Dordrecht

English

Alternative forms

Dort

Etymology

From Dutch Dordrecht.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɹdɹɛkt/, /-dɹɛxt/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔːdