G2G: Comments on Maryken Gijsberts

Question

On 27 Jul 2023 Jan (Thiers) Rohn wrote on Gijsberts-5:

I think that the names are difficult to transcribe from the original documents and I was curious to know if the "correct" spellings were Matthys, Maryken, and Gysbrecht or Matthijs, Marijken, and Gijsbrecht. When I asked someone who is knowledgeable about the Dutch language, he told me that you can tell that it’s "ij" because of the dots above the letters. He also said that the letter "Y" only occurs in Dutch in words of foreign origin. In handwriting, he said that the "ij" does often look like a y with an umlaut. I suggest that the preferred names for Marijken, her husband, and her son be changed accordingly. If you look closely at the earliest sources for each of these people, the spelling is "ij" and not "y." I understand that an alternate spelling of the name is appropriate when referencing sources that use other spellings and other names of which there are many. Please add you comments below. I didn't want to make this change without input from others who may have an opinion. Thanks for your feedback!

Answer 1

Me too, when I find "y" in Dutch names, I replace with "ij" because the "y" is only a simplified way of writing "ij" but does not correspond to historical reality.

Answer 2

Here is an article about the "y" and the "ij" edited in Dutch by "Genootschap Onze Taal";

https://onzetaal.nl/taalloket/ij-oorsprong-van-de-lange-ij#:~:text=Y%20en%20ij%3A%20eeuwenlang%20inwisselbaar&text=In%20teksten%20uit%20de%20Middeleeuwen,de%20uitspraak%20van%20de%20y. 

For a translation please use a traduction app.

Jan Pieter Rusch

Answer 3

As you can see my surname contains a ij, so I've always had an interest in it.   

Here is a Wikipedia article about IJ, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJ_(digraph).

Another thing to note, that if a person name or place name starts with IJ, then both letters are in capitals. e.g. peoples names IJzerman, IJdoo and IJsbranditie IJsbrandsdr. and the name of a lake IJsselmeer

With the Dijkgraaf surname, if they went to the United States, this would always become Dykgraaf, in some other English speaking countries it varies and only some become Dykgraaf.  That Wikipedia article also mentions that in the Netherlands, some people use the unofficial spelling with a Y, and even a famous Dutch soccer team changed to using a Y.

Answer 4

A note on pronunciation. In he past IJ was often pronounced as I. A name like Ida for instance is often exchangable (in spelling) with Ida.

Answer 5

Thank you to [[Dijkgraaf-24|Coen Jacob Dijkgraaf]] for creating this post and to everyone who responded.I've updated the profiles for Marijken and Gijsbrecht but left the profile for Matthijs unchanged because his name actually appears to be spelled as "Mathias" in his baptismal record.