
U n t i l the French shoot and k i l l him
Nati 59*5 Solo ta kimabo mata
De zon brandt je dood
The sun scorches you to death
MM 70.17 pa t i r a tur e porkonan mata
om a l die zwijnen dood te schieten
i n order to shoot and k i l l a l l those swine
Chi. 44.22 E l a dal e tapa d i e kaha habri
H i j sloeg de deksel van de k i s t open
He threw the l i d of the chest open
Masu 18.22 Om Dani a korta barika d i Masu Boro habri
Oom Dani sneed Masu Boro's bulk open
Uncle Dani cut Masu.Boro's b e l l y open
- 221 -
Masu 16.30 Michi a k i e r a dal porta d i patras habri
Michi zou de achterdeur hebben w i l l e n
openslaan
Michi would have l i k e d to throw the
backdoor open
c) Caiques on Dutch doen and l a t e n .
Although they do not f a l l into the category of separable
verbs, there are other instances i n Papiamentu of a separation
i n verb phrases which does not e x i s t i n Spanish, but i s a
caique on the groups of the Dutch verbs doen and l a t e n , i n
the sense of "to make" and "to l e t " , plus i n f i n i t i v e . The
following examples may be found i n Ora Solo Baha:
B.P. 9.22 Bas P i p i a laga su mashin para
Bas P i p i l i e t z i j n machine stoppen
Bas P i p i l e t h i s machine stop
Pep. 27.6 Solo a buta su plumanan lombra
De zon deed z i j n veren glanzen
The sun made h i s feathers shine
Nati 57.14/15 . . . a buta e bestianan su p i a sangra
. . . deed de beesten nun poten bloeden
. . . made the animals" legs bleed
MM 68.19 Vlandam . . . a buta e klompinan d i oro
lombra
De vlammen deden de klompjes goud glanzen
The flames . . . made the chunks of gold
shine
- 222 -
13. Change in word-class.
In earlier,, parts of this study cases were cited of
words changing their word-class when adopted into Papiamentu,
e.g. the Papiamentu verb mester from the Spanish noun
menester; the Papiamentu indefinite numeral hopi from the
Dutch noun hoop; sunchi from the noun zoentje which also
became a verb. This phenomenon falls into the category
which Hall describes as "the passage of a word from one part
of speech to another, without any suffix or other formal
outward indication of the change in form-class. In English
we can use many words as nouns, verbs, or adjectives: we
can f a l l in a faint, we can faint, or we can feel faint."
1
Hall makes a distinction in the phenomenon of class-
change as may be seen from a further statement:
In a number of instances pidgins and C r e o l e s show a
drastic restructuring of various words, in their
assignment to different functions from those they had
in the languages from which they came: compare the
split of English give into two separate words in Sranan,
/gi(bi)/"give", stressed, as a verb, and /gi/ "to, for",
unstressed, as a preposition. . . . These are the same
type of structural shift that we find in the hWs-to-ry of
"normal" full-sized languages, as when the Old English
noun dun " h i l l " became Modern English down (adverb). . . .
A very large group to which this statement may be applied
in Papiamentu is the verb which has taken on the role of an
Hall, Pidgin and Creole Languages, p. 65.
2
Hall, pp. 79T80.
- 223 -
adverb. Por that reason, i t may be considered an extension
of the separable verb construction, and thus a case of
Dutch influence.
There i s a considerable number of these verbs i n Ora
Solo Baha. They are:
bai "to go" f o r "away", Du. weg
baha "to go down" f o r "down", Du. naar beneden
b i n i "to come" f o r "toward", e.g., nan a kore b i n i ,
Du. zi.j z i j n komen aanrennen, that i s , "they came
running to . . . ;
b i r a "to turn" f o r "back", as i n b i r a wak "to look back",
Du. omkijken;
bolbe "to return" f o r "again", Du. weer;
d r e i "to^turn" f o r "back", e.g., "to look back", Du. om
or achterom;
drenta "to enter" f o r "into", Du. binnen, de . . . i n ;
drumi "to l i e " f o r "down", Du. neer; f o r context see
Chi. 45.32, p. 225;
jega "to a r r i v e " f o r "at", Du. aan;
l a n t a "to l i f t up", "to get up" f o r "upward", Du. op;
para "to stop" f o r " s t i l l " i n "to stand s t i l l " , Du. s t i l ;
pasa "to pass through" f o r "through", Du. door;
s a l i "to go out" f o r "outside", Du. buiten;
subi "to mount, climb, go up" f o r "on" or "onto", Du. aan,
as i n the example from Chi. 46.29, p. 226.
