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Dutch Genealogical Word List |
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Table of Contents
Language Characteristics
Additional Resources
Key Words
General Word List
Numbers
Dates And Time
This list contains Dutch words with their English translations. The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Dutch-English dictionary. (See the "Additional Resources" section below.)
Dutch is a Germanic language derived from Old Saxon. Many of the words resemble German and English words. Latin also sometimes appears in older Dutch records. See the Latin Genealogical Word List (34077). For a time, Dutch records were written in French. See the French Genealogical Word List (34060).
Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium, 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. Africaans, which is spoken in South Africa, is a different language that is similar to Dutch. Frisian, which is spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland, is a different language from Dutch. The "Additional Resources" section below will tell you how to use the Family History Library Catalog 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, and Taiwan.
Dutch words for nouns (persons, places, and things) are classified as either common or neuter.
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).
In Dutch, many words are formed by joining two or more words together. 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).
In the Dutch language, the letter combination ij is considered a single letter. It has the same value as y,and it is usually alphabetized as if it were a y. Some Dutch dictionaries and indexes use the following alphabetical order:
This word list follows the standard English alphabetical order. However, when working with alphabetized Dutch records, use the Dutch alphabetical order.
When the Dutch alphabetize names of places or surnames, prefixes such as van der, de, or ter are not considered in the alphabetization.
Example:
Spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries. Writers often failed to dot the ij, so that it looks like a y. The letter y was not used in older records. In Dutch, the following spelling variations are common.
Example:
This word list includes only the words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Dutch-English dictionary. Several Dutch-English dictionaries are available at the Family History Library 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 section of the Family History Library Catalog under DUTCH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES or in the Locality section under NETHERLANDS - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES. These include dictionaries of various dialects and time periods.
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.
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to find dictionaries of the various dialects and related languages.
LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS
Variant Forms of Words
Alphabetical Order
Some Dutch dictionaries alphabetize the letter ij under i then j.
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, ij (or y), z
ten
Brock
van der
Graf
's-
Gravenhage
van
Hijden
de
Jong
van
Leeuwen
ter
Pelkwijk
van
IJlst
't
Zandt
Spelling
y used for ijg used for chd and t used interchangeablyj and i used interchangeably
echt spelled as egtoverlijden spelled as overlydenArie spelled as ArijMarietje spelled as Marietie
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
. These are in the European collection. Their call numbers begin with 439.31321.
:
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KEY WORDS
English
Dutch
baptism
dopen, doop, gedoopt
birth
geboren, geboorte
burial
begraven, begraaf
Catholic rooms
katholiek, oud katholiek
census
volkstelling, bevolking
child, children kind
kinderen
christening
(see baptism)
civil registry
burgerlijke stand
death
overleden, overlijden, gestorven
father
vader
husband
echtgenoot, man
index
tafel, klapper, fiche
Jewish
joods
marriage(s)
huwelijk(en), trouwen, echt, gehuwden, getrouwd
military
militaire, landweer, krijgsmacht
month
maand
mother
moeder
name, given
voornaam, eerste naam
name, surname
achternaam, familienaam, bijnaam, toenaam
parents
ouders
parish
parochie, gemeente
Protestant
protestant
supplement
bijlage
town, village
stad, gemeente, dorp
wife
huisvrouw, vrouw, echtgenote
year
jaar
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/8/2001]