Is there a Dutch word for siblings?
Over the years, quite some students asked me what the translation for the beautiful word ‘siblings’ was. Every time, I had to tell them that I thought there wasn’t one. I said that because I had never heard any Dutch person using a possible translation of only one word. We simply say: broers en zussen.
One of those moments, I remember, I looked up the word in one of the bigger translation apps and found the word ‘brussen’. Mmmm, what an ingenious word, but do we use this in real life? I had never heard it before, let alone that I would use it in conversations with others. But I also knew that what I use is not always representative. What needed to happen, I think, was that I had to hear it once in real life before I was convinced that ‘brussen’ is acceptable. And so it happened. A few months ago, a friend of mine used it during a chat about her family. I was pleasantly surprised and I was more confirmed that it was not only a word in a (digital) dictionary, but also quite common. At least my friend, who is a GP and talks with many very different persons every day, used it. So, when the family topic came along last week, I could let my student know that I had good news for her:
Yes, we do have a synonym: brussen!
Heb jij brussen?
I think it is a beautiful finding of the two words ‘broers’ and ‘zussen’. The BR of broers and the USSEN of zussen. It also makes me wonder whether you as the reader of this blog use ‘brussen’ at all? Or did you know about it, but don’t use it (yet)? I am looking forward to your responses.
What to answer if a Dutch person like me, who does not use ‘brussen’, asks you as a learner of Dutch: “Heb jij broers of zussen? You can really impress by saying: “Ja, ik heb brussen!” This will either lead to a smile and a correct answer or to a face that looks at you in complete awe, with perhaps a big question mark above it. That would be really cool!
