Dutch Genealogical Word List

Dutch (Nederlands), like English and German, is a Germanic language derived from Old Low Franconian and Old Saxon. Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium (Flanders), the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean, and Suriname.

Flemish, which is spoken in Belgium, is a major dialect (regional variation) of Dutch. It uses words similar to the words on this list. Afrikaans, a separate language spoken in South Africa, is descended from Dutch and preserves many older and dialect features of Dutch, but contains many German and English words as well.

Frisian, which is spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland, is a different language from Dutch.

In addition, Dutch is found in some early records of the United States (mostly in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Iowa) and in South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Brazil and Taiwan.

It is very closely related to the dialects of northern Germany known as Low German. Indeed, the traditional dialects along the Dutch-German border are virtually the same. You may want to read about the linguistic situation in the lower Rhine area or about spelling variations there.

Key Words
To find and use specific types of Dutch records, you will need to know some key words in Dutch. This section lists key genealogical terms in English and the Dutch words with the same or similar meanings.

For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriage. In the second column you will find Dutch words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Dutch records to indicate marriage.

Numbers
In some genealogical records, numbers are written out. This is especially true with dates. The following list gives the cardinal (1, 2, 3) and the ordinal (1st, 2nd, 3rd) versions of each number. Days of the month are written in ordinal form.

Dates and Time
In Dutch records, dates are often written out. For example:

Donderdag, drie en twintig maart in het jaar van onse heer een duizend acht hondert en zesendertig [Thursday, three and twenty March in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and six and thirty].

The names of months and days of the week are never capitalized in Dutch.

To understand Dutch dates, use the following lists as well as the preceding "Numbers" section.

Times of the Day
Dutch birth and death records often indicated the time of day when the birth or death occurred. This is usually written out.

Grammar
In Dutch, as in English, the forms of some words will vary according to how they are used in a sentence. Who—whose—whom, or marry—marries—married are examples of words in English with variant forms. This word list gives the standard form of each Dutch word. As you read Dutch records, you will need to be aware that some words vary with usage.

The prefix t is equal to the Dutch word het, which means the. The prefix s- is a part of many place-names and means des (of the). All prefixes are disregarded in alphabetized lists, except in Flemish records.

The endings of words in a document may differ from what you find in this list. For example, the document may use the word jonger, but you will find it in this word list as jong. In addition, the suffixes -je, -tje,-tien, or -ke are often added to words to indicate "little." These suffixes can also indicate the feminine version of a name. Therefore, the word zoontje means "little" or "young (tje) son (zoon)." The ending -sdr means "daughter of."

Plural forms of Dutch words usually add -en or -s to the singular word. Thus boer (farmer) becomes boeren (farmers), and tafel (table or index) becomes tafels (tables or indexes). Rarely, -eren is added to form the plural. Examples: blad becomes bladeren (leaves [of a tree]), kind becomes kinderen (children).

In Dutch, many words are formed by joining two or more words. Very few of these compound words are included in this list. You will need to look up each part of the word separately. For example, geboortedag is a combination of two words, geboorte (birth) and dag (day).

Alphabet
IJ is equivalent to a Y. If a word whose first letter is to be capitalized starts with IJ, then both must be capitalized. Usually words beginning with IJ are alphabetized under Y, but not always.

When the Dutch alphabetize names of places or surnames, prefixes such as van der, de, or ter are not considered in the alphabetization.

Example:

ten Brock

van der Graf

's-Gravenhage

van Hijden

de Jong

van Leeuwen

ter Pelkwijk

van IJlst

't Zandt

Spelling
Most writers from before the 18th century would have found the idea of a single spelling for any particular word rather odd. If several possible spelling variants are available, why should one be limited to only one choice? Early writers certainly took advantage of the many possibilities available to them. After all, variety is the spice of life. In modern Dutch, the sound represented by the English word ‘I’ can be rendered by several letter sets, including ‘ij’ and ‘ei.’ Again, writers from previous centuries could and did use either of these in addition to several others that are not in common use today to render the ‘I’ sound.


 * y, i, ij and j can all be interchanged for each other. Note that technically the letter y did not traditionally exist in Dutch.


 * g used for ch


 * d, dt and t can all be interchanged for each other.


 * j and i used interchangeably


 * s and z used interchangeably


 * sch used for ss


 * vowels (a,e,o,i,u) being repeated, and vice-versa


 * Abbreviations being used such as 't for het, 's for des.


 * Example:


 * echt spelled as egt


 * overlijden spelled as overlyden


 * Arie spelled as Arij


 * Marietje spelled as Marietie


 * gekomen spelled as gekoomen


 * zondag spelled as sondag


 * Tussenbroek spelled as Tusschenbroek

In the vast majority of cases, the variant spellings represent the same pronunciation as the standard form. Some are simply antiquated; others are dialect forms. We will not consider personal names or words that have Latin endings, such as ‘Aprilis.’ We will, however, consider some place names. The traditional dialect of northern Germany, Low German, is very closely related to Dutch.

The researcher should not be alarmed, nor think the scribe ‘did not know how to spell,’ when he encounters these variants. Many of these variants will be found well into the 19th century. In some cases, it is impossible to tell whether the scribe wrote ‘ij’ or ‘y’. Although we list a few of these, to list every possible variation with this set would be superfluous.

Additional Resources
For further help, use a Dutch-English dictionary. Several Dutch-English dictionaries are available at the Family History Library. These are in the European collection. Their call numbers begin with 439.31321.

The following dictionary is available on microfilm for use in Family History Centers:

Dutch-English, English-Dutch Van Goor Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: G. B. Van Goor, 1938. (FHL film 1183584 item 2.)

Additional dictionaries are listed in the Subject search of the FamilySearch Catalog under DUTCH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES or in the Place search under NETHERLANDS - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES. These include dictionaries of various dialects and time periods.

On the following Internet address Integrated Language Bank you can find: a modern Dutch dictionary, old, early Middle Ages and later Middle Ages Dutch dictionaries and a Frisian dictionary.

The includes an example of the German (Gothic) alphabet in print and handwriting. Also go to Germany Handwriting.

See the FamilySearch Tutorials on "Reading Dutch Written Records" 

Cassell’s English–Dutch Dutch–English Dictionary. 36th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1981. (FHL book 439.31321 Ca272.)

Stierp–Impink, A. C. Practisijns Woordenboekje, of Verzameling van Meest alle de Woorden in de Rechtskunde Gebruikelijk (Lawyer’s Dictionary, or List of Most Words Used in Legal Documents). Alkmaar: A. C. Stierp–Impink, 1985. (FHL book 949.2 P26s.) This legal dictionary, originally created in 1785, identifies words found in court, land, notarial, and guardianship records.

Verdam, J. Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek (Middle Dutch Dictionary). ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1964. (FHL book 439.317 V582m; film 1045404 item 2.) This dictionary will help with most archaic words found in documents before 1811.

Additional language aids, including dictionaries of various dialects and time periods, are listed in the Place search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

NETHERLANDS – LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

NETHERLANDS, [PROVINCE] – LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

or in the "Subject Search" under:

DUTCH LANGUAGE – DICTIONARIES