Friday, November 28, 2014

Words: Mata Hari

<b>MATA</b> <b>HARI</b>… Die Sonne (en malais)."Mata Hari" means a seductive woman who works as a spy. It was a "real" name, or rather a stage name of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (1876-1917), a Dutch exotic dancer. The name is Malay, which means "sun,"
literally "eye of the day", from Malay mata (eye) + hari (day, dawn). Interestingly, 'mata mata' means 'spy' in Malay.
"Eye of the day" is a mirror of her real names, Margarete Gertrude Zelle. Margarete means either pearl or daisy and daisy means "day's eye".
She was executed by the French.
Mata Hari in Leeuwarden  Mata Hari sculpture by Suze Boschma-Berkhout

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