An ‘oorman’, sometimes referred to as ‘oormenneke’, is a room that was built onto some (village) farmhouses, where the elderly parents of the residents lived out their final years. Today, one might use the term ‘granny annex’ or ‘sheltered housing’. Sometimes, an oorman was also rented by a single person. It was a small room measuring approximately two by two and a half metres, in which a box bed (alkoof) served as a sleeping area.
The last oorman in Aalten was located at numbers 38/40 Hogestraat.
Regarding the origin of the term oorman, E.M. Smilda writes the following in Aalten en Bredevoort in oude ansichten:
“In my view, the name oorman should certainly not be considered as being derived from the idea that ‘just as a person’s ears protrude, so an oorman is an extension protruding from the farmhouse’. On the contrary, it is named after the occupant, as is customary in this region. Spelt more accurately, the little dwelling is called an oirman. In one of his plays, [the famous Dutch poet] Vondel has a character ask: ‘Do you then have no oir?’ By oir, heir is meant. In the end-room built onto a farmhouse, the older man who did indeed have an oir could spend the final years of his life. He was the oirman, lived there, still helped out a bit here and there, and received free board and lodging. In the whole of the Netherlands, this original name oirman occurs exclusively in Aalten.”
Sources
- ‘Aalten en Bredevoort in oude ansichten’, door E.M. Smilda
