It was 50 years ago when the first man went to the moon. A perfect moment to focus on the moon so that we can see which role the moon plays in the Dutch language…
The moon may still have some secrets for you that you have not discovered yet…
1 The moon has a special day
Maandag is Monday in English and it literally means moon day. It makes perfect sense once you realize that zondag is Sunday. So why would maandag be different?
If you look closely, you could recognize the word moon in Monday… But be careful! If you write or say mandag, then it means man day in Dutch. You may like this idea, but of course, moonday and manday are two different things…
Can you see that Dutch is more logical here?
Also in other languages such as French or Spanish you can see that there is a relation between the moon and Monday. Lundi comes from la lune and lunes comes from la luna 🙂
2 There is a direct relation with the moon and a month
A moon has a great impact on time and the Dutch word maand (month) comes directly from moon…
If you look more closely at English you can see the word moon in month. A logical mistake is that many people believe that month is mand, but mand is basket in Dutch.
Een winkelmandje is a little shopping basket and it has nothing to do with the moon!
In some languages such as Turkish and Japanese, the word for moon and month is the same. Ay and tsuki have double meanings and at the same time, it makes perfect sense!
3 The moon is not always a good thing
If you say in Dutch: mijn computer is naar de maan, it literally means that it went to the moon.
If something went to the moon, then probably it is difficult to get it back, right? Here it means that your computer is ruined or gone…
You can use it with many other things, such as mijn carrière (career), mijn relatie or de economie
4 The earth has one moon, but horses and lions have many more
Maan looks like moon in Dutch, but it is also the same word for mane. That is why manen (plural for maan) is something that horses and lions also have…
Last but not least..
The moon can have a strang effect on people. The word lunatic may also have a relation with the moon if you consider that lune is moon…
With some imagination, you could argue that the Dutch word manisch comes from maan as well. If you are manisch depressief, then you are not in a good position…
So these were some interesting fun facts about the moon in Dutch. Which role does the moon play in your language? Please, feel free to share!