User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -eɪpə(r)
Noun
gaper
- A fish, taxonomic name Serranus cabrilla.
Synonyms
Extensive Definition
A gaper is a stone head, often depicting a black
man, on the front of a building in the
Netherlands.
It was used to indicate that this building is a
pharmacy.
The literal translation of gaper would be yawner;
the figure is always displayed with an open mouth, and sometimes
you can see a pill he has taken resting on his tongue. In fact he
wasn't yawning, but opening his mouth to take medicine.
The existing "gapers" in Amsterdam are almost all
of Moorish appearance but this wasn't always the case and earlier
ones, now in museums, show white Dutch faces as the gaper. The
gaper represents the assistant of the travelling apothecary, the
forefather of today's pharmacist. The apothecary would attend
market days all over the country and his assistant would play the
character of an ill man. After taking the pill, the assistant
(often a Moor) would all of a sudden feel much better and perform a
dance.
Later, when pharmacists opened shops instead of
travelling through the country, the symbol of the Moorish man
(often depicted with a pill on his tongue) would tell the
illiterate audience that this was the home of a pharmacist.
Nowadays these symbols are rare, outside museum
collections, fewer than 50 can be seen on buildings, some have now
lent their names to cafes such as the Gevulde Gaper in
Amsterdam.
External links
- http://home.planet.nl/~souer014/Gapersgb_tekst.htm (in English)
- http://www.amsterdamsegevelstenen.nl/GapersBeeldbank.htm (Dutch only)
- http://www.gapers.nl/ (Dutch only)