Japanese Words That are Originated from Dutch

Loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language into another language through the process of borrowing. There are two different translations of “loanword” in Japanese, one is 借用語 (shakuyougo) and the other one is 外来語 (gairaigo).
If you are studying Japanese and interested in the difference between shakuyougo and gairaigo, loanwords from Portuguese to Japanese or 当て字 (ateji), please check this article first.

Japanese Words That are Originated from Portuguese

As a Japanese person, it is interesting for me to find English words that were adopted from Japanese, like edamame, kai…

I’d like to talk about loanwords (gairaigo in this case) that were adopted into Japanese from Dutch and 二重語(nijūgo = doublets) this time.

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The Relation Between the Netherlands and Japan in the 17 th Century

Portugal was the only Western country that Japan had trading and cultural exchanges with before the relation between the Netherlands and Japan started. If you have watched the American drama called SHOGUN 将軍, you remember the story began with a stranded ship with Dutch crews and an English pilot. This event actually happened in March 1600 (around the end of the Azuchi–Momoyama period), and the actual name of the ship was De Liefde. It was the first time for Japanese people to meet Dutch (also English) and their culture. Ieyasu Tokugawa (the first Shogun in the Edo period) gave trading permission to Jacob Quaeckernaeck, who was the captain of De Liefde. Years later, the first trading ship from Netherlands arrived at Hirado (Nagasaki prefecture in Kyushu region of Japan) in 1609.

The Edo shogunate (the military government of Japan during the Edo period) eventually stopped trading with Portugal, and they prohibited Portuguese ships from visiting Japan in 1639. After that, the Netherlands became the only Western country that the Edo shogunate allowed to do trading and have cultural exchanges with until Japan opened the country and signed treaties with the US, the Netherlands, Russia, the UK and France in 1858.

A list of Gairaigo from Dutch

You need to keep in mind that some gairaigo don’t have exact the same meaning as the original Dutch words. The English translations on the list below is for the translation of gairaigo and not for the original language.

*¹ ガラス (garasu) and グラス (gurasu)

There are two different Japanese words ガラス(garasu) and グラス(gurasu), but both of them mean “glass” in English. They are also called 二重語 (nijugo = doublets) in linguistics. Doublets are words in a given language that share the same etymological root, and they are often the result of loanwords being borrowed from other languages. ガラス(garasu) usually means glass as material and グラス(gurasu) means drinkware made of glass. It is said that ガラス(garasu) is originated with the Dutch word, “glas” and グラス(gurasu) came from the English word, “glass”.

*² インキ (inki) and インク (inku)

The word, インキ(inki) is commonly used in a printing industries, but not in a daily life. Japanese people usually use インク(inku) when they refer to ink. They are also doublets. インキ(inki) is originated from Dutch “inkt”, and インク(inku) is originated from English “ink”.

*³ カバン、鞄かばん (kaban)

Japanese people use the word, バッグ(baggu = bag) more often than カバン nowadays. Although both of the words カバン(kaban) and バッグ(baggu) mean bag in English, I think Japanese people tend to imagine a bag made of leather (especially for office workers) when hearing カバン(kaban). It may be confusing for English speakers, but some Japanese say バック(bakku, sounds like “back”) for a bag because of the Japanese accent.

*⁴ コック (kokku)

コック(kokku) means a person who cooks food or whose job is cooking in English. The word, シェフ(shefu = chef) is also used in Japanese. In general, コック(kokku) or 料理人りょうりにん(ryouri ninn) is used for common cooking workers and シェフ(shefu) is used for a head chef who gives orders to other workers. However, people use the word, 板前いたまえ(itamae) instead of コック(kokku) or シェフ(shefu) at Japanese cuisine restaurants in Japan.

*⁵ カラン (karan)

I hardly hear カラン(karan) in daily conversation since the word, 蛇口じゃぐち(jaguchi) is commonly used for a faucet. I often see the word カラン(karan) on signs at hot springs and public baths in Japan. Apparently, カラン(karan) is also commonly used in the construction industry in Japan.

