Urk (Flevoland)
See also: Urk
Urk is smallest and oldest common of the province of the Flevoland to the Netherlands. Urk was mentioned for the first time at the 10th century. It was then an island of the lake of Almere. At the 13th century, following incursions of the the North Sea, Almere became the Zuiderzee (until the closing of the Digue of North in 1932) then the IJsselmeer. Starting from 1939, year of the completion of the Dam connecting Urk to Lemmer, Urk was not one island any more, and since the complete draining of the Noordoostpolder in 1942, Urk became a coastal town crimped in north and the east in the grounds of this large Polder. However, the inhabitants of Urk always regard it as an island; one does not live with Urk , but on Urk .
Urk remained a community very welded and very closed, and deeply anchored in the Protestant religion. The local dialect, the Urkers , remained particularly alive. Urk has the largest fishing fleet of the Netherlands. The main activity of Urk was always fishing.
Urk gave its name to the live album of the Nits (1989) and to a documentary film of Andrew Berends (2003).
Geography
An arc of deposits Argile ux forming <
First occurrence of the name " Urk" touve on a Latin certificate of donation written in that made, in 966, the Germanic Roman Emperor Otton I {{er}} with the convent Saint-Pantaléon of Cologne: cuiisdam insulae medietatem in Almere, that Urch vocatur (a certain island in the middle of Almere, which is called Urch ).
Urk could extend on the Polder after the Second world war. Many inhabitants who had had to leave because of overpopulation could then return in Urk.
The Noordoostpolder was also called Urker Land during its creation. The name of the published newspaper with Urk, Het Urkerland , comes from there.
The blazon of Urk was allotted to him by royal decree of the November 26th 1819 whereas its flag goes back only to 1965. Both represent a Aiglefin.
Fishing was always the pillar of the economic life of Urk. After the creation of the IJsselmeer, Urkers had to go to fish in the the North Sea. The rise in the price of fish enriched Urk considerably. The sea has, in the past, taken many lives. A monument with the missing fishermen, called Urker vrouw (the woman of Urk), consists of a statue of a woman fixing the sea, vainly awaiting the returns of her husband and of its enfants.
In 2006, the municipal council comprises 17 members and is directed by a coalition CU-CDA, the mayor (J. Kroon) being HALF-VALUE LAYER. One can notice that 15 of the 17 seats are held by Christian parties.
One of the oldest dialects and most distinct from the Dutch is that spoken in Urk. Almost all the inhabitants speak it and use it daily. The dialect of Urk kept many old characteristics which disappeared a long ago from the Dutch. The dialect also comprises features former to the Dutch and which never belonged to the Dutch. E.g., taote means " père" in dialect. That approaches the word common Indo-European and is related with spoken languages in the Balkans. The insularity of Urk allowed the persistence and the safeguarding of a purity of the dialect. The radio was still unknown and the stripped population bought neither books nor newspapers. The children spent two years to the elementary school then were going to help their parents.
The linguists recently created a family of the dialects of Urk whose urks is the only member.
The urks has more vowels than the Dutch and each vowel has a long form and a short form. The pronunciation of the vowels differs from that of the Dutch and approaches to that the English.
The living conditions being formerly very hard, the young girls around 11 or 12 years left the island to go to work as servants. Very often, they were used in Jewish families as Amsterdam or area. After a few years, they could turn over to Urk to found their own family there. A consequence of this practice was that the urks borrowed words from the dialect from Amsterdam and with the Yiddish. E.g., the word Yiddish Shnur (sister-in-law) gave Snoar in urks. The Hebrew word Kallah ( כלה ) (been engaged) Kalletjen (boyfriend) gave on the island.
When Napoleon i occupied the Royaume of Holland, of many words French was built-in the Dutch and the urks. In both cases, the words French very often changed form during the loan. Until there is little, the dialect of Urk had never been written. Today, of people started to write prose and poetry in urks. Passages of the Bible as the Livre of the Psalms were translated right now.
Urk is not any more one island and is thus exposed via the media with the Dutch and even with the English. However, the dialect is always quite alive.
A famous local legend is the history which the parents with the children tell who question them on the origin of the babies. A large rock located at about thirty meters of the shore, the Ommelebommelestien holds a big role to with it.
For the inhabitants of Urk, there are two kinds of people: the vreemden (foreign) and the Urkers . The foreigners are generally born in a cabbage unless a Cigogne does not bring them to their new parents. But Urkers come from the Ommelebommelestien (Pierre Ommel-Bommel) which was formerly called Ommelmoerstien ( moer meaning mother in urks).
In the history, a Cigogne flies since the Egypt to deposit the baby on the stone. When the baby is about to arrive, the future father must go to Schokland to take the key giving access to the stone. So when one asks an inhabitant of Urk if it already went to Schokland, one actually asks him if it has children.
Formerly, when Urk and Schokland were still islands of the Zuiderzee, the future father was to go to seek the Sage-femme with his boat then to go to seek the key with Schokland and finally to pass to Ommelebommelestien to take the baby. The weather could be during the way today conveys some but he must nevertheless continue to do it in the boat. The door in the stone being sometimes under the sea level, it is not easy to find.
When the door was finally found, small something had to be left. Traditionally, one left a Florin for a girl and two for a boy. Today, the price is of two Euro S, for all, the laws Dutchwomen prohibiting any discrimination.
During this time, the future mother was to remain with the bed with a nail planted in her right foot. Thus, it could celebrate that it had just become mother.
Albert Cornelis Baantjer (° September 16th 1923), writer.
Official site
History
La family van Kuinre had the seigniory of Urk and Emmeloord (the most septentrional village of Schokland) until in 1475. Of 1475 with 1614, the family Zoudenbalch of Utrecht succeeded to him.
Then, of 1614 to 1660, they were the Jonkheer S van of Werve (an important family of Antwerp).
De 1660 with 1792 Urk and Emmeloord belong to the Municipalité of Amsterdam.
Depuis 1792, Urk belonged to the province of septentrional Holland until in 1950. It was then transferred to the province from Overijssel, then, as from 1986, with that of the Flevoland. Urk is thus the common Dutchwoman to have only belonged to three provinces.
Economy
Marble Marine Electronics is the principal society based with Urk
Policy
Dialect
Caption
The legend of Ommelebommelestien
Personalities
External bonds
Random links: Sault-with-Récollet | Skat | Sea of Amundsen | IQue Player | Vibius Sequester | 195_d'un_état_à_un_autre_(New_Jersey)