Nieuwleusen
Encyclopedia
Nieuwleusen is a town in the Dutch
province
of Overijssel
with 5,913 inhabitants as of 1 January 2007. At the 2001 municipal reform, most of the former municipality of Nieuwleusen was incorporated into the municipality of Dalfsen
. Part, including the Lichtmis area, was added to the municipality of Zwolle
.
in the west to Coevorden
in the east. To the north are the hamlet of Punthorst and the Staatsbos state woodland in the municipality of Staphorst
. South of Nieuwleusen is Dalfsen, a slightly bigger town from which the municipality takes its name. To the west, provincial road N377 and highway A28 meet at De Lichtmis, the location of a former military bulwark which provided access to the north of the country. Nieuwleusen is situated between the Vecht
and Reest rivers to the south and north respectively, and is counted as part of the historical region of Salland
, or latterly the (Overijssels) Vechtdal (Vecht Valley - a usage in tourism).
The town has a northern and an older southern half (today called Nieuwleusen-Noord and Nieuwleusen-Zuid, respectively) separated by sports fields and facilities. The northern part has the Old and New Hulsterplas, two connected recreational bodies of water created between the nineteen-sixties and -eighties. The southern part has the Kerkenhoek area with the Grote Kerk (Great Church) from 1830, first built in 1660; the former town hall; and the small Palthebos wood, once the possession of the Palthe family of clergy and landowners.
Rural cores and former hamlets that form part of Nieuwleusen include Den Hulst to the north, De Meele to the northwest and the Ruitenveen to the southwest.
New housing has been under construction for years. Construction is underway in various locations, notably to the west (the 'Westerbouwlanden'). An expression indicates that the village was not always considered so attractive: 'Nieuwleusen, they used to refuse to be buried there and now everybody's moving in.'
and Coevorden, 49 (a school bus) between Zwolle and Dedemsvaart
and 83, all operated by Syntus Overijssel. Roads leading into Nieuwleusen include the N377 (from Hasselt), N758 (from Zwolle) and N757 (from Dalfsen).
Nieuwleusen came into existence in the first half of the seventeenth century. At the time, most of the area between Leusen, a village on the Vecht, and the Reest on the border with the province of Drenthe
consisted of inaccessible peat moors. The entire area of the Vechtdal, from Hasselt to Coevorden, is indicated as t Veen (the Peat Moor) on a map by Abraham Goos from the early seventeenth century. The area where Nieuwleusen now lies is called the Ommer moer (Moor of Ommen
) on the same map.
On 8 January 1631, the Luessener Compagnie was established by inhabitants of Zwolle and Kampen
to cultivate the area north of Leusen, which belonged to the Marke van Leusen (the local association of land owners). It was mainly pioneers from Leusen who made the land arable. The first farms of the new settlement stood along the Pad (Path), today the Oosterveen road. Hence, Nieuwleusen got its early name of Oosterveen, as seen on the earliest area maps. Once the settlement got its name of Nieuwleusen (New Leusen), the original Leusen got to be called Oudleusen or Old Leusen (Low Saxon: Oldlusen). It is believed that leusen in these names means lo-essen, approximately 'wooded fields' - which would have been descriptive of the (Old) Leusen area and carried over into the name of Nieuwleusen.
Between 1640 and 1646, the nobleman Zweer van Haersolte built the havezathe (country house typical of Overijssel) Oosterveen here. It was demolished in 1862; a scale model is on view at the town's historical museum (see below). In 1655, a house for a schoolteacher was built on the Oosterveen. The baptismal register of Nieuwleusen was kept from 1659. The first Reformed ministers were called from Zwolle, Dalfsen and Ommen
. The first minister was Reverend Van Bercum, who arrived in 1663.
