SEA-RELATED WORDS The origin of the names of sandbanks, channels and other ‘sea-related words’ Magda Devos, Roland Desnerck, Nancy Fockedey, Jan Haspeslagh, Willem Lanszweert, Jan Parmentier, Johan Termote, Tomas Termote, Dries Tys, Carlos Van Cauwenberghe, Arnout Zwaenepoel, Jan Seys Have you ever wondered what the origin of the toponym Trapegeer is, or how cod got its name? Or are you interested in the person behind Thornton Bank or the genesis of the maritime term ‘crow’s nest’? Then you’re in luck, since a team of experts explains the meaning of some of the most intriguing sea-related words in every issue of De Grote Rede. In this special issue of De Grote Rede, we focus on the etymology of the toponym Flanders and other place names from the front area of the First World War. Due to limited space, we had to make a selection from the extensive list of cities, towns and villages in the Belgian Westhoek area that were part of the war zone. Incase of places that are no (longer) independent municipalities, we always mention the amalgamated municipality of which they are part. Then we state a few attested forms of the place name, including the oldest one. This information was mainly extracted from the work by F. Debrabandere, M. Devos et al. (2010), De Vlaamse gemeentenamen, verklarend woordenboek. The etymological explanation is also based on this publication, to which we refer the reader for extensive bibliographical references. Some name forms are preceded by an asterisk (*) in the text. This is to indicate that the form in question is not attested as such in a historical source, but has been reconstructed by linguists from derived forms found in more recent language development stages. FLANDERS Latin sources: 1st quarter of the 8th C. meant ‘torrent, eddy’ in Old Norse, from verb meaning ‘to flow, to stream’ by means Flandrensis, Flanderenses, in Ftandris, 745 in which Norwegian flaum and Danish flom are of another suffix, namely Indo-European pago Ftandrinse, 854 (copy from circa 1175) derived, meaning ‘flood, high tide’. *-mo (>Germanic *-ma). It is likely that this in Ftandrense pago, in pago Ftandrensi, 1014 As a rule, the Germanic diphthongal Indo-European verb is also at the basis of (copy from circa 1050) Ftandria became the close-mid vowel /o o / in Dutch, the Dutch verb vloeien (to flow). Strictly Anglo-Saxon sources: 1075 (copy from e.g. Dutch rood (red) from Germanic *rauda. speaking, the element -dra is therefore 1121) to Ftandran, 1079 (copy from circa But in North Sea Germanic or Ingvaeonic redundant, as it does not add anything 1100) on Ftandron, 1085 (copy from 1121) o f languages - which include Frisian and to the etymological meaning of flauma Ftandran English as well as the oldest stratum of (flood, flooded area). Yet combinations of Dutch sources: 1237 Vtandern, 1277 Flemish and Hollandic — this phoneme two suffixes with the same morphological Vlaendre, 1295 Vtaendren, 1281 Vtaemdren has sometimes developed into aa, e.g. function and meaning sometimes occur in in case of the toponym Adinkerke (see Dutch. For instance, this process can be below). Other examples of an Ingvaeonic seen in the formation of diminutives, where Currently, Flanders is the official name of aa derived from au or 00 are Middle Dutch the Germanic diminutive suffix - / is often the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium. sade (sod) (from Germanic *sautha ) and combined with the more recent suffix -kijn Within the Belgian federal structure, Flanders toponymie forms such as Zeelandic Flemish (reduced to -ken later on). Examples of this is one of the three “ regions” , besides the Aardenburg (metathesis of Radenburg, are Middle Dutch and dialectal diminutives Walloon Region and Brussels-Capital Region. which goes back to Rodenburg, the first such as bossetke ‘bundle’, wegetke ‘path’ The name comes from the historical County part of which probably stems from Celtic and vissetke ‘little fish’. The evolution of of Flanders, which encompassed the current water name *Rodana), the historical name the reconstructed root form *flaam-dra-um Belgian provinces of West and East Flanders, Radenburg of the Leiden neighbourhood of to Vlaanderen is plausible