New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty

Note on Translations, Transcriptions, and Dates

note on translations, transcriptions, and dates Translation is a crucial issue in the history of New Netherland, where many of the sources are in Dutch but have been translated into English, but not always perfectly. Where there is no English translation easily available, or with certain important phrases, I have made my own translation or checked to confirm the strength of the existing translation. However, since my primary goal is to pull Anglophone readers into research and thinking on the Dutch world, I have generally used the existing English translations of Dutch documents, preferring the recent translations of Charles Gehring to earlier ones whenever possible. Dutch spelling of town names and certain words has been retained. The most important issue to keep in mind is the Dutch ‘‘ij,’’ pronounced ‘‘aye’’ (like a cinematic pirate). Common terms, like south (zuid) and new (nieuw) have been rendered in English even as I have tried to preserve as much of the Dutch flavor as seems reasonable for an English-reading audience . With personal names I have followed the Dutch usage, where Pieter van Rooden or Jan de Meier is referred to as Van Rooden or De Meier but listed in the bibliography under Rooden and Meier rather than van or de. Several Dutch cities, like Vlissingen, had English versions of their names, in this case Flushing. When discussing Dutch places in a primarily Dutch context, I have endeavored to use the Dutch name, but have used the English name when discussing the same place in a prevailingly English situation. Other towns had several names that changed over time, usually from a Lenape-related term to a Dutch and then an English one, as with Mespath-Middelburgh-Newtown. In these cases I have preferred the name that reflects the sovereign power claiming authority over it at the time, with the exception of The Hague (Den Haag). When transcribing seventeenth-century English, I have preserved the existing spelling as much as possible. However, in cases of unusual spelling, xiv Translations, Transcriptions, and Dates where an ‘‘i’’ functions as a ‘‘j’’ or a ‘‘u’’ as a ‘‘v,’’ for example, I have generally corrected it to modern usage to avoid confusing modern readers unfamiliar with the older conventions. The Dutch switched to the modern calendar some two centuries before the English did. Consequently, dates are in New Style, with the occasional exception from after the conquest, when the English imposed their Old Style system of dating, which was ten days ahead of the New Style system. NEW NETHERLAND and the DUTCH ORIGINS of AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY This page intentionally left blank ...