Michael Beijer Jul 7, 2015:

I'm a bit busy at the moment (I have a plant that really needs watering), but remind me tomorrow and I'll translate it into Dutch for you. Dat leest misschien wat makkelijker.

<tt>[WARNING: slightly less relevant now that the velvet comment's gone missing]</tt>

Michael Beijer Jul 7, 2015:

@freek: another nice sweeping statement, but what does it actually mean in relation to the points I just made?

<tt>[WARNING: slightly less relevant now that the velvet comment's gone missing]</tt>

Michael Beijer Jul 7, 2015:

also compare (adapted from Hilde's answer): een geur die kenmerkend is voor esters (en andere stoffen die naar esters /esterachtig ruiken)

Michael Beijer Jul 7, 2015:

@freek: First of all, but where are we told what the exact substance is in Els’s text? I don't think we know this.

We are given:

"Erscheinungsbild
Aggregatzustand: flüssig
Farbe: je nach Farbton
Geruch: süsslich, estertypisch"

An "ester" = "een organische verbinding die ontstaat door reactie van een zuur met een alcohol"

However, who's to say the stof in question isn't something else, that simply smells like an ester?

The text says "Geruch: süsslich, estertypisch"

Does "estertypisch" necessarily have to mean that whatever smells the way it does (i.e. "estertypisch"), is in fact an actual ester?

You said "esterachtig zou in het NLs betekenen dat het juist GEEN ester is, maar lijkt op ester."

Now compare this with the following sentence:

"This cinnamon stick smells like cinnamon."

Is this linguistically incorrect? I don't think it is. It smells like cinnamon, and yet it actually is cinnamon too. A bit tautological perhaps, but not wrong.

Michael Beijer Jul 7, 2015:

"esterachtig(e geur)" (of "ester-achtige geur")? zie bijv.:

• https://www.google.nl/?gws_rd=ssl&authuser=1#authuser=1&q=es... (Google zoekopdracht: "esterachtige geur")

• https://www.google.nl/?gws_rd=ssl&authuser=1#authuser=1&q=ru... (Google zoekopdracht: ruikt "esterachtig" geur)