Netherlands Languages: Difference between revisions

{{Netherlands-sidebar}}◄ [[The Netherlands|Netherlands Homepage]]  

This list summarizes what languages are used in different records.  

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Dutch (like English and German), is a Germanic language derived from Old Low Franconian and Old Saxon. <br>

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.  

Dutch, along with German, English, Frisian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Afrikaans, is a Germanic language. It is very closely related to the dialects of northern Germany known as [[Low German Language in German Research|Low German]].&nbsp; Indeed, the traditional dialects along the Dutch-German border are virtually the same.&nbsp; You may want to read about the linguistic situation in the [[Languages in the Lower Rhine Area of Germany|lower Rhine]] area or about [[Spelling Variants in the Northern Rheinland|spelling variations]] there.  

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).  

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:  

't '''Z'''andt  

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.See the article [[Spelling Variants in Dutch Documents]]  

Marietje spelled as Marietie  

The word list on this article 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. These are in the European collection. Their call numbers begin with 439.31321.  

DUTCH LANGUAGE – DICTIONARIES  

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.  

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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.  

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

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

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

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The Family History Library has genealogical word lists for Dutch, [[French Wordlist|French]], [[German Word List|German]], [[Latin Genealogical Word List|Latin]], and [[Portuguese Genealogical Word List|Portuguese]]. The Dutch Word list is found below at the end of this article.  

The [[Image:German Gothic Handwriting Guide.pdf|Gothic Handwriting Guide]]includes an example of the German (Gothic) alphabet in print and handwriting. Also go to [[Germany Handwriting]].  

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