Hulp bij de vertaling van een "kronkel" van Simon Carmiggelt

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fistoek
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Hulp bij de vertaling van een "kronkel" van Simon Carmiggelt

Post by fistoek »

Dear all,

The following paragraph is taken from "Buigen", the 2nd "kronkel' of Simon Carmiggelt's "De avond valt":

Zaterdag stond opeens de vloer van onze badkamer blank. Beweerd wordt dat loodgieter een uitstervend vak is, waarvoor men nog geen
Armeniërs heeft kunnen aantrekken, maar in de Gouden Gids stond toch een hele rij. Wie zou echter bereid zijn te komen op zaterdag, niet de dag des Heren, doch
de dag des knechts? Ik vermeed de firma's, omdat die ongetwijfeld gesloten zouden zijn, maar belde een der solisten, die ik om
redenen van discretie maar de heer Pot zal noemen. Het bleek een goede greep te zijn. De heer Pot was allerminst naar zijn tweede huis, doch zat vlak naast zijn
telefoon, om naar mijn verhaal te luisteren.

Two questions:

1) What would "doch de dag des knechts" mean? Clearly it is in a way or other opposed to "de dag des Heren", but what does it actually mean in this context? Is it
some sort of word game? Whom does "knecht" refer to? By the way, on "De Geïntegreerde Taal Bank" website I've found the following additional meaning of
knecht: "houder waarin de pompzwengel draait.", and was wondering whether it could somehow relate to the storyline.
2) I also couldn't work out the exact meaning of "De heer Pot was allerminst naar zijn tweede huis..."

Any help will be greatly appreciated, and an apology for the somewhat lengthy post. :)
Thanks in advance,
F.
ngonyama
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Re: Hulp bij de vertaling van een "kronkel" van Simon Carmig

Post by ngonyama »

fistoek wrote:Dear all,

The following paragraph is taken from "Buigen", the 2nd "kronkel' of Simon Carmiggelt's "De avond valt":

Zaterdag stond opeens de vloer van onze badkamer blank. Beweerd wordt dat loodgieter een uitstervend vak is, waarvoor men nog geen
Armeniërs heeft kunnen aantrekken, maar in de Gouden Gids stond toch een hele rij. Wie zou echter bereid zijn te komen op zaterdag, niet de dag des Heren, doch
de dag des knechts? Ik vermeed de firma's, omdat die ongetwijfeld gesloten zouden zijn, maar belde een der solisten, die ik om
redenen van discretie maar de heer Pot zal noemen. Het bleek een goede greep te zijn. De heer Pot was allerminst naar zijn tweede huis, doch zat vlak naast zijn
telefoon, om naar mijn verhaal te luisteren.

Two questions:

1) What would "doch de dag des knechts" mean? Clearly it is in a way or other opposed to "de dag des Heren", but what does it actually mean in this context? Is it
some sort of word game? Whom does "knecht" refer to? By the way, on "De Geïntegreerde Taal Bank" website I've found the following additional meaning of
knecht: "houder waarin de pompzwengel draait.", and was wondering whether it could somehow relate to the storyline.
It is a deliberate archaism. "Doch" is an old-fashioned way of saying "but" and the use of a genitive case for a singular masculine noun is very, very old hat. Knecht means servant, originally a farm hand or serf. So it means something like "but the day set aside for the servant. As in: a secular holiday rather than the religious one that the Sunday originally was. I suppose Carmiggelt is trying to suggest that any ordinary person would take off on such a day, because that is what it is for. You should also realize that Carmiggelt was socialist/secular and could often voice his disapproval of the Protestant and Catholic "zuilen" (the "pillars"of Dutch sectarian society ante 1960) in oblique ways. My parents could not stand him...

2) I also couldn't work out the exact meaning of "De heer Pot was allerminst naar zijn tweede huis..."
Mr Pot had by no means departed to go to his vacation house, (datcha whatever): he was still very much at work


Any help will be greatly appreciated, and an apology for the somewhat lengthy post. :)
Thanks in advance,
F.
fistoek
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Re: Hulp bij de vertaling van een "kronkel" van Simon Carmig

Post by fistoek »

Dear ngonyama,

Thank you so much for most helpful comments and explanations!

Happy holidays,
fistoek
justanotherdutchy
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Re: Hulp bij de vertaling van een "kronkel" van Simon Carmiggelt

Post by justanotherdutchy »

Hi, well most of it is clear or has been explained.
As for, - De heer Pot was allerminst naar zijn tweede huis, doch zat vlak naast zijn telefoon, om naar mijn verhaal te luisteren. - I think is a contrast.
Meaning in this case something along the lines of that he was not too interested or pretended to be very busy, but still picked up the phone very quickly.

It was a very strange sentence even to me and I'm a native so I doubt there would even be a lot of Dutch people that would know it's meaning.

I hope it helps.

Met vriendelijke groeten,
Wout
fistoek
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Re: Hulp bij de vertaling van een "kronkel" van Simon Carmiggelt

Post by fistoek »

Thank you very much, Wout!
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