in Hasselt to the Vecht at Gramsbergen
, cutting horizontally through the north of the province. In 1811, the canal went as far as Balkbrug (past Nieuwleusen). Just north of Nieuwleusen, as at other points where there were locks and bridges, the Dedemsvaart stimulated settlement alongside the canal. It encouraged the growth of the hamlet of Den Hulst (known locally as Nulst), first mentioned in the early eighteenth century. From Den Hulst, the Ommerdiek road (now the main road Burg. J.P. Backxlaan) led down to Nieuwleusen. Den Hulst would evolve into the northern part of Nieuwleusen. A track for a tram engine
was laid alongside the Dedemsvaart in 1885; the tram engine was run by the Dedemsvaartsche Stoomtramweg Maatschappij until cars and bus services made it obsolete. The canal having lost its economic importance by the mid-twentieth century, parts of it were drained, including (in 1969) the part that ran through Den Hulst. At the height of De Meele to the west, the Dedemsvaart still exists, as it does in other parts of the province. Provincial road N377 was constructed on the site of the canal and alongside the preserved parts.
At the start of the eighteenth century, Nieuwleusen formed a single municipality with the hamlet of Avereest
. On 1 July 1818, the municipal budgets were separated and Nieuwleusen became an independent municipality. However, it was in a 'personal union' with Avereest until 1833, sharing a mayor. Nieuwleusen had no municipal coat of arms until 1899. Like many municipalities, it applied for one in that year on the occasion of the construction of a new meeting hall for the Provincial States of Overijssel. The coat of arms was designed on the basis of those of Dalfsen (because the Marke van Leusen had been part of the legal district of Dalfsen) and the then municipality of Zwollekerspel (because part of Zwollekerspel had been incorporated into the municipality of Nieuwleusen). The crossed scythes in the lower part of the coat of arms symbolise agriculture. In 1954, Nieuwleusen applied for and was granted a crown atop its coat of arms. The municipality existed until 31 December 2000. The former municipal coat of arms is now the official 'town coat of arms'.
, and dismantled in 1821 by Van Dedem to be rebuilt on the bank of his Dedemsvaart canal. The college was run by Ms Theda Mansholt and later by Ms Greta Smit. Rural women, prospective teachers, were trained in housekeeping, farming and market gardening. In 1930, the college moved to Deventer
and the house was demolished.
Shops are concentrated in the northern and southern village cores, both cores organizing their own cultural and commercial activities. Both in the north and in the south, shops are concentrated around the Backxlaan. A new square lined by combined shopping and residential units was created alongside the Backxlaan in the south in 2007. A small market is held every Saturday and moves between the north and the south every half year.
In 1982, Nieuwleusen celebrated its 350th anniversary, and the Historische Vereniging Ni'jluusn van vrogger (Historical Association Nieuwleusen of Old) was founded. This association opened the Palthehof Museum of local history in 1998, which features permanent and temporary exhibitions about aspects of the town's past.
The Grammofoonmuseum (Gramophone Museum) has gramophones on display from early models to more recent ones.
The Christian marching band De Broederband was founded in 1925, and there is a Christian male choir, the Hazeuzangers.
The last surviving of six windmills in Nieuwleusen, Massier's mill from 1861, is located on Westeinde road. Having fallen into disrepair, it was restored to milling capacity in 2007-08 and opened for public activities.
Nieuwleusen has a number of primary schools as well as a school for secondary education.
The town is twinned with St Albans
, England.
. Several dialect maps represent Nieuwleusen as being partly or wholly within the Zuud-Drèents dialectal area. The town lying in Overijssel rather than in the bordering province of Drenthe
, however, its dialect (traditionally called simply Ni'jlusens or plat) is often seen as Sallaans rather than Drents. The dialect singer Aalt Westerman from Nieuwleusen, for instance, is billed as 'the troubadour of the Sallaans language'.
The dialect researcher Harrie Scholtmeijer has recently classed the Nieuwleusen dialect as neither Drèents nor Sallaans, but 'North Overijssels'. His categorisation, however, demarcates the main dialect groups within the province of Overijssel and does not examine dialectal continuity across provincial borders.
