Alcove (bed niche)
Alcove ( Arabic القبة al- qubba , dome, around 1700 from French alcôve , Spanish alkoba ) denotes a “bed niche, sleeping niche” or a “wall bed”. In Low German , the term Butze is also usedfor bed niche. Theterm Durk is common in the Münsterland , southern Oldenburg and eastern Westphalia . An alternative derivation leads in Spanish alkoba back to the Latin cubare , “to lie”, to which the Italian cova , “deposit”, and covo , “cave” also go back.
Different forms of bed niches can be distinguished:
- A historical bed niche or a small adjoining room in a room in which the sleeping accommodation (bed or simply blankets) is located. Alcoves were warmer than free-standing beds and provided more privacy. In the past, servants often only had a small chamber with an alcove into which they could withdraw.
- A fold-away bed in farmhouses . In the past, such alcoves were usually installed between the kebab and the kitchen or in the cross hall that separated the living and utility areas.
- In the courtly area, the bed in the alcove meant something private. It was not free with an exposed canopy like the parade beds in the castles of absolutism . This contrast explains the form and function in ceremonial and architectural theory of the 17th and 18th centuries.
- A bed niche in a mobile home or truck behind or above the driver's cab.
In historical alcoves, people usually slept in a seated position, which is why the alcoves are often only about 1.60 m long. Alcoves were problematic from a hygienic point of view, as the straw was rarely changed, the ventilation was poor and food supplies were often stored under the alcoves in farmhouses. In order to combat tuberculosis , building authorities began taking action against alcoves from the end of the 19th century. In the Free State of Oldenburg , health insurance companies paid 100 Reichsmarks for each alcove removed in 1926 . Nonetheless, alcoves remained in use in northern Germany until the middle of the 20th century, mainly among poorer sections of the population.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nabil Osman (Ed.): Small lexicon of German words of Arabic origin. Beck, Munich 2002, p. 26
- ^ Johann Knobloch : Span. alkoba, German alcove, "sleeping niche" - no Arabic. Loan word. In: Sintagma , Volume 2, 1990, pp. 27f
- ^ Norbert Fischer: Schleswig-Holstein. The little lexicon: From Amrum to Vikings . 1st edition. Wachholtz Verlag, Kiel 2018, ISBN 978-3-529-09254-1 , p. 8 ( dnb.de [accessed on May 16, 2020]).
- ↑ Beatrice Härig: What is a Durk? , in: Monumente 4/2016, p. 41