- 224 -
Examples:
M.R. 6.17 e blenchi a "bula bai
het b l i n k e r t j e i s weggevlogen or: vloog weg
the e o l i b r i flew away
Masu 18.29 e l a kore baha
h i j rende naar beneden
he ran down
Masu 18.14 nan a kore b i n i
z i j z i j n komen aanrennen
they came running (to)
K l o f 54.5 E Indjan a b i r a wak tur dos
De Indiaan keek naar hen beiden om
The Indian looked back at both of them
Masu 17.14 mi ta,bolbe b i r a e mucha muhe
word i k weer het meisje
I become again the g i r l
M.R. 5.20 s i n s i k i e r a d r e i mira
zonder z e l f s maar om te k i j k e n
without even looking back
Awa 14.25 s i n d r e i wak patras
zonder achterom te k i j k e n
without looking back
This i s an i n t e r e s t i n g example. There are
two adverbials, one a verb: d r e i , the other
a genuine adverb: patras.
- 225 -
Awa 13.14 e l a bula drenta e neshi
h i j vloog het nestje i n (or: binnen)
he flew i n t o the nest
Chi. 45.32 e l a pone e skopet drumi
h i j legde het geweer neer
he put the gun down
Klof 51.4 nan a bin jega na K l o f
z i j kwamen b i j de K l o f aan
they a r r i v e d at the Klof
Do. 31.22 D o l f i a bula l a n t a
Dolf je sprong o_p_
D o l f i jumped up
Masu 17.18 Lanta para.
Sta opj or: Opstaan!
Get up!
Note the d i f f e r e n t word order. This may be due
to the f a c t that there i s an imperative involved
here.
Ghi. 46.12 e fransesnan a bai para
de Pransen z i j n gaan s t i l staan
the Frenchmen stopped
Masu 17.24 nan a bula pasa den e buraku
z i j z i j n door het gat gevlogen
they flew through the hole
- 226 -
B.P. 12.23 e l a s a l i bai
h i j i s uitgegaan
he went out
Note word order: s a l i precedes bai
Do. 36.11 lagadishinan a kore s a l i
de hagedisjes z i j n weggerend
the wall l i z a r d s ran away
This time, s a l i follows kore
Chi. 46.29
nan tur a kore subi bordo
z i j renden allemaal aan boord
they a l l ran aboard
A borderline case would seem to be the phrase kai s i n t a ,
i n which kai i s "to f a l l " and s i n t a "to s i t " . The verb
s i n t a has, i n t h i s case, taken on the adverbial meaning
neer "down", so that kai s i n t a becomes n e e r z i t t e n or neer-
v a l l e n ( i n a c h a i r ) . (See also p. 240.)
14. Omission of l i n k i n g elements.
Various phenomena i n Papiamentu f a l l under t h i s heading:
a) Apposition, of nouns.
In h i s Pidgin and Creole Languages, H a l l l i s t s as one
of the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of a l l pidginized E n g l i s h "the
juxtaposition of two nouns without the preposition of or
- 227 -
any possessive s u f f i x (Justice Peace)."
1
Later, r e f e r r i n g to
pidgins and Creoles i n general, he writes:
In t h e i r o r i g i n many of these constructions are the
r e s u l t of the omission of c e r t a i n l i n k i n g elements,
p a r t i c u l a r l y prepositions, which are present i n the
corresponding phrase-types of the European language
on which the pidgin or C r e o l e i s based.
Papiamentu knows both constructions, one with the
l i n k i n g preposition d i (Iberian d_e), the other without d i ,
as a caique on the Dutch structure of apposition of nouns.
That i t i s due to the l a t t e r may be best seen from the com-
bination un t i k i + noun, since, as seen i n the l e x i c a l part
of t h i s study, i t i s derived from Dutch een t i k j e "a b i t of"
plus noun. Een tik.je plus adverb i s " s l i g h t l y " (e.g.
MM 68.3: un t i k i nervioso, een t i k j e nerveus " s l i g h t l y
nervous"). However, apposition also occurs with pida, een
stukje "a piece of", "a b i t of".
Examples:
Masu 16.1 e t i k i kuminda
het beetje eten
the l i t t l e b i t of food
B.P. 10.20 kome pida bakoba
een'stukje bacove eten
to eat a piece of bacove (kind of banana)
Note absence of un before pida.
H a l l , Pidgin and Creole Languages, p. 8.
2
H a l l , p. 74.
- 228 -
Chi. 39.8 pida suku (without indefinite article)
een stukje suiker
a bit of sugar
Chi. 39.26 un pida suku (with indefinite article)
een stukje suiker
a bit of sugar
B.P. 9.2 e pida kura
het stukje erf
the l i t t l e bit of yard
Papiamentu does not follow the Dutch example in all instances.
