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From: lambert@mcvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,sci.lang
Subject: Meaning of "gezellig"
Message-ID: <66@piring.cwi.nl>
Date: Sun, 20-Sep-87 06:31:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: piring.66
Posted: Sun Sep 20 06:31:36 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 20:54:34 EDT
References: <167@snark.UUCP>
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 51
Xref: utgpu comp.std.internat:246 sci.lang:1334

In article <167@snark.UUCP> eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond) writes:
) So would *someone* who knows quit tantalizing us and *translate* 'gezellig'?
) I'm curious about both the 'literal' (presumably etymology-based) translation
) and whatever paragraph of circumlocutions is necessary to express the concept.
) Inspection of various possible cognates (notably German ge + selig) suggests
) a guess-translation of "wisdom-struck" to this amateur linguist.

First the etymology.  "Gezellig" is from "gezel" + "-ig", where the suffix
"-ig" is an adjective-forming suffix like English "-y".  "Gezel" has a
prefix "ge-", cognate to e.g. "a-" in "among" or "alike", meaning basically
"with", "together".  The "zel" is probably the same stem as Dutch "zaal",
German "Saal", now meaning "hall" but originally any room.  (No surviving
cognates in Middle English--Old English has "sele"--except by re-importation
as in "saloon".)  Thus, "gezel" means literally "roommate".  More
generally, it means (or rather, being obsolescent, meant) "mate",
"companion".  It also has the specific meaning of "journeyman".  Thus, a
literal translation gives something like "companionable", "sociable"
(Latin "socius" means "mate", "companion", "associate"), or "chummy".

Now an attempt at the actual meaning.  The Dutch tend to be a bit stiff/
awkward/shy/not-at-ease towards people they don't know intimately.  If some
social or at least informal get-together is characterized by absence or
dissolution of the tension this usually causes, so that everyone feels at
ease and is not afraid to say something, it is called "gezellig".  The
worst fear of a Dutch host is that their party will not turn out gezellig,
and it is a standard compliment when leaving to assure the host that it was
gezellig indeed.  You don't need a crowd for this; two people is a company
here.  By extension, people can be "gezellig", and also locales.  The noun
"gezelligheid" does not partake in this extension.  If you say: "I need
gezelligheid", you need the company of fellow-beings, which should be
gezellig at that.

The dictionaries I consulted gave "cosy" and "convivial" as translations.
Both can result in grossly inedequate translations, depending on the
context.  "Cosy" suggests to me a greater, almost physical, closeness than
"gezellig" does, and is not something you could say of a gathering with
some thirty people present, nor of individual people.  The Dutch idea of
what makes a dwelling "gezellig" is however close to cosiness, so in that
context "cosy" may be an appropriate translation.  "Convivial" is closer,
but suggests to me merriment or joviality that often accompany
"gezelligheid" but are not an essential part of the meaning.  It is an apt
translation if applied to a person.  The same merry/jovial aspect is
present for German "Gemuetlich", I think, which moreover seems to imply
cosiness.

The only reasonable translation that I see, if applied to a get-together,
is "nice", or perhaps "enjoyable".  These are, however, less specific than
"gezellig".
-- 

Lambert Meertens, CWI, Amsterdam; lambert@cwi.nl