What Does ‘Hazella’ Mean?? — A Video Interview with Leanne
Our owners, Micheal and Rebecca enjoying a “gezellig” moment reading the paper together on a sunny afternoon.
What is Hazella?? How do you even pronounce it? Is it Hazel-la like the nut or Hazzle-la like “hazard” or something entirely different?
We’ve been getting these questions a lot — and we can’t blame a soul for asking because “Hazella” is a made up word our owners created from the Dutch word, “gezellig,” which is even harder to pronounce than Hazella, but sounds very similar.
But why Hazella? This is the question we are so excited about! The Dutch word that inspired “Hazella” can’t be directly translated into English. We have words like cozy, togetherness, intimate, and sociable in our language, but nothing quite describes that feeling you get when you and your best friend are sitting around the table laughing together over a hot cinnamon roll and some coffee. The English language has nothing to represent that sense of bonding you have doing the everyday tasks of life with someone you love, or the peace that you feel next to the fire with a good book and a four-legged friend in your lap.
“Gezellig,” or, in our case, “Hazella,” is an experience. We’ve created a space that we hope will feel like a third space between work and home where you can feel cozy, welcome, and warm with people you love over wholesome, comforting, treats.
To best answer these questions about the naming of our business, we drove over to Central Oregon to our family farm to interview Rebecca’s daughter-in-law, Leanne, who is second generation Dutch and completely fluent in Dutch language and culture. In the video below, Leanne will explain all of these things and more about “gezellig,” and, “Hazella.”
What do you think? We would love to hear some of your favorite memories where you have felt gezellig/Hazella in the comments below!