phonetically Zeelandic Flanders (in the Dutch province of Roomburg (from Germanic rauda ‘red’ and speaking. The vowels in the unstressed Zeeland) and French Flanders, located in the burg ‘fort’), Asdonk, a hamlet of the village of suffixes became weaker, which resulted in Nord department of France (map p.105). Mendonkin northern East Flanders, Asthusa the intermediate form vtaam-dr-em. Already (Oosthuizen) in North Holland, and Astbroek in the West Germanic stage that preceded Fl a n d e r s , (Oostbroek) in Velsen, also in North Holland. Old Dutch, the Germanic dative case ending A FLOODED AREA In the three last names, ast- goes back to -m was replaced by -en due to assimilation Germanic austa (east). with the accusative case. The change of The most commonly accepted etymology The two final syllables of Vlaanderen the m in vtaam to -n under the influence of the name Flanders was developed by (the Dutch name of Flanders) are remnants of the -d that follows probably dates back Ghent toponymist Maurits Gysseling in an of two suffixes. Gysseling reconstructed the to the West Germanic period as well. The article he published together with historian complex form as *flaam-dra-um. The last part old form ending in -m has been found four Jan Dhondt in 1948. According to Gysseling, is a case ending, namely dative plural, which times in i3 th-century texts, e.g. graue van the root of Flanders is the Germanic noun became the standard form of numerous vtaemdren, Bruges 1281. This -m has also *flauma, which means ‘flood’ and hence place names, even if the root did not evoke been preserved in the demonym Vlaming ‘flooded area’.This word does not appear to the idea of a plural. The element -dra is an (Fleming), where it has been able to maintain have any direct descendants in Dutch, but old Germanic suffix, thought to be derived itself before a vowel. Finally, the Germanic it does have derivatives in other Germanic from a prehistoric language. This suffix was f- at the beginning of the word shifted to languages. For instance, current English originally used to form nouns from verbs. V- in Old Dutch, e.g. compare Dutch vlam to dialects still have the word flam for a However, the root flauma of *flaum-dra Frisian flam, English flame, and German and waterlogged area near a stream, as well as already is a noun, which in an older, pre- Danish flamme. fleam for a drainage ditch or leat. Ftaumr Germanic stage had been derived from a 1 0 4 VLIZ IDE GROTE REDE] 2 0 1 3 • 36 rtonr-crcr N e r d g i I □ n ü fl M N í r t f P B f s - B b s V * ™ lliupcu ' I! ■"■. : . r„ " :. 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The name comes from the historical County of Flanders, which roughly encompassed the current Belgian provinces of West and East Flanders, Zeelandic Flanders in the Netherlands and French Flanders (situation circa 1400) (VLIZ on the basis o f W ikipedia maps). O r ig i n s in Pa g u s flandrensis A d in k e r k e ( D e Pa n n e ) B o e z in g e (Y p r e s ) As for as the meaning is concerned, the 1123 Adenkerka, 1132 Odecherca, 1139 1107 Bosinga, 1120 Boesinga, 1138 explanation ‘flooded area’ is consistent Adenkerke, 1159 Odenkercha, Odenkerka, Boesinghe, 1276 Bousinghes (Romanic with the historical geography of Flanders. 1513 Adinkerke, 1537 Aeyenkercke. form), 1744 Boesinge. The oldest sources in which the name Flanders - in its Latinised form - appears This place name is composed o f-kerk Derived from the Germanic personal (8th-io th century) prove that the toponym and the Germanic personal nam eAudo, name Boso and the patronymic suffix -inga, already existed prior to the foundation of here in the genitive case, and means ‘Audo’s which converts personal names into clan the County of Flanders by Baldwin II (in 884 church’.The Germanic diphthong au became names. These names were in turn often given or shortly afterwards). The area originally the close-mid vowel 00 in Dutch (e.g. brood to the settlement of the clan in question. called Flanders was much smaller than the from Germanic brauda). In accordance with Boezinge was originally the home of the future county. It constituted a territorially this phonetic law, Audo should become Odo people of Boso.