Dutch has apposition with words indicating quantity (see the
above) and for containers: een glas water "a glass of water";
een doos.je lucifers "a box of matches"; een trommeltje
biscuitjes "a tin of cookies". In Ora Solo Baha the last
two are un doshi di lusafe and un bleki di buscuchi. And,
as far as an expression of quantity or shape is concerned,
in-MM 67.34, MM 68.17 and 19 we find klompi di oro, where
Dutch would have klompjes goud "chunks of gold".
b) Place of the personal pronoun.
The subject, whether noun or pronoun, always precedes
the verb, in contrast with both Dutch and Spanish, where
variations are possible or, at times, obligatory. Only the
particle lo_, which indicates the future, is placed before the
unstressed personal pronouns of the first, second and third
- 229 -
person singular: mi, bo and e_. In most cases i t comes
a f t e r the stressed ones ami, aho, and e_ (when i t i s
emphasized), while i t may he placed before or a f t e r the
personal pronouns of the f i r s t , second and t h i r d person
p l u r a l : nos, boso and nan. Lo i s probably derived from
Iberian logo "afterwards, l a t e r " , although an i n t e r e s t i n g
a l t e r n a t i v e etymology i s found i n Pokker:
Niettemin b l i j f t het aannemelik, dat het k a r a i b i e s een
zekere invloed op de nieuwe t a a l gehad heeft. Zo om
enkele punten te noemen, want de j u i s t e grenzen der
verschillende invloeden vast te s t e l l e n , l i j k t me
ondoenlik z a l de vorming der presens-, futuur-, en
perfekt-vormen wel naar t model van *t i n die t a a l
gebruikelike geschied z i j n : n l . door het bezigen van
een eenlettergrepig p a r t i k e l . Men zegt b.v. l o nos
papia, wij z u l l e n spreken; l o e b i n i prontoe? z a l h i j
( z i j ) spoedig komen? D i t l i s vermoedelik identiek met
net l van 't negerhollands van Sint Tomas, door
Professor Hesseling i n ' t aangehaalde werk vermeld, n l .
hollands loop i n de z i n van gaan (frans je v a i s l e d i r e ,
i k z a l 't zeggen, sp. va a Hover, het gaat regenen).-*-
In Papiamentu the d i r e c t and i n d i r e c t object follow the
verb and where the two are combined the i n d i r e c t object
precedes the d i r e c t one. This applies to nouns and pronouns
a l i k e .
As f a r as the single use of e i t h e r d i r e c t or i n d i r e c t
object pronoun i s concerned, Papiamentu usage i n a l l tenses
i s s i m i l a r to the Dutch i n the simple tenses. In Ora Solo
Baha the following examples occur f o r the d i r e c t object
pronoun:
A.A. Pokker, "Het Papiamentoe of Basterd-Spaans der
West-Indiese Eilanden," T i j d s c h r i f t voor Nederlandsche T a a l-
en Letterkunde, 33 (1914), p. 62.
- 230 -
Pep. 28.16 mi ta vendebo
i k verkoop je
I am s e l l i n g you
In the perfect tense t h i s would be: i k heb
je verkocht; i n the future: i k z a l je ver-
kopen; i n other words, i n Dutch the personal
object pronoun follows r i g h t a f t e r the
a u x i l i a r y verb. In Papiamentu i t also f o l -
lows the main verb i n these cases.
Pep. 26.13/14 E krus grandi . . . ta spanta nan.
Het grote kruis . . . maakt hen bang.
The big cross . . . scares them.
Pep. 28.12 Buchi Albu a . . . mar'e ku kadena.
Buchi Albu bond hem vast met een k e t t i n g .
Buchi Albu . . t i e d him with a chain.
For the i n d i r e c t object pronoun:
Nati 57.29 su mama a bis'e
z i j n moeder vertelde hem
h i s mother t o l d him
Nati 58.11 loke mi bisabo
wat i k je zeg
what I am t e l l i n g you
- 231 -
Although Wood f e e l s that the phenomenon of the personal
pronoun following the verb i s . a case of Dutch i n f l u e n c e
1
, i t
should be kept i n mind that i n older forms of Spanish the
object pronoun could also follow the f i n i t e verb. Another
possible explanation f o r the pronoun following the verb may
be that, i f ta i s indeed the Spanish esta of the progressive
form, mi ta bisabo i s the equivalent of Spanish estoy
diciendole . Furthermore, i t should not be forgotten that i n
Spanish the object pronouns also follow the a f f i r m a t i v e
imperative and the i n f i n i t i v e . In Dutch they follow the
a f f i r m a t i v e and negative imperative, but they precede the
i n f i n i t i v e .