*⁶ ランドセル (randoseru)

It is a firm-sided backpack made of stitched firm leather or leather-like synthetic material, most commonly used by elementary schoolchildren in Japan. The average price of a randoseru is about 60,000 yen (approximately USD 410.96 calculated with the exchange rate USD 1 = 146 yen). It is expensive for a school bag, but a randoseru is made to be durable and elementary school students use it for six years.

*⁷ スコップ (sukoppu), シャベル (shaberu) and ショベル (shoberu)

All these three words, スコップ(sukoppu), シャベル(shaberu) and ショベル(shoberu) are the same in English, “shovel”. スコップ(sukoppu) is from Dutch, シャベル(shaberu) and ショベル(shoberu) are from English. Although シャベル(shaberu) and ショベル(shoberu) have different sounds, they mean the same in Japanese. Since シャベル(shaberu) is more commonly used, I’m using the word シャベル(shaberu) from now on. According to the definition by JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards), シャベル(shaberu) is a shovel with foot steps so that you can use your foot on it when you dig with the shovel. スコップ(sukoppu) on the other hand, is a different shaped shovel without footstep (and it is called poly scoop shovel in English).

The difficult part of these gairaigo is that the definition by JIS is only for large sized not for small sized シャベル(shaberu) and スコップ(sukoppu). As a result, they mean different tools depending on the area in Japan. In West Japan, people use the word スコップ(sukoppu) for a garden trowel and シャベル(shaberu) for a large shovel. However, people in North Japan use the word シャベル(shaberu) for a garden trowel and スコップ(sukoppu) for a large shovel. In East Japan (Kanto region), they all get mixed up and people say whatever they want to use unfortunately.

A List of Japanese words with ガラス (garasu) and グラス (gurasu)

The difference between ガラス(garasu) and グラス(gurasu) may be a little bit confusing for Japanese learners (even for native Japanese speakers sometimes). Here is a list of examples of words with ガラス(garasu) or グラス(gurasu).

*⁸ グラスファイバー (garasu faibā)

Both 繊維せんい(senn i) and ファイバー(faibā) mean “fiber” in English. Some people use the word, ガラスファイバー(garasu faibā) instead of グラスファイバー (gurasu faibā), but no one says グラス繊維せんい (gurasu sen i) instead of ガラス繊維せんい (garasu sen i).

*⁹ サングラス (san gurasu)

Glasses (two lenses in a frame that rests on the nose and ears) are called 眼鏡めがね (megane) in Japanese, and sun glasses are called サングラス (san gurasu). Although サングラス was originated from English, the sound of “es” for plural form was not imported to the Japanese word.

*¹⁰ ステンドグラス (sutendo gurasu)

In general, plate glass for windows is called 窓まどガラス(mado garasu= window glass) and stained glass is called ステンドグラス(sutendo gurasu) in Japanese. Japanese people imported the English word, stained glass as one word, so that ステンドグラス (sutendo gurasu) which has closer pronunciations with English is commonly used. There are a few people use ステンドガラス(sutendo garasu) instead of ステンドグラス(sutendo gurasu).

Examples of Doublets in Japanese

As I mentioned above, doublets are called 二重語にじゅうご(nijūgo) in Japanese. It sounds like 二十五にじゅうご(nijūgo = the number, twenty five), but they are different words with different accents. 二重にじゅう(nijū) literally means double or dual, and 語ご(go) means word, term or language. There are tons of doublets in Japanese if we also count 漢語かんご(kango = words from Early Middle Chinese) in it, but Japanese doublets that have their origin from Western languages are not so many. Here is the list of doublets written in katakana for Japanese learners.

*¹¹ Examples: モバイルバッテリー (mobaru batterī = mobile battery) or モバイルWi-Fi (mobairu wai-fai = mobile wi-fi router )

*¹² ストライク(sutoraiku)

ストライク(sutoraiku) is also the same as the original name of the Pokémon called Scyther in English.

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References

National Diet Library Japan (in Japanese) https://www.ndl.go.jp/nichiran/s1/s1_1.html