New York Values and Their Dutch Origins

[flamingdem]

** Want to add that dies and da are said to be Dutch in origin as in "Take the C train to da Bronx"

Good listen here:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/new-york-values-dutch-origins/



"Bowery": from the old Dutch word bouwerij, meaning farm

"Brooklyn": adapted from a Dutch city called Breukelen

"Coney Island": from the old Dutch phrase Conyne Eylandt, meaning "Rabbit Island"

"Doughnuts": okay, this one isn't a direct translation from the Dutch word (olykoeks, or "oil cakes&quot , but theories suggest that they were invented by Dutch settlers in North America

"Yankees": a combination of two popular Dutch boys' names, Jan and Kees

Surely you've noticed the trend by now - the original Dutch settlers left a major mark on our language, our food, and our culture as New Yorkers.

[appalachiablue]

1. K&R. Interesting. Also Harlem, orginally a Dutch village organized in 1658 and named

for the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. NYC was first called New Amsterdam for the Dutch who colonized the area in the mid 1600s. For people names there are many Dutch surnames in NY like Roosevelt which means field of roses. Growing up as a slave in NY state, Sojourner Truth lived with a Dutch family and spoke the Dutch language before English.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City

[arendt]

2. Re: yankees

I heard that it was the Dutch sneering at the British "John Cheese" = Jan Kees.

But Google translate says cheese = kaas.

Trivial, but...