Scholtmeijer supports the view that the Nieuwleusen dialect does not share Sallaans features such as an umlaut
in diminutives, or short or drawn-out vowels in certain words that have long vowels in North Overijssels (as in Southwest-South Drèents). The late dialect researcher Hendrik Entjes, who spent the latter part of his life living in Nieuwleusen, has suggested that there is, or used to be, no single Nieuwleusen dialect and that features from both Drèents and Sallaans are found:
In accordance with a countrywide trend, the use of the dialect is dwindling in favour of Standard Dutch, and where it continues to be used it is increasingly influenced by the standard language. The dialect is used marginally in publications, for instance in the magazine of the Historical Association Ni'jluusn van vrogger. Some of its vocabulary and expressions have been mapped (for instance, see Schoemaker-Ytsma in the Bibliography).
Standard Dutch translation:
Zo kwam Klaas dan met zijn handelswaar bij een gezin waar ik de naam niet van wil noemen. De vrouw begon erover: "Klaas, wat heb ik gehoord. Heb jij onlangs bij Greet geslapen? Wat moet ik daar nou van denken?" Klaas had zijn antwoord niet gereed. Wat moest hij daar nou op zeggen? Maar hij kreeg hulp. Er ging een schip door de Dedemsvaart en het mag dan wel toevallig zijn, maar ineens zei Klaas tegen de vrouw: "Draai je eens om en lees eens wat er op dat schip staat". Het mens kreeg een kleur tot achter de oren, want zij las de woorden: "ZIET OP U ZELVEN".
English translation:
Klaos, then, took his merchandise to a family I wish to remain unnamed. The wife broached the subject: "Klaos, what have they told me. Did you sleep with Griete the other day? What am I supposed to make of that?" Klaos did not have a ready answer. What to say to this? But he got unexpected assistance. A ship passed through the Dedemsvaart, and it may be a big coincidence, but Klaos suddenly told the woman: "Turn around and have a look at what it says on that ship". The woman turned crimson, for she read the words: "LOOK UPON THYSELF".
From 'Olde Kloas' by Berend van Duren, in Gees Bartels-Martens (1997), Een rondje Nieuwleusen. Een bescheiden rondgang door de literatuur en geschiedenis van Nieuwleusen, Kampen: IJsselacademie
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
of Overijssel
Overijssel
Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...
with 5,913 inhabitants as of 1 January 2007. At the 2001 municipal reform, most of the former municipality of Nieuwleusen was incorporated into the municipality of Dalfsen
Dalfsen
Dalfsen is a municipality and a town in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel.The present municipality of Dalfsen was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the municipalities of Nieuwleusen and Dalfsen....
. Part, including the Lichtmis area, was added to the municipality of Zwolle
Zwolle
Zwolle is a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. Zwolle has about 120,000 citizens.-History:...
.
Situation
The provincial road N377 (the 'Den Hulst') runs along the town, going from HasseltHasselt (Overijssel)
Hasselt is a city about 7 km north of Zwolle, in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It received city rights in 1252. It became a member of the Hanseatic League around 1350. The city suffered an economic downfall from about 1550 on, as other cities proved to be better situated and equipped for...
in the west to Coevorden
Coevorden
Coevorden is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands. During the municipal reorganisation in the province in 1998, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo.- Population centers :...
in the east. To the north are the hamlet of Punthorst and the Staatsbos state woodland in the municipality of Staphorst
Staphorst
Staphorst is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.-History:The villages of Staphorst and its southern neighbour Rouveen came into existence as in the 13th century monks started to bring the bogs and swamps into culture. All the farms were built along the long road through the bog...
. South of Nieuwleusen is Dalfsen, a slightly bigger town from which the municipality takes its name. To the west, provincial road N377 and highway A28 meet at De Lichtmis, the location of a former military bulwark which provided access to the north of the country. Nieuwleusen is situated between the Vecht
Vechte
The Vechte or Vecht , often called Overijsselse Vecht in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands...
and Reest rivers to the south and north respectively, and is counted as part of the historical region of Salland
Salland
Salland is a historical dominion in the west and north of the present Dutch province of Overijssel. It is probably named after the Salian Franks, who are thought to originate from Salland...
, or latterly the (Overijssels) Vechtdal (Vecht Valley - a usage in tourism).