As f o r the combination of d i r e c t and i n d i r e c t object
pronoun, normally the sequence i n Dutch i s d i r e c t +
i n d i r e c t . However, i n order to put stress on the i n d i r e c t
object, or what comes a f t e r i t , i t may be placed f i r s t and
also when the subordinate expresses a cause or purpose. For
example, i k geef het je "I am g i v i n g i t to you"; i k geef je
het nu "I am giving i t to you now" or i k geef je het, omdat
je het nodig hebt "I am giving i t to yqji because you need
i t " . Stress may also be indicated by the p r e p o s i t i o n aan
"to", i n which case the i n d i r e c t object, again, has to come
second. The reversed order i s very seldom used with the
t h i r d person singular masculine hem "him". Pap. E ta dun'ele,
Wood, "Papiamentu," p. 68.
- 232 -
Du. H i j geeft het hem or Hi.j geeft het aan hem "He gives i t
to him". Pap. E ta duna nan e, Du. H i j geeft het hun or
H i j geeft het aan hen "He gives i t to them". The l a s t
example was chosen, since the t h i r d person p l u r a l pronoun
i s the only instance where there i s a d i f f e r e n c e between
the Dutch d i r e c t object, i.e., the accusative hen "them" and
the i n d i r e c t object, i . e . , the dative hun, often replaced
by aan hen "to them".
An example of the construction i n d i r e c t + d i r e c t object
pronoun taken from Ora Solo Baha i s :
Awa 13.24 . . . a regala mi nan
. . . heeft ze me gegeven or gaf ze me
. . . has given them to me
In the construction verb + i n d i r e c t object pronoun +
d i r e c t object noun Papiamentu and Dutch follow a pattern
s i m i l a r to that f o r the single use of the d i r e c t object and
of the i n d i r e c t object, i n other words, the sequence i s
the same, but the p o s i t i o n d i f f e r s i n the compound tenses.
Example s:
Do. 35.12 . . . i a duna nan komando
. . . en gaf hun het commando
or: en heeft hun het commando gegeven
. . . and gave them orders
Ghi. 48.3 Nos ta r e g a l
1
e e kabai
Wij geven hem het paard
We are g i v i n g him the horse
- 233 -
c) Omission of a l i n k i n g element with t h e . i n d i r e c t object
noun.
The absence i n Papiamentu of a p r e p o s i t i o n equivalent
to the Spanish a to introduce the i n d i r e c t object noun
cannot be ascribed, or at l e a s t not s o l e l y , to p i d g i n i z a t i o n
or c r e o l i z a t i o n because Dutch follows the same construction.
The phenomenon may, therefore, considered to be a caique on
the l a t t e r . It should be added, though, that i n the l a s t
decades the concept of the dative i n t h i s case and others
has been f e l t l e s s strongly than i n the past, so that Dutch
may add prepositions, such as aan or tegen "to" with cer-
t a i n verbs as w e l l .
Examples of d i f f e r e n t verbs + i n d i r e c t object noun
without a taken from Ora Solo Baha are:
Do. ',33.16 Ghein a b i s a Mena
Chein z e i Mina (or: tegen)
Chein said to Mina
M.R. 7.28 e l a konta e dams raton
h i j vertelde juffrouw Muis (or: aan)
he t o l d Miss Mouse
Do. 32.12 A parse D o l f i ku
Het kwam D o l f i voor, dat
I t seemed to D o l f i that
- 234 -
Masu 15.20 ku nada no ta pasa e muchanan
dat den kinderen n i e t s overkomt
that nothing happens to the c h i l d r e n
Do. 31.29
e l a p r i m i n t i P o l i n
h i j beloofde Pauline (or: aan Pauline)
he promised Pauline
Do. 37.12 e l a puntra D o l f i
h i j vroeg D o l f i (or: aan D o l f i )
he asked D o l f i
d) Lack of l i n k i n g element with the group i n d i r e c t object
noun + d i r e c t object noun.
As mentioned above, i n Papiamentu the d i s t i n c t i o n
between i n d i r e c t and d i r e c t object i n a sentence i s made
by word order, which i s on the whole s t r i c t e r i n Papiamentu
than i n e i t h e r Spanish or Dutch. The i n d i r e c t object
precedes the d i r e c t one. Where both are nouns, there i s
the same sequence i n Dutch, although prepositions may be
added to the i n d i r e c t object noun i n Dutch. I f t h i s i s
done, the sequence becomes verb + d i r e c t object + preposition
+ i n d i r e c t object. Because of the f i x e d word-order- i n
Papiamentu there i s no need f o r an i n d i c a t o r of the
i n d i r e c t object.
