Is this postcard in Flemish/Dutch?

[Georgette]

And can anyone give me an idea what it says, please?

Image:Witteryck 24.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

[Cloggie]

Yes, it is Dutch, postmarked The Hague.
Give me a few minutes and I'll be back with a translation for you.

[KiteRunner]

It must be Dutch or Flemish - I never realised how similar to German it was! Hope Cloggie is around (edit - I see she is! Phew)... the first bit must be "Dear Mrs Elworthy", but you had probably figured that out already.

[Georgette]

Thank you Sarah and Kate This lady is the second wife of one of my relatives and was apparently involved in the esperanto movement as was the man who sent the card.

[KiteRunner]

Oh wow, that's interesting. Anyway, I would have had a go at it with my German skills if there were no Dutch experts around, but I shall leave it in Cloggie's capable hands!

[Cloggie]

It's written in quite a formal way, but basically means this:


Letter from A.J. Witteryck in Scheveningen, 28-1-1919,
Maria Posenaer, wife of Elworthy, in Torquay.


Scheveningen, 28-1-‘19

Dear Mrs Elworthy,

I just received your letter of 27 December last, from Bruges. The genuine affection it expresses has done me good, but mostly I am pleased to still be alive, and currently in good health; this will surely also be more pleasant for you than my death notice.
I am currently the Director of the Belgian School in Scheveningen, but will shortly be going to Bruges, Speelmansrei, 12. That will be my address for the time being; after all, my beautiful furnishings from Steenbrugge were totally destroyed: little was saved.
Thank you for your kind sentiments and best wishes for the new year, also to Mr Elworthy, from Lena, Berthe, my wife and from me.

Affectionately yours,
A.J. Witteryck

[Cloggie]

Not quite sure if it says Berthe or Bertke by the way (in the last line).

[Georgette]

Thank you, Sarah, that's wonderful
It sounds like they were catching up with each other after the interval of the war, as I know that her husband, and so probably Maria too, spent at least part, if not all, of the war stranded in Germany.

[Cloggie]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

The end of the war theory seems pretty likely. He might have fled to neutral Holland during the war?
But in the Dutch it is not clear whether the bit about the death notice is hypothetical (as in "you'd rather read this postcard than a death notice") or whether she'd actually read a death notice for him.

[Georgette]

Oh! I wonder if she had, shades of "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"!
I'm also wondering about her letter - does he mean, in the first line, that it was forwarded to him from Bruges, or did she send it from there?

[Cloggie]

I would have thought he means that she sent it from there, but it doesn't say.
Literally translated it says: "Just now I received from Bruges, your letter of 27 Dec last."

[Georgette]

That's interesting and gives me more to think about. The frustrating thing is knowing that I can guess all I like but I'll never know for sure :D

[Cloggie]

My guess is that it was postmarked Bruges, or dated Bruges. It is customary in Dutch to put the place alongside the date at the top of a letter.

[taffyfrog]

I have just shown the postcard to a colleague who teaches Dutch and Flemish (she's Belgian Flemish) who said that the person was obviously well educated. She also added that Flemish is not a written language as far as the Belgian part of Flanders is concerned. In French Flanders however, there is a written version. Although the card is in Dutch, there is one word of Flemish in it - think it was 'voorzeeker'.

BTW Cloggie, she congratulated you on your high standard of translation so give yourself a pat on the back!

[Georgette]

Thank you Carole
I've been looking at it again and have only just noticed the Belgian Esperanto League stamp! Maria may have gone to Bruges to catch up with her family and friends before moving to Torquay. She moved back to Belgium later with Robert Elworthy and he died there near Antwerp.

[Cloggie]

I have just shown the postcard to a colleague who teaches Dutch and Flemish (she's Belgian Flemish) who said that the person was obviously well educated. She also added that Flemish is not a written language as far as the Belgian part of Flanders is concerned. In French Flanders however, there is a written version. Although the card is in Dutch, there is one word of Flemish in it - think it was 'voorzeeker'.

BTW Cloggie, she congratulated you on your high standard of translation so give yourself a pat on the back!

Dutch and Flemish share the same spelling, but there are certainly some differences in terms of meaning and usage. Certain words, although spelled the same, mean different things in Flemish than they do in Dutch. Although I am fluent in Dutch, Flemish texts can be completely mind-boggling because of similar expressions/words having different meanings. Also, a lot of "old-fashioned" Dutch words can still be found in Flemish. "Voorzeker" might be such a word - it is in the Dutch dictionary, but is not so widely used in modern Dutch speech.

[Christine in Herts]

AJW seems to have been a writer:
Het dagboekje van Luciaan of de wijnbouw in prenten. Vijfde uitgave. - WITTERYCK, A.-J.
Kleine Belgische prentengeschiedenis. - WITTERYCK, A.-J.
Rebussen of beeldraadsels - WITTERYCK,A.J.

Christine

[Christine in Herts]

There's a Wikipedia article about him in Dutch.

Christine

[Georgette]

Thank you for the links, Christine A children's book about wine sounds very intriguing!
I'd seen the wikipedia page but as it's in Dutch I didn't get very far with it. Maria has her own much shorter page in Dutch too - perhaps I should think about taking lessons :D

[Cloggie]

According to the Dutch Wikipedia article, Antoon Jozef Witteryck was a publisher and folklorist. (The word for folklorist (volkskundige) is very close to the word for cultural anthropologist (volkenkundige) by the way). He was born 6 June 1865 in Oostkamp, West-Flanders, and died 3 July 1934 in Assebroek. Like his father Richard, he earned his teaching certificate from the Teachers' Training College of Torhout, but he only spent a few years teaching.

I thought it was Maria you were interested in rather than him, or I'd have mentioned the Dutch Wikipedia page to you. :o But if want to know more about him I can do a rough translation of the Wikipedia page when I have more time.

I don't see any Dutch articles about Maria , although there is one in the Esperanto version of Wikipedia: Maria Elworthy-Posenaer - Vikipedio
I've never tried to read Esperanto before, but from what I can make out, it says she was a Belgian Esperantist who translated Dutch-English-Esperanto. She was a member of the LKK, the UK 1911, the UK 1928, and a committee member of the Belgian Esperanto Association. There is also a list of 4 publications she translated from Dutch into Esperanto.