The town has a northern and an older southern half (today called Nieuwleusen-Noord and Nieuwleusen-Zuid, respectively) separated by sports fields and facilities. The northern part has the Old and New Hulsterplas, two connected recreational bodies of water created between the nineteen-sixties and -eighties. The southern part has the Kerkenhoek area with the Grote Kerk (Great Church) from 1830, first built in 1660; the former town hall; and the small Palthebos wood, once the possession of the Palthe family of clergy and landowners.
Rural cores and former hamlets that form part of Nieuwleusen include Den Hulst to the north, De Meele to the northwest and the Ruitenveen to the southwest.
New housing has been under construction for years. Construction is underway in various locations, notably to the west (the 'Westerbouwlanden'). An expression indicates that the village was not always considered so attractive: 'Nieuwleusen, they used to refuse to be buried there and now everybody's moving in.'
Accessibility
Public transportation to and from Nieuwleusen include bus routes 29 between ZwolleZwolle
Zwolle is a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. Zwolle has about 120,000 citizens.-History:...
and Coevorden, 49 (a school bus) between Zwolle and Dedemsvaart
Dedemsvaart
Dedemsvaart is a village in Overijssel, the Netherlands, with a population of about 12,000.The town is located along an old canal, the Dedemsvaart proper, which lost its commercial importance after World War II. The area around Dedemsvaart, until 2001 part of the municipality of Avereest, was an...
and 83, all operated by Syntus Overijssel. Roads leading into Nieuwleusen include the N377 (from Hasselt), N758 (from Zwolle) and N757 (from Dalfsen).
History
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...
consisted of inaccessible peat moors. The entire area of the Vechtdal, from Hasselt to Coevorden, is indicated as t Veen (the Peat Moor) on a map by Abraham Goos from the early seventeenth century. The area where Nieuwleusen now lies is called the Ommer moer (Moor of Ommen
Ommen
Ommen is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the Vecht valley of the Salland region, which is at the heart of the province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a city in 1248...
) on the same map.
The Luessener Compagnie
Kampen (Overijssel)
Kampen is a municipality, a city and an old Hanseatic city at the lower reaches of the river IJssel in the Dutch province of Overijssel.The municipality of Kampen counts 50,073 inhabitants in an area of approximately 162 km² . Kampen is located in the North West of Overijssel and is the...
to cultivate the area north of Leusen, which belonged to the Marke van Leusen (the local association of land owners). It was mainly pioneers from Leusen who made the land arable. The first farms of the new settlement stood along the Pad (Path), today the Oosterveen road. Hence, Nieuwleusen got its early name of Oosterveen, as seen on the earliest area maps. Once the settlement got its name of Nieuwleusen (New Leusen), the original Leusen got to be called Oudleusen or Old Leusen (Low Saxon: Oldlusen). It is believed that leusen in these names means lo-essen, approximately 'wooded fields' - which would have been descriptive of the (Old) Leusen area and carried over into the name of Nieuwleusen.
Between 1640 and 1646, the nobleman Zweer van Haersolte built the havezathe (country house typical of Overijssel) Oosterveen here. It was demolished in 1862; a scale model is on view at the town's historical museum (see below). In 1655, a house for a schoolteacher was built on the Oosterveen. The baptismal register of Nieuwleusen was kept from 1659. The first Reformed ministers were called from Zwolle, Dalfsen and Ommen
Ommen
Ommen is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the Vecht valley of the Salland region, which is at the heart of the province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a city in 1248...
. The first minister was Reverend Van Bercum, who arrived in 1663.
The Dedemsvaart
In 1809, Nieuwleusen-born nobleman and politician Baron Willem Jan van Dedem started construction of the Dedemsvaart canal through northern Overijssel, meant to facilitate the transportation of peat, which was being dug on a large scale in this part of the Netherlands. The canal would eventually stretch from the Zwarte WaterZwarte Water
The Zwarte Water is a river in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is formed just south of the city of Zwolle when two streams, the Soestwetering and the Nieuwe Wetering, merge...
in Hasselt to the Vecht at Gramsbergen
Gramsbergen
Gramsbergen is a small Dutch town on the Vechte, located in the municipality of Hardenberg and the province of Overijssel. The town is located on corridors of different transportation modes: The N34 , the Zwolle - Emmen railway and the Almelo - de Haandrik canal.-History:Gramsbergen and its hamlets...