- 235 -
Examples:
Awa 14.20 e p o l i s a entrega e t o t o l i k a su dos webunan
de p o l i t i e a g e n t overhandigde het steenduifje
haar twee eieren
the policeman handed the rock-dove her two
eggs
Chi. 41.12 pa e duna e k-abai awa
zodat h i j den paarden water kon geven
or:
zodat h i j water aan de paarden kon geven
i n order that he may give water to the horses
e) Lack of personal a.
An equivalent to the Spanish personal a i s superfluous
i n Papiamentu because the s t r i c t word-order o f
j
s u b j e c t +
verb + d i r e c t object determines c l e a r l y the subject and
object of the verb. I t i s the f l e x i b l e word sequence i n
Spanish that made the i n t r o d u c t i o n of the personal a
necessary. In connection with the subject + verb + d i r e c t
object construction, i t should be mentioned that Papiamentu
does not observe the i n v e r s i o n of subject and verb which
must take place i n Dutch when the main clause begins with
a word or phrase other than the subject. Otherwise subject
+ verb + d i r e c t object a p p l i e s .
Examples:
Chi. 46.27 pa spanta e Pransesnan
om de Pransen bang te maken
i n order to scare the French
- 236 -
Chi. 47.4 pa bai juda su amigu Chiku
om z i j n vriend Chiku te gaan helpen
i n order to go and help h i s f r i e n d Chiku
f ) Lack of a l i n k i n g element with verbs.
H a l l (Melanesian Pidgin English, p. 38) makes the f o l -
lowing observations on the absence of a l i n k i n g element with
verbs i n pidgin and creole languages:
Combination of clauses into utterances of more than
one clause i s e f f e c t e d by the following means:
. . . PARATAXIS, which i s the most common means of
j o i n i n g clauses i n compound sentences. Under t h i s
heading may be l i s t e d : 1. Juxtaposition of suc-
cessive clauses, without the use of introductory
w o r d s . . . .
Examples of t h i s may be found i n
Do. 37.3/4 nan a plama e paniweri na pida-pida,
disparse den mondi
z i j namen de brancard u i t elkaar en
verdwenen i n het bos
they took the stretcher apart and
disappeared i n the woods
MM 72.14 Manuel a bolbe na bordi d i e karabela,
bai drumi
Manuel ging terug aan boord van het karavel
en ging slapen
Manuel returned on board the caravel and
went to sleep
In Pidgin, and Creole Languages (p. 78) H a l l also points
out that "often, several verbs occur i n a s e r i e s , each as
the complement of the preceding one. . . . "
- 237 -
Examples;
Do. 36. 32/ 33 bo ta l a n t a kamna su d i l a n t i
sta 22 P n loopt voor hem u i t
you get up and walk i n front of him
Do. 37. 1' 2 E konenchinan a kargu'e r i b a e paniweri,
bolbe bai but'e bow d i e palu
De k o n i j n t j e s laadden hem op de brancard
en legden hem weer neer onder de boom.
The rabbits loaded him on the stretcher
and put him under the tree again.
and further "often a verb i s followed by another verb that
serves as a complement of purpose, r e s u l t , or coni- .-. r
d i t i o n . . . . " .(Hall,, p. 78) .
Examples:
Do. 32. 21 Mena a s a l i bin kontra nan
Mina kwam naar buiten om hen tegemoet te
komen
Mina came outside ( i n order) to_ meet them
MM 69.13 J o s e l i t o a kore bin weta
J o s e l i t o kwam aanrennen om te zien
J o s e l i t o came running ( i n order) to see
The above examples could be ascribed to c r e o l i z a t i o n ,
since the phenomenon which they represent cannot be found
i n any of the European contributing languages. However,
there are other instances where one f i n d s a l i n k i n g element
i n the Iberian languages, but not i n Dutch. Such cases
are either caiques on Dutch or a dual a p p l i c a t i o n of a
- 238 -
non-European and European language construction. Examples
are given i n the following section.
g) Lack of l i n k i n g element with a u x i l i a r y verbs of motion.
The semantic content of these VERB + VERB combinations,
however, i s often of markedly non-European type,
r e f l e c t i n g the substratum of A f r i c a n (Melanesian, etc.)
speakers. This phenomenon i s e s p e c i a l l y noticeable i n
the Central American Creoles, which have a common
West A f r i c a n substratum, and i n which there i s a common
semantic pattern i n the use of verbs of motion followed
d i r e c t l y by verbal complements ( H a l l , Pidgin and Creole
Languages, p. 11).
