Brand in de Notre-Dame en werk van de brandweer

What does “blussen” mean in Dutch?

Dutch learners quickly pick up brandweer (fire brigade) because the compound is transparent: brand (fire) + weer (related to “warden/ward off”). But the verb the fire brigade actually performs — blussen, to extinguish — is far less obvious. It means to put out a fire entirely, stopping it rather than just fighting it, and it already appeared in Dutch texts as early as 1285. The Notre-Dame backdrop makes the word unforgettable.

In the clip, the speaker stands outside the restored Notre-Dame and explains: “De brandweer, die komt om de brand dan te blussen” — the fire brigade comes to extinguish the fire. He then introduces the compound brandblussen (fire-extinguishing) as the noun form of the activity. The verb extends beyond fire: dorst blussen means to quench your thirst, showing the same core idea of putting something out completely. Etymologically, blussen descends from Middle Dutch be-lessen (“to calm, to quench”), with the unstressed be- worn down and the vowel shifting from e to u — a pattern also seen in schulp alongside schelp.