, cutting horizontally through the north of the province. In 1811, the canal went as far as Balkbrug (past Nieuwleusen). Just north of Nieuwleusen, as at other points where there were locks and bridges, the Dedemsvaart stimulated settlement alongside the canal. It encouraged the growth of the hamlet of Den Hulst (known locally as Nulst), first mentioned in the early eighteenth century. From Den Hulst, the Ommerdiek road (now the main road Burg. J.P. Backxlaan) led down to Nieuwleusen. Den Hulst would evolve into the northern part of Nieuwleusen. A track for a tram engine
Tram engine
A tram engine is a locomotive specially built, or modified, to work on a street, or roadside, tramway.-Steam tram engines:In the steam locomotive era, tram engines had to comply with certain legal requirements, although these varied from country to country:* The engine must be governed to a maximum...
was laid alongside the Dedemsvaart in 1885; the tram engine was run by the Dedemsvaartsche Stoomtramweg Maatschappij until cars and bus services made it obsolete. The canal having lost its economic importance by the mid-twentieth century, parts of it were drained, including (in 1969) the part that ran through Den Hulst. At the height of De Meele to the west, the Dedemsvaart still exists, as it does in other parts of the province. Provincial road N377 was constructed on the site of the canal and alongside the preserved parts.
The municipality of Nieuwleusen
Avereest
Avereest is a former municipality in the Dutch province of Overijssel. The largest town in the municipality was Dedemsvaart.In 2001, the area became a part of Hardenberg.-External links: Map of the former municipality, around 1868....
. On 1 July 1818, the municipal budgets were separated and Nieuwleusen became an independent municipality. However, it was in a 'personal union' with Avereest until 1833, sharing a mayor. Nieuwleusen had no municipal coat of arms until 1899. Like many municipalities, it applied for one in that year on the occasion of the construction of a new meeting hall for the Provincial States of Overijssel. The coat of arms was designed on the basis of those of Dalfsen (because the Marke van Leusen had been part of the legal district of Dalfsen) and the then municipality of Zwollekerspel (because part of Zwollekerspel had been incorporated into the municipality of Nieuwleusen). The crossed scythes in the lower part of the coat of arms symbolise agriculture. In 1954, Nieuwleusen applied for and was granted a crown atop its coat of arms. The municipality existed until 31 December 2000. The former municipal coat of arms is now the official 'town coat of arms'.
De Rollecate
In 1913, the first state college for female teachers of husbandry and housekeeping, called De Rollecate, was opened in Den Hulst. Baron Van Dedem had made his country estate of the same name available to this end. The house De Rollecate, where the courses were taught, had been built around 1654-1655 in VollenhoveVollenhove
Vollenhove is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, southwest of Steenwijk. Until the Noordoostpolder was drained, it was located on the coast of the IJsselmeer....
, and dismantled in 1821 by Van Dedem to be rebuilt on the bank of his Dedemsvaart canal. The college was run by Ms Theda Mansholt and later by Ms Greta Smit. Rural women, prospective teachers, were trained in housekeeping, farming and market gardening. In 1930, the college moved to Deventer
Deventer
Deventer is a municipality and city in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. Deventer is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, but also has a small part of its territory on the west bank. In 2005 the municipality of Bathmen Deventer is a municipality and city in...
and the house was demolished.
Union
A bicycle factory called Union was set up in Den Hulst in 1904. The factory, which went on to produce famous Dutch bicycles throughout the twentieth century, was an important factor of employment in Nieuwleusen. In 1979, the old Union building was lost in a fire, the cause of which was never established. The factory was in persistent financial and managerial trouble in the last decades of its existence. Union was bankrupted in 2001, was placed in receivership with Larcom from Ommen and was sold in 2005 to Dutch Bicycle Group from Schiedam. Some production remains in Nieuwleusen. Various companies are now housed in the former factory building.Industry
Notwithstanding Union's demise, Nieuwleusen remains industrially active because of the town's favourable location close to Zwolle. There are growing industrial zones (De Meele, De Evenboer, De Rollecate, De Grift).Shops are concentrated in the northern and southern village cores, both cores organizing their own cultural and commercial activities. Both in the north and in the south, shops are concentrated around the Backxlaan. A new square lined by combined shopping and residential units was created alongside the Backxlaan in the south in 2007. A small market is held every Saturday and moves between the north and the south every half year.