Papiamentu has t h i s construction too. However, t h i s
may not n e c e s s a r i l y be due to a West A f r i c a n substratum or
c r e o l i z a t i o n because the Dutch language shows the same
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c .
The a u x i l i a r y verbs of motion can be divided into two
groups: a) verbs i n d i c a t i n g the beginning of an action, and
b) verbs i n d i c a t i n g continued a c t i o n . Into the f i r s t
category f a l l bai "to go" and b i n i "to come", followed by
an i n f i n i t i v e , whereas Spanish i n s e r t s the preposition a.
In Ora Solo Baha there are around t h i r t y instances of
groups with bai + i n f i n i t i v e and approximately f i f t e e n f o r
b i n i + i n f i n i t i v e . The following examples w i l l s u f f i c e :
M.R. 5.11 i a bai para
en ging staan
and he went and stood
- 239 -
Nati 58.33 Nati, bin juda bo mama
Nati, kom je moeder helpen
Nati, come and help your mother
As f a r as seventeenth-century Dutch i s concerned,
Yondel (1587-1679) sometimes omitted te with beginnen "to
begin", Pap. kuminsa. Examples with the verb kuminsa
from Ora Solo Baha are:
M.R. 7.15 Mushe Raton a kuminsa b i r a f l a k u
Mushe Raton begon mager te worden
Mushe Raton began to be t h i n
Do. 32.1 D o l f i a kuminsa kanta
D o l f i begon te zingen
D o l f i began to sing
Wood places the verb s a l i , Du. uitkomen, uitgaan "to
leave, to go out" i n t h i s category as well.He gives the
example " / e l a s a l i bay k i y r u / 'he went out (to go) f o r
a walk'; c f . Du. ...te gaan kuieren."
1
There i s no example
i n Ora Solo Baha of t h i s use of the verb. As a matter of
f a c t , the Dutch idiom f o r the phrase quoted i s H i j ging
u i t kuieren, so that s a l i would rather belong to the
category of a verb used as an adverb (see Section 13).
Gf. also Pep. 26.8: Peperin a bai kamna keiru, Peperin i s
gaan (Iopen) kuieren "Peperin went f o r a stroll"...
Wood, "Papiamentu," p. 62.
- 240 -
Another verb which Wood includes i n t h i s group i s
kay "to f a l l " i n the phrase kay s i n t a . He writes:
/kay s i n t a / ; c f . Du. gaan z i t t e n . This i s misunder-
stood by Lenz, 171-172, who mistranslated (/el/) /a
kay s i n t a / "(he) sat down" as "se sentd de golpe".
Actually, just as Du. gaan z i t t e n corresponds to Eng.
" s i t down" not "go and s i t down", /kay s i n t a / has no
content implying v i o l e n t or p r e c i p i t a t e a c t i o n , and
none of the sense of " f a l l " of Sp. caer, the etymon
of /kay/, remains. Lenz' phrase i s based, s t r u c t u r a l l y
upon Du. ( h i j ) ging zitten.1
The f i r s t part of t h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n i s c o r r e c t .
However, as f a r as the reference to "to f a l l " i s concerned,
i t must be noted that Dutch has the idiom i n or o_ een
s t o e l neervallen (depending on whether one r e f e r s to
an armchair or a s t r a i g h t one). Neervallen r e f e r s to the
way i n which one s i t s down and does not indicate an
i n c i p i e n t a c t i o n . In M.R. 7.16 e l a kai s i n t a bow d i
un watapana "he sat down under a watapana", Mushe Raton
d i d so when he was exhausted. Again, i n Klof 51.10, E i
nan a kai s i n t a "There they sat down", i t happened when
they were bon kansa "very t i r e d " . Do. 33.34, D o l f i
a kai drumi, D o l f i ging liggen (not slapen "to sleep")
" D o l f i lay down" may be a borderline case. One could
wonder whether k a i i n d i c a t e s the beginning of an a c t i o n .
I t i s more l i k e l y a case of a verb used as an adverb, i . e .
k a i has the meaning of neer "down". " D o l f i lay down" could
be obsolete D o l f i legde z i c h neer. Ging could also be
Wood, "Papiamentu," p. 62.
- 241 -
t r a n s l a t e d into Papiamentu as a b i n i For the sake of
comparison, the following phrase may be quoted from
Pep. 26.5-* Peperin a bai s i n t a den un palu d i watapana,
Peperin ging i n een watapana boom z i t t e n "Peperin went
to s i t down i n a watapana tree". (He had to go there
f i r s t . )
Although the lack of a l i n k i n g element points to
Dutch influence on the verb + verb construction, one
should not forget the Portuguese phrase f o i ver, where
t h i s kind of juxtaposition also takes place.
