Sketch of the district of Marollen in 1939 by Léon van Dievoet.

Marols or Marollien was a dialect spoken in Brussels. Essentially it is a Dutch dialect incorporating many words of French origin as well as a sprinkling of Spanish dating back to the rule of the Low Countries by the Hapsburgs (1519-1713). Its name refers to a district of Brussels called Marollen (Marolles), a neighborhood in the central municipality of Brussels, not far from the Palace of Justice. The district takes its name from the former abbey of the nuns Maria Colentes (Marikollen). It was a working-class neighborhood, though now it has become a fashionable part of the city. For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ... This article is about the settlement itself. ... For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ... This article or section should be merged with Seventeen Provinces The Spanish Netherlands was a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. ... Habsburg (sometimes spelled Hapsburg, but never so in official use) was one of the major ruling houses of Europe. ... The Law Courts of Brussels The Law Courts of Brussels (Dutch: Justitiepaleis van Brussel, French: Palais de Justice de Bruxelles) is the most important Court building in Belgium and is a notable landmark of Brussels. ... Bold textTHIS IS THE PAGE THAT A.S. REALLY NEEDS!! THIS IS NOW MARKED!!! ] ps i like A.O. This article is about an abbey as a Christian monastic community. ... In general, a nun is a female ascetic who chooses to voluntarily leave the world and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. ...

What is Marols?

There is much confusion about the meaning of Marols, which is considered by many people to be distinctive from Brussels Dutch.^[1] According to Jeanine Treffers-Daller, “the dialect has a tremendous prestige and a lot of myths are doing the rounds.”^[2]

If you ask ten Brusselers what “Marollien” is, you get ten different answers. For some people it is French contaminated by Flemish and spoken in the neighborhood of the rue Haute and the rue Blaes, whereas for others it is Frenchified Flemish. Still others say that it is a vernacular variety of French, spoken in the whole cit, etc., etc. Marollien, however, is exceptional if not unique, because it is a double language. In fact it is not between the germanic and romance languages, it is both.

– Jacques Pohl, 1953, ^[3]

Exempla

An example of Marols is:

Na mooie ni paaze da'k ee da poèzeke em zitte deklameire / Allien mo vè aile 't amuzeire / Neineie... ik em aile wille demonsteire / Dat as er zain dee uile me konviksen e stuk in uilen uur drinke. / Dat da ni seulement en allien es vè te drinke.

– ^[4]

Marols and Tintin

The coat-of-arms of Syldavia features a motto in Syldavian, which is based on Marols. It reads Eih bennek, eih blavek, in English: ("Here I am, here I stay").

For the popular Belgian comic series Tintin, the author Hergé modeled his fictional languages Syldavian^[5] and Bordurian on Marols, and modeled many other personal and place-names in his works on the dialect (e.g. the city of Khemkhâh in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Khemed comes from the Marols phrase for "I'm cold"). Bordurian, for example, has as one of its words the Marols-based "mänhir", meaning "mister" (cf. Dutch "mijnheer"). In the original French, the fictional Arumbaya language of San Theodoros is another incarnation of Marols. Look up Tintin, tintin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... National motto: (English: rub yourself there, get stung ) Official language Syldavian Capital Klow Largest city Klow Population 642,000 (1939) Government Constitutional monarchy Head of State and Head of Government King Muskar XII (1939) Consolidation 1127 Currency Khôr National anthem Rejoice, Syldavia! National animal Pelican Syldavia is a fictional... Syldavian is a fictional language created by Hergé as the national language of Syldavia, a small fictional Balkan kingdom that serves as a major setting in some Tintin stories. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... See comedian Stand up comedian List of Comedians List of British comedians comics comic book comic strip underground comics alternative comics web comic sprite comics manga graphic novel List of comic characters This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... The Adventures of Tintin (French: ) is a series of Belgian comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi (1907–1983). ... Georges Prosper Remi (May 22, 1907 – March 3, 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. ... Syldavian is a fictional language created by Hergé as the national language of Syldavia, a small fictional Balkan kingdom that serves as a major setting in some Tintin stories. ... Bordurian is the national language of Borduria, a fictional Balkan dictatorship created by Hergé for the Tintin series. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Flag of San Theodoros San Theodoros is a fictional South American country in the adventures of Tintin. ...

References