Culture
The Grammofoonmuseum (Gramophone Museum) has gramophones on display from early models to more recent ones.
The Christian marching band De Broederband was founded in 1925, and there is a Christian male choir, the Hazeuzangers.
The last surviving of six windmills in Nieuwleusen, Massier's mill from 1861, is located on Westeinde road. Having fallen into disrepair, it was restored to milling capacity in 2007-08 and opened for public activities.
Nieuwleusen has a number of primary schools as well as a school for secondary education.
The town is twinned with St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
, England.
Sports
Nieuwleusen has a cluster of outdoor and indoor sports facilities which separate the northern and southern halves of the town. It includes football pitches, tennis courts, korfball pitches, a skating rink and an outdoor swimming pool. There are many sports clubs, including two football clubs (USV Nieuwleusen and SV Nieuwleusen), an association for shooting sports and a motorcycle club. According to the Dalfsen council, Nieuwleusen has the highest percentage of motorcycle owners in the Netherlands.Language
The dialect of Nieuwleusen is a variety of Low SaxonLow German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
. Several dialect maps represent Nieuwleusen as being partly or wholly within the Zuud-Drèents dialectal area. The town lying in Overijssel rather than in the bordering province of Drenthe
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...
, however, its dialect (traditionally called simply Ni'jlusens or plat) is often seen as Sallaans rather than Drents. The dialect singer Aalt Westerman from Nieuwleusen, for instance, is billed as 'the troubadour of the Sallaans language'.
The dialect researcher Harrie Scholtmeijer has recently classed the Nieuwleusen dialect as neither Drèents nor Sallaans, but 'North Overijssels'. His categorisation, however, demarcates the main dialect groups within the province of Overijssel and does not examine dialectal continuity across provincial borders.
Scholtmeijer supports the view that the Nieuwleusen dialect does not share Sallaans features such as an umlaut
Germanic umlaut
In linguistics, umlaut is a process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term umlaut was originally coined and is used principally in connection with the study of the Germanic languages...
in diminutives, or short or drawn-out vowels in certain words that have long vowels in North Overijssels (as in Southwest-South Drèents). The late dialect researcher Hendrik Entjes, who spent the latter part of his life living in Nieuwleusen, has suggested that there is, or used to be, no single Nieuwleusen dialect and that features from both Drèents and Sallaans are found:
- "[Nieuwleusen] has an old part, in the south, and a new part which came into existence when the Dedemsvaart was dug. The new part used to be called De Hulst. There were old farms on sandy plateaus which rose above the peat. But De Hulst never developed into a proper peat colony. Now, in the past I have made RND [Dutch Dialect Atlases] recordings. One in Nieuwleusen and one in De Hulst. But now that I compare the two, I notice that my informants in De Hulst were from those older farms. When, by contrast, I go to the people who are descended from those peat workers, from the time when the Dedemsvaart was dug, there is a clear difference in dialect. Here they express this by saying: the north and the south do speak a bit differently. But what they mean is: the descendants of the old inhabitants speak a bit differently from the descendants of those who came later. [...] The old Vecht river area, for instance, says etten [to eat], but in the peat colonies one finds eten. I think this comes from Drente. And I am trying to find traces of that colonial language. One might then say that there is a peat colony dialect in Overijssel."
In accordance with a countrywide trend, the use of the dialect is dwindling in favour of Standard Dutch, and where it continues to be used it is increasingly influenced by the standard language. The dialect is used marginally in publications, for instance in the magazine of the Historical Association Ni'jluusn van vrogger. Some of its vocabulary and expressions have been mapped (for instance, see Schoemaker-Ytsma in the Bibliography).