The two verbs denoting continued action, keda and
s i g i are caiques on the Dutch verb b l i j v e n , which takes
the i n f i n i t i v e without a l i n k i n g element. In Spanish,
quedar as well as seguir are followed by p a r t i c i p l e s .
Cf. Pap. e keda s i n t a , Du. h i j b l i j f t z i t t e n , Sp. queda
sentado "he remains seated"; Pap. e s i g i g r i t a , Du. h i j
b l i j f t schreeuwen, Sp. sigue gritando "he continues (kee
on) shouting".
Examples from Ora Solo Baha:
B.P. 11.33 Bo ta keda drumi
B l i j f t U maar liggen
Remain l y i n g down
B.P. 12.33 e famia d i barika-hel a keda biba
het gezin van de barika-hel i s
b l i j v e n wonen
the family of the barika-hel kept on
l i v i n g . . .
- 242 -
B.P. 9.18/19 Bas P i p i a s i g u i kanta
Bas P i p i bleef doorzingen
Bas P i p i went on singing
The meaning of bli,jven i s often
r e i n f o r c e d by door.
Besides keda and s i g u i ( s i g i ) one should mention
s i n t a , Du. zitten-; "to s i t " ; para, Du. staan "to stand";
drumi, Du. l i g g e n y t o l i e " ; kamna, Du. lopen "to walk"
as verbs i n d i c a t i n g continued a c t i o n . They are caiques on
Dutch z i t t e n , staan, liggen, lopen plus the i n f i n i t i v e ,
f o r example: z i t t e n eten, staan praten, l i g g e n lezen,
lopen denken. In the simple tenses one has to add te,
f o r example, h i j z i t te denken "he s i t s thinking"; h i j
l a g te slapen "he lay sleeping". I t should be noted that
i n the seventeenth century the verbs lopen, gaan, z i t t e n
and komen "to walk", "to go", "to s i t " and "to come" were,
at times, not preceded by t e .
1
Examples from Ora Solo Baha:
M.R. 7.23 kaminda e por s i n t a jora e so
waar.hi j a l l e e n kon z i t t e n huilen
where he could s i t by himself crying
Masu 17.12 m'a para h a r i
bleef i k staan lachen
I stood laughing
Weijnen, Zeventiende-eeuwse Taal, p. 81.
- 243 -
MM 73.6 E spanjonan a kamna weta
De Spanjaarden hebben lopen kijken
The Spanish walked looking
h) Other verbs which do not require a l i n k i n g element i n
Dutch and Papiamentu.
There are other verbs i n Dutch which are used i n
juxtaposition with t h e i r dependent verb i n the compound
tenses. Two of these are modal a u x i l i a r i e s : hoeven and
durven. Miet hoeven i s Pap. no mester "need not"; durven
i s Pap. r i s k a , t r i b i ^ "to dare".
Example:
Awa 14.26 nunka mas Mushe Raton a r i s k a horta
Mushe Raton heeft nooit meer durven stelen
Mushe Raton has never dared to s t e e l again
Already i n the seventeenth century, leren, Pap.
s i n j a ' " t o teach" and to l e a r n " was found without _te
(Weijnen, p. 83) to connect i t with the dependent verb.
This i s s t i l l the case i n present-day Dutch. An i n t e r e s t i n g
feature of s i n j a i s that, l i k e Dutch leren, i t has both
the meaning of "to teach" and "to learn", whereas i n
Spanish there are two words: ensenar, from which s i n j a
was derived, and aprender
Example:
Do. 30.19 e mama tabata s i n j a D o l f i
z i j n moeder leerde D o l f i lezen
h i s mother taught D o l f i to read
- 244 -
Another such verb i s helpen, Pap. juda.
Examples:
Nati 59.22 Nati a juda su mama kamna bai kas
Nati h i e l p z i j n moeder naar huis lopen
Nati helped h i s mother to walk home
MM 63.16 pa judami kushina
om mij te helpen koken
to help me cook
MM 64.31 a jud'e mira
h i e l p hem zien
helped him to see
MM 72.20 pa juda karga
om te helpen dragen
to help carry-
In studies on creole languages.one may often f i n d the
phenomenon of series of verbs without l i n k i n g elements
being ascribed to c r e o l i z a t i o n . In the case of Papiamentu
i t would seem to be, i n many instances, the r e s u l t of
Dutch i n f l u e n c e . Three examples chosen at random, one
from Papiamentu and the others from Dutch, show that both
languages have such s e r i e s , a l b e i t as the outcome of
d i f f e r e n t s t r u c t u r a l norms. Papiamentu: MM 69.14/15,
pa e por kore bai skonde "In order to be able to run away
and hide himself", Du. om weg te kunnen rennen en z i c h te
verschuilen. In Dutch, there would be nothing a r t i f i c i a l
i n a series of verbs i n the i n f i n i t i v e without l i n k i n g
element i n a sentence l i k e t h i s : H i j zou mogen b l i j v e n
z i t t e n k i j k e n "He would be allowed to remain seated
looking". Somewhat unusual, but s t i l l acceptable, would
be: Ik zou jou wel eens w i l l e n zien durven bli.jven z i t t e n
ki.jken "I would l i k e to see you daring to remain seated
looking".
