rotzak

Dutch

Etymology

Compound rot (“rotten”) +‎ zak (“scrotum, bag”). Reportedly (WNT, De Vries) a bahuvrihi meaning “a syphilitic”. Syphilis was also known as the French disease, explaining why it became a slur for French and Walloon people.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔt.sɑk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rot‧zak

Noun

rotzak m (plural rotzakken, diminutive rotzakje n)

1. scumbag, fiend
2. (Belgium, Brabant) Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)

   Synonyms: meerkol, Vlaamse gaai

   • 1966, Gerard Walschap, Het Gastmaal, page 123:

     Zij hielden de lucht in het oog tegen roofvogels en rotzakken, alias vlaamse gaaien, en spraken over het nieuws en de problemen.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (obsolete, ethnic slur) Frenchman, Walloon [17th to 18th c.]

Further reading

• Matthias de Vries, Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864) “rotzak”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001
• de Vries, Jan (1971) Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek (in Dutch), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN