English Words with Dutch Origin

Dutch influence is all around us. Some we even use everyday. I recently read a book (The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto) and it included a couple of English words that have Dutch origins. Which got me thinking...there must be others. And yes, there are many others. Here are some of my favorites or ones that we use commonly in English. For obvious reasons most are nautical terms.

Ahoy - from hoi (hello, hi)

Coleslaw - koolsla (literally cabbage salad)

Cookie - koekje or koekie (biscuit, little cake)

Gherkin - gurk (cucumber)

Hooky - hoekje (corner, like to go around the corner)

Iceberg - ijsberg (literally ice mountain)

Leak - lekken (to drip, to leak)

Maelstrom - maalstroom (grinding current, stirring current)

Buoy - boei (buoy, shackle)

Deck - dek (covering)

Brandy - brandewijn (burnt wine)

And there are many more. My favorite is koekje. I've found a neat website about etymology here where I found most of this. I included only the neatest ones. Maybe I'll post more in the future.

The Golden Age of the Netherlands was from around it's creation as a country, to the 17th century. So be prepared to read a lot about the exploration race between countries like Spain, England, and Sweden during the 15 and 16 hundreds up to the Revolutionary War of the Americas. I think next time I'll relate an interesting story I found during the Rev War featuring my family.....

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