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ArchivesRe: Bernardus johun terHorst
in reply to a message by terHorst
Bernardus is a Latinized version or Bernard, which is composed or Bern ("bear"), a poetic term for warrior, and (h)ard "that which is hard, brave, firm etc.". It's tempting to think that it means "hard bear", or "brave warrior", but the elements of German dithematic names have independent (and sometimes conflicting) meanings, so it is "bear" and "hard", not "hard bear". Johun is obscure, but may be a variant of Johan, from the Hebrew name. TerHorst belongs in the surname board, but is a southern dialect/language version of the German phrase "der Horst", "of the hurst or coppice (a wood managed for regular cutting and regrowth for timber or firewood—most trees when cut, even at the base, will regrow until quite late in life). A hurst may be managed for nuts or mast (fruit/nuts of wild trees) used as animal feed rather than coppicing, but because of regular pruning/cutting the trees do not reach the great sizes they otherwise might.
This message was edited 2/3/2018, 6:41 AM
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Replies
Native Dutch person here, born and raised.
Assuming that OP's great-grandfather was an immigrant to the United States, Johun is in all likelihood a misspelling (or transcription error) of either Johan or Jochem (also Jochen), thanks to American government officials and/or clerks being unfamiliar with Dutch given names and the Dutch language. There is no way that Johun could have been a legitimate but obscure variant of Johan or Jochem in the Netherlands: the variant does not make sense linguistically and there is also the fact that Dutch people were not particularly creative with given names in the old days and made sure to stick with known and tried-and-true variants (partly out of societal reasons and partly out of legal reasons, as the Netherlands have had a naming law since at least the Napoleonic era).
Johun not being a legitimate Dutch given name is further backed up by the fact that Johun is not featured in this academic database of Dutch given names:
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/english (in English)
- TerHorst belongs in the surname board, but is a southern dialect/language version of the German phrase "der Horst"
No, Ter Horst is a legitimate Dutch surname and therefore not necessarily a translation of a German one (or otherwise originating from Germany). Also, ter is not the Dutch equivalent of German der: it is actually a (mostly dated) Dutch word that (depending on context) can mean "on" as well as "in" and "at". For example, there is the Dutch phrase "Ter land, ter zee en in de lucht" which means "On land, at sea and in the air" in English. Also see this article on Wiktionary:
Assuming that OP's great-grandfather was an immigrant to the United States, Johun is in all likelihood a misspelling (or transcription error) of either Johan or Jochem (also Jochen), thanks to American government officials and/or clerks being unfamiliar with Dutch given names and the Dutch language. There is no way that Johun could have been a legitimate but obscure variant of Johan or Jochem in the Netherlands: the variant does not make sense linguistically and there is also the fact that Dutch people were not particularly creative with given names in the old days and made sure to stick with known and tried-and-true variants (partly out of societal reasons and partly out of legal reasons, as the Netherlands have had a naming law since at least the Napoleonic era).
Johun not being a legitimate Dutch given name is further backed up by the fact that Johun is not featured in this academic database of Dutch given names:
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/english (in English)
- TerHorst belongs in the surname board, but is a southern dialect/language version of the German phrase "der Horst"
No, Ter Horst is a legitimate Dutch surname and therefore not necessarily a translation of a German one (or otherwise originating from Germany). Also, ter is not the Dutch equivalent of German der: it is actually a (mostly dated) Dutch word that (depending on context) can mean "on" as well as "in" and "at". For example, there is the Dutch phrase "Ter land, ter zee en in de lucht" which means "On land, at sea and in the air" in English. Also see this article on Wiktionary:
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