smartlap

Borrowed from German Schmachtlappen, but by folk etymology reanalysed as smart (“grief”) +‎ lap (“rag, sheet”). The widespread supposition that the word originally referred to canvases (roldoeken) depicting sad scenes that were used by itinerant street singers or street musicians is incorrect.[1][2]

• IPA^(key): /ˈsmɑrt.lɑp/

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• Hyphenation: smart‧lap

smartlap m (plural smartlappen, diminutive smartlapje n)

1. A simple sentimental popular song about a sad story, usually involving love, death, nostalgia or illness, of a genre originating around 1900. [from early 1950s]
   • 1952 April 25, “Veertig jaar maker van liedjes”, in Het Parool, volume 12, number 2238, page 2:

     Later werd de jubilaris componist bij het gezelschap van Herman Bouber en schreef, zoals hij het zelf noemt, verscheidene smartlappen”^[sic] voor Boubers „schetsen uit het rosse leven”.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• → Afrikaans: smartlap