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Kaderleden

Glossary entry

Dutch term or phrase:

Oat, oat!

English translation:

Off with you

Added to glossary by Catherine Muir
Jul 26, 2011 02:02
12 yrs ago
Dutch term

Oat, oat!

Dutch to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature early 1900s Indonesian novel written in Malay lingua franca with some Dutch
Context: A young man is pacing outside the home of the girl he loves, while she is peeking out at him from behind the door. Their eyes meet and they laugh and wave their handkerchiefs at each other, but do not speak. Then the passage reads, "Oat, oat! Maju! Sudah mulai gelap. Magrib." ("Oat, oat! Go on! It's getting dark. Time for sunset prayers.")

I'm assuming that 'oat' means 'out' or, in this context, 'off with you'. Am I correct?
Proposed translations (English)
4 Off with you
3 Come on, come on!
Change log

Jul 26, 2011 03:17: writeaway changed "Language pair" from "Dutch to English" to "Indonesian to English"

Jul 26, 2011 03:18: writeaway changed "Language pair" from "Indonesian to English" to "Dutch to English"

Discussion

Catherine Muir (asker) Jul 27, 2011:
PS: It's not the boy's name ... His name is Henri Dam.
Catherine Muir (asker) Jul 27, 2011:
Yes, I agree ... I chose Josephine's answer as 'most helpful' because it put me on the right track, not because I will necessarily translate it that way. Having said that, I assure you that 'oat' is not a Malay or Indonesian word, but derived from Dutch. Since it is paired with 'maju' ('go on', 'move along' etc), I am thinking along those lines. I appreciate your input very much. Many thanks.
bertvandermoer Jul 27, 2011:
Catherinem, pasar maleis/pasar malay knows many loandwords from dutch. They may sometimes look similar but may be used quite differently. I'm in doubt about the link to the dutch word 'uit" (couldnt find it in my collection of 'kamus'). Indonesians from that period would pronounce this word in a way that doesnt resemble uit, the would cleary say o-at, perhaps even something like 'owat'. However, if you feel that off with you fits the general context, than that is it. At some point you have to take a decision but i have a feeling that its incorrect. Isnt Oat just the name of the boy? Also maju is advance, more as in 'come here'
Catherine Muir (asker) Jul 26, 2011:
I agree ... in the specific context, 'hurry up' would be appropriate. Maybe you'd like to suggest an answer, to get points. Refs not necessary.
Barend van Zadelhoff Jul 26, 2011:
From the context I would conclude they have friendly relationships and, although it may depend on the way she says it, 'go away', 'off with you', 'shoo' sounds a bit unfriendly to me.

So 'oat' may mean 'uit' but the girl might also mean by it 'schiet op, maak voort, erop uit nu' - 'hurry up' 'go now' (otherwise you will be late)

Does this mean we need to find references? :-)
Catherine Muir (asker) Jul 26, 2011:
Actually Dutch, not pasar malay... Bert, the novel has many Dutch words in it, of which this is one. Based on the context, I think 'oat' would mean 'go away', 'off with you', 'shoo', etc.
bertvandermoer Jul 26, 2011:
This early bahasa, called pasar maleis. Oat can mean something quite different, guessing based onsoundex seems trivky to me. I have some old stuff from that period, will revert.
W Schouten Jul 26, 2011:
Josephine's suggestion makes sense to me. Josephine' suggestion makes sense to me
Catherine Muir (asker) Jul 26, 2011:
Thanks, Josephine! I'll go with my instincts.
Josephine Isaacs (X) Jul 26, 2011:
Out in Dutch "uit", which is hard to pronounce if you are not Dutch. Your interpretation is probably correct.

Proposed translations

21 hrs
Selected

Off with you

I think this is very close to the meaning of the source text and fits best with the the rest of the sentence.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
22 hrs

Come on, come on!

Thank you, Catherine.
Of course I can't be perfectly sure and thanks to you and Josephine I 'know' that 'oat' means 'uit'.

Thinking about it another while, I made connections with the interjection 'vooruit'
That is, in the sense of 'Vooruit, vooruit! ('oat' as a shortened form of 'vooruit' or 'vooroat')
Van Dale offers voor 'vooruit': get going, come on, go on and other options that depend on the 'degree of angriness'
also one you mentioned:
vooruit, het is bedtijd - off to bed now

well, as I said, I believe it is about encouragement

perhaps it means the same as 'maju' - go on
she starts out with 'Dutch' and then switches to Malay lingua franca
unfortunately, I don't know about the niceties of 'majum'

I believe I would like 'come on' best, better than 'hurry up' I believe

Come on, come on!

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2011-07-27 03:17:56 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

You may well be right.
In fact 'quick, quick' is an option that crossed my mind as well.
And this father at the back of her mind.

What was your final choice?
Note from asker:
Thanks, Barend. She's saying the same thing in two different languages, but it's a bit 'back to front', I think. Because 'maju' means to 'advance', 'move forward', and she's warning that it's getting dark and almost time for evening prayers, I think she's telling him to 'hurry up' or 'quick, quick', meaning he'd better get out of there before her father comes home at sundown. From the discussion, I gather that 'uit' is more a whistle than a word, conveying the message not to dilly-dally.
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