Language sample
Zo kwamp Klaos dan met zien negotie bij een gezin waor ak de name niet van numen wille. De vrouw begun der over: "Klaos, wat ek eheurd. Heb ie onlangs bij Griete eslaopen? Wat muk dor nou van denken?" Klaos had zien antwoord niet klaor. Wat mus hij daor nou op zeggen? Mar hij kreeg hulpe. Er ging een schip deur de Dedemsvaort en het mag dan wel toevallig wezen, mar opiens zei Klaos tegen de vrouwe: "Dreit oe ies umme en leest ies wat op det schip stiet". Het mense kreeg een kleur tot achter de oren, want zij lezen de woorden: "ZIET OP U ZELVEN".Standard Dutch translation:
Zo kwam Klaas dan met zijn handelswaar bij een gezin waar ik de naam niet van wil noemen. De vrouw begon erover: "Klaas, wat heb ik gehoord. Heb jij onlangs bij Greet geslapen? Wat moet ik daar nou van denken?" Klaas had zijn antwoord niet gereed. Wat moest hij daar nou op zeggen? Maar hij kreeg hulp. Er ging een schip door de Dedemsvaart en het mag dan wel toevallig zijn, maar ineens zei Klaas tegen de vrouw: "Draai je eens om en lees eens wat er op dat schip staat". Het mens kreeg een kleur tot achter de oren, want zij las de woorden: "ZIET OP U ZELVEN".
English translation:
Klaos, then, took his merchandise to a family I wish to remain unnamed. The wife broached the subject: "Klaos, what have they told me. Did you sleep with Griete the other day? What am I supposed to make of that?" Klaos did not have a ready answer. What to say to this? But he got unexpected assistance. A ship passed through the Dedemsvaart, and it may be a big coincidence, but Klaos suddenly told the woman: "Turn around and have a look at what it says on that ship". The woman turned crimson, for she read the words: "LOOK UPON THYSELF".
From 'Olde Kloas' by Berend van Duren, in Gees Bartels-Martens (1997), Een rondje Nieuwleusen. Een bescheiden rondgang door de literatuur en geschiedenis van Nieuwleusen, Kampen: IJsselacademie
People of note
This list includes notable people who live in Nieuwleusen or who have lived there.- Anita Berry (born Greetje Garritse), singer, scored a hit with the song Middellandse Zee
- Benjamin Boers (1871-1952), communist preacher
- Sander Borgers (1917-1985), World War II war criminal
- Willem Jan van Dedem (1776-1851), sponsor of the Dedemsvaart canal
- Johan van Dorsten (1926), novelist
- Ali C. Drost-Brouwer (1942), novelist
- Hendrik Entjes (1919-2006), professor of Low Saxon language and literature
- Manon FlierManon FlierManon Flier is a female volleyball player from the Netherlands, who plays as a wing-spiker for Toray Arrows.-Career:...
(1984), volleybal player in the national team - H. van der Galiën-De Boer (1907-1988), novelist
- Piet Kalteren (1939), poet
- Joost Marsman (1974), singer in the pop band I.O.S. (formerly Is Ook Schitterend)
- Jan Arend Palthe (1727-1803), preacher and landowner
- Tjako van SchieTjako van SchieTjako van Schie is a Dutch pianist and composer. He is a répétiteur at the Amsterdam Conservatory.- Biography :...
(1961), pianist and composer - Hendrik Sterken Rzn (1915), poet and local historian
- Prof. Dr. Eric Sudhölter (1954), professor at the Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen
- Prof. Dr. Jan Waterink (1890-1966), preacher and professor of pedagogy and psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Aalt Westerman (1951), dialect singer
- Wilhelmus Nicolaas Wolterink (1833-18..), preacher and writer
- Jan Zantinge (1927-1996), writer and teacher
- Korie HomanKorie HomanKorie Homan is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. Homan won the gold medal in women's doubles at the 2008 Paralympics. In 2009 she completed the doubles Grand Slam by winning the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US titles with Esther Vergeer. In addition Homan has also had success in Grand Slams...
(1986), wheelchair tennis player - Robin Hoogenkamp (1994) Football player in the National Team