Can Someone Help with a Dutch or Frisian Children’s Song?
Chris sent me this email:
Greetings! Google led me to your website when I was looking for help. I hope this request doesn’t end up being too difficult!
I’m not a fluent Dutch speaker (in fact, I know very little Dutch at all beyond the basics). But my grandmother is the daughter of a Dutch immigrant, and she was raised as an “American Dutch girl” in Iowa.
She just celebrated her 94th birthday, and we’ve seen a decline in her mental faculties over the last decade or so. But one thing she still remembers – are the old children’s songs that she heard as a girl from her father. She remembered the song well enough that she could even sing it to my two-month-old daughter when we came to visit!
Unfortunately, because of her mental condition, she would not be able to write the song down. But she dictated the original words (along with what I think is a non-literal English translation) to my mother, who did her best to write down the Dutch sounds phonetically. We have no idea if her phonetic words are even close to the original Dutch words.
Another complication: the language might not actually be Dutch, but Frisian, since her father came to Iowa from Ternaard, in Friesland. But if it’s possible, I’d like to find the original words to the song, as well as a more literal English translation. Here goes our best attempt at writing down the song:
Original Dutch (?):
Suza nona Popkin
Kelta lyin gropka
Mam in huis Sofear van hoos
See caneet verrupkeEnglish gloss:
Just a little calf, there
Lying in the straw there
Mother and father so far from the house
They can’t hear him crying.Thanks in advance for any direction you can provide!
Best regards,
:Chris
If anyone can help out Chris, please comment below.
Thanks in advance!
Lisa
June 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Fries: (something like this)
Suja deine poppe
Jeltje in de groppe
Heit en mem sa vier von huus
Ken use Jeltje net beroppe
English:
Rock your baby
Jeltje (a girl) in the ditch
Father and Mother are so far from home
Cannot call our Jeltje
June 9th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hello,
This seems like a song from frysland. And thats a difficult dialect. If you want to have some old dutch songs i might have some lyrics for you.
Just send me a mail lh_vanden_berg@hotmail.com
June 9th, 2008 at 9:46 am
We would love to receive some old Dutch songs, preferably with English translations. We already have some Dutch songs at http://www.mamalisa.com/world/holland.html – but are always happy to add more!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
-Mama Lisa
June 9th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Fries:
Suja deine poppe
Jeltje (?Kjeltje) in de groppe
Heit en mem sa vier von huus
Ken uuse Jeltje(?Kjeltje) net beroppe
English:
Rock your baby
Jeltje(=a girl) or (Kjeltje=calf) in the ditch
Father and Mother are so far from home
Cannot call our Jeltje (?Kjeltje)
PS. Contact the Frieske Academie in Franeker, Friesland, Holland for more accurate details.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
This is a rather well-known nursery rhyme in Friesland, written in Frisian. There are many variations, but I will give you the text I as I used to sing it:
Suze, nanepoppe
Kealtsje yn ‘e groppe
Heit en mem sa fier fan hûs
‘k kin se net beroppe
It can be translated as:
Suze = Quiet (as said to children)
nanepoppe = cradle-baby
kealtsje = litte calf
yn ‘e groppe = in the ditch (more specifically: manure-ditch)
heit en mem = mom’ and dad
sa fier fan hûs = so far from home
‘k = I
kin = can
se = them
net = not
beroppe = reach by calling
A rough translation of the entire song might look like:
Quiet now, you little baby
little calf lying in the ditch
with your father and mother so far away
that they can’t even hear you calling
The song is written in Frisian. This is the variant I as I learnt it, but there are many variations.
(I used to work for the Akademy, and it’s in Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, not in Franeker, and most certainly nowhere near the Holland provinces.)
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I think that I can be of some help. I’m living in the Netherlands in the city of Zwolle in the province of Overijssel and there they have a song about: Elsje Fiederelsje. I’m working on a project for school right now for my english lessons and I stumbled upon this page so I thought maybe I can be of some help.
If you have some questions about The Netherlands just mail and I will be glad to help
September 27th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Henk:
You sound like you know your Fries songs, so I’ll ask you about the rhyme my Frisian grandfather used to sing when he bounced me on my knee. I have no idea how to spell most Frisian words so I’m going to write them phonetically in English. My family is Dutch, but I only speak a tiny bit of the language, and no Fries.
Here it is:
Hop hop hinkje
yo et op de snicke
snitz op de reetes breer
you et op de louses der
Any ideas? Something about horses. and maybe lice?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
can anyone out there help me find all the words to a song my freis dad would sing to us kids,went like this.you will not come out of the house tonight because your pants are ripped and your shirt hangs out ??
November 18th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Hello Mary Lynne,
Sorry for the late reply, I haven’t visited this site for quite some time. Yes, I do know the song. As with ‘Suze, nanepoppe’, there are quite a number of variations. I will give you two versions I know of. The second one is probably closest to yours.
Hop hop, hynke,
nei Ljouwert om in skinke,
nei Snits ta om in hynsteblom,
dan gean’ wy nei Dokkum werom.
Hop hop, hynke,
nei Ljouwert om in skinke,
nei Snits ta om in wite brea,
sa gean’ alle hynderkes dea.
Hop hop = come on! on you go!
hynke = horsie (children’s name for a horse)
nei Ljouwert ta om in skinke = on to Ljouwert for a ham
nei Snits ta om in hynsteblom = on to Snits for a dandelion (litt. horse flower)
dan gean’ wy nei Dokkum werom = then we return to Dokkum
nei Snits ta om in wite brea = on to Snits for a loaf of white bread
sa gean’ alle hynderkes dea = that is the way all horses die
Ljouwert, Snits and Dokkum are Frisian cities.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I have tried to figure out what your last line could mean, but it is hard to tell.
you et op de louses der
‘you et’ may be the city of Ljouwert or ‘hjoed’ (today) or ‘leauwer’ (rather)
‘op de’ may be ‘hopkes’ (another children’s name for horses), ‘op de’ (on the) or perhaps ‘alle’ (all the)
‘louses’ may be ‘Ljouwerters’ (inhabitants of Ljouwert)
‘der’ may be ‘dea’ (dead)
The only combinations that make some sense to me is: ‘leauwer alle Ljouwerters dea’ (I’d rather see all the inhabitants of Ljouwert dead) or ‘hjoed alle Ljouwerters dea’ (today all inhabitants of Ljouwert (are) dead). In many versions of the song something or someone is killed or dies in the last line, so perhaps this is right, but it is hard to tell.