- 2 4 6 -
CONCLUSION
From t h i s study i t i s apparent that the Dutch elements
i n Papiamentu r e f l e c t e a r l i e r stages of the Dutch language
as well as present-day Dutch. This i s i l l u s t r a t e d by the
form i n which Dutch words appear i n the l a n d s t a a l , but even
more c l e a r l y by the caiques on Dutch, which may be due to
the f a c t that the Dutch on Curacao, who were not native
speakers of Spanish or Portuguese, wanted to address the
Indians, t h e i r servants, and subsequently the inhabitants
of Iberian background on the i s l a n d s , i n those languages
and, i n e v i t a b l y , had frequent recourse to l i t e r a l trans-
l a t i o n s from Dutch.
Furthermore, i t has become evident that c e r t a i n
features of Papiamentu, ascribed by l i n g u i s t s to phenomena
of C r e o l e languages, f i n d t h e i r counterparts i n present-day
Dutch or i n the idiom of the seventeenth century. Dutch
d i a l e c t a l influences have also had t h e i r impact on
Papiamentu. At times, Dutch influence has r e i n f o r c e d
Spanish usage or C r e o l e features.
From the analysis of the l e x i c o n i t has been seen that
adoptions from Dutch concern a l l areas of the language, not
only modern t e c h n i c a l terms, but basic items of vocabulary,
such as parts of the body, household u t e n s i l s , vegetables,
spices, wind d i r e c t i o n s , f l o r a and fauna, some professions
and trades, administration and m i l i t a r y a f f a i r s .
Various estimates of Dutch influence have "been put
forward. In 1914, Pokker stated that at least 9$ of
Papiamentu words were Dutch ("Het Papiamentoe of Basterd-
Spaans der West-Indische Eilanden," p. 54). Prom the
statistics given by Lenz in 1928 for the words analyzed
in El Papiamento (pp. 259-60) one may conclude that they
represent 35.5$ of the total number of words examined in
that study. Maduro stated that 28$ of the words studied
in his Ensayo pa yega na un Ortografia uniforme pa nos
Papiamentu (1953, p. 134) were of Dutch origin. Hall
(Pidgin and Creole Languages, 1966, p. 99) refers to the
25 per cent or more of Papiamentu words from Dutch.
This study has been concerned with the present-day
language as used by a recognized contemporary author,
Pierre Antoine Lauffer, in a collection of short stories.
As an indication of his usage of the language a running
word count was made of two of the stories in Ora Solo
Baha: "Mushe Raton" and "Bas Pipi ku e barika-hel".
Not included in the calculation were the articles
(definite or indefinite), personal pronouns (subject,
direct or indirect object), possessive adjectives and
proper nouns. All other words were included as often
as they occurred. The results of this count are as
follows:
- 248 -
"Mushe Raton" contains 872 running words from a l l
etymons. The contributions from Dutch number 196 or
22.5$. The following break-down may be made:
66 adoptions from Dutch.
26 from either Dutch or Iberian
104 caiques on Dutch, i . e . , 11 words
31 phrases
62 syntactic caiques
For "Bas P i p i i su barika-hel" those f i g u r e s are:
1270 running words from a l l etymons, of which 267 or
21$ were Dutch contributions, namely:
78 adoptions from Dutch
21 from e i t h e r Dutch or Iberian
168 caiques on Dutch, i . e . , 20 words
45 phrases
103 syntactic caiques
The two s t o r i e s together contain 2142 etymons other
than the exceptions mentioned; they have 463 Dutch con-
t r i b u t i o n s , so that the average percentage would be
21.5$.
As may be seen from the present study, Papiamentu
remains e s s e n t i a l l y a Romance language with the bulk of
i t s vocabulary from Iberian sources. Nonetheless, Dutch
- 249 -
contributions have a f f e c t e d a l l aspects of the language
and i t would be d i f f i c u l t because of the nature of
these contributions to compose any communication
without recourse to them.
- 250 -
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