Names of Persons, Places, and Things in Early Albany
After many years of correcting dead links to the following often-handy material, we have transcribed and transformed the passages below from Joel Munsell's Annals of Albany. None of his judgments have been critiqued yet his wisdom still represents a convenient place to start. Volumes and pages are given and linked as consistently and closely as we can whenever possible. "We" kinda suck at this.

From volume III, (page 57)

DUTCH NAMES OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND THINGS

AND THEIR SIGNIFICATION IN ENGLISH
ILLUSTRATIVE OF SOME PASSAGES WHICH OCCUR IN THIS WORK, AND CORRECTIVE OF THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF DUTCH WORDS OCCASIONALLY USED

Abeel, a poplar.
Acker, or properly Akker, a field
Ackerman, a farmer
Allen, all
Appel, an apple
Arts, a physician
Avery, an average

Baas, (vulgarly written bos) a master; a preacher is a kerkbaas, a master carpenter is a timmerman's baas
Baker, a dry nurse
Bakhuis, a bakehouse, also chops, face; as houd uw bak- huis, hold your jaw
Bakker, a baker
Bank, a bench ; whence, perhaps the term used in printing offices
Bedroefd, sad, sorrowful
Beeren Island, bear's island, (corrupted to Barren Island,) an island in Hudson river
Berg, a mountain or hill
Beverwyk, beaver retreat ; there is a town of this name on the maps of Holland, but it does not seem to have suggested the name once used for this city
Sleeker, a bleacher
Bliksem, lightning; erroneously written blixem
Blokhuys, a wooden fort
Boedel, an estate, or effects
Boksen, breeches ; corrupted to boxem
Bonk, a bone
Bouwer, a builder; also a tiller
Bouwery, a farm, now written Bowery. Bowery street in New York originally led to Gov. Stuyvesant's farm or bouwery
Brief, a letter or bill. JBroek, a marsh, breech. Burg, a fortress, or borough ; often confounded with berg in names of places, and corruptly printed with an h final in both cases, as in Lansingburgh. Burger, a citizen; often written with an h, erroneously.

Durip, Schenectady ; corruption of Dorp, a village.

Coxsackie. boil the bag; unless it should be written Cox- hacky, as it is frequently in the records, when it would seem to be an Indian term. De Graaf, the count.

Ernst, zeal.

Gasthuys, a hospital. Groot, great.

Haagedoorn, a bramble bush, a thorn hedge. Handel, trade, traffic. Handelaar, a merchant ; Handelaer street was the ancient name of Broadway. Handschoon, a glove. Some among the English have been ready to carp at this word as an evident token of the scantiness of the Dutch language; but let us consider whether our horse shoe is a more proper expression and whether the Dutch hoefyzer (hoof iron) be not full as appropriate. Doubtless in every language there are some words more significant than the same words in others. Helderberg, clear mountain or hill. Helgat, hell hole; a rough term for a rough place in the sound between New York and Long Island, which is usually written hell gate, and by some sensitive persons corrupted to hurl gate. The preservation of the original orthography would have divested the term of much that is deemed objectionable to ears polite. Hoofdkaas, head cheese.

Kanaal, the channel; whence the burlesque term canawl, which is the pronunciation of the Dutch word. Kar, a cart; whence comes the word carman, instead of cartman, as is used in most cities of this state. Kasteel, a castle. Kerk, a church, Kerker, a prison, jail. Kerkhof, churchyard. Keyser, emperor. Kinderhoek, children's point. Kip, a hen. Klaverack, clover-reach. Kleyn (whence Cline) Jittle. Kling, a sword. Klink, a latch ; also a slap with the hand. Knecht, a servant ; a bouw-knecht is a farm servant. Some have mistaken this term, and been led to believe that their ancestors were knights! Knikkerbakker, marble baker; now almost universally written Knickerbocker, after the usage of Washington Irving: pronounced as if written K'n-nik-ker-bok-ker perhaps to distinguish it from nikker, a fiend or devil. Those Dutch names among us terminating in ck, such as Ten Eyck, Ten Broeck, Groesbeck, &c., were not so written under the Dutch dynasty, and are not in accord- ance with the true orthography of the language. The letter c is very seldom used anywhere except before h, and at the beginning of a very few words, mostly of foreign extraction. Koekebakker, a gingerbread baker. Kool-slaa, cabbage salad. Koon, a jaw or cheek. Kost-huys (or gasthuys) a boarding house. Koster, a sexton.

Linde wood, bass wood.

Meyer, a country mayor or sheriff. Minuit, a minute.

Nederduytch, Low Dutch. Nederland, Netherland, Low Country.

Octroy, a grant ; sometimes written oktrooi. Olifant, an elephant. Olijkoek, cakes fried in fat. Olijnoote, butternut. Oranje, orange.

Patroon (voorstander) a patron, master, or employer. Poesten kill (poesten to foam) foaming creek. Pruyn (pruym) a plum.

Ridder, a knight or cavalier. Roggen, rye. Romeyn, a roman. Rooseboom, rose tree Roosekrans, a garland of roses. Rutten kill, supposed to mean rat's kill, although Judge Bensen, (see vol. 2, p. 226) derives its name from Rut- ger Bleeker, as many think quite erroneously.

Snyder, tailor,. Spook, ghost. Steenberg, stone hill. Stoep, pavement, threshold, steps ; written stoop universally with us, which is the term for a measure of two quarts. Stuyver, a penny.

Ten Broek, at the marsh. Ten Eyk, at the oak.

Verreberg, far mountain. Valatie, (corruption of Valeitje), a little valley. Van, of, from. Van Vechten, from the combat. Vanderzee, from the sea. Van Steenberg, from stone hill. Van Zandt, from the sand. Van OLinda, probably a contraction of Onder den Linden, (under the basswood tree) a common name in Holland. Van Dyk, from the bank or dike. Vanbergen, from the mountains or hills. Vanderberg, from the mountain. Vandenburg, from the castle. Van Schoonhoven, from the fine gardens.

Wynkoop, something to drink upon the bargain.

Zuur Kruid, fermented cabbage; vulgarly written sour crout.

See also Vol. ii, p. 143 et seq.


notes




Home | Site Index | Navigation | Email | New York State Museum


first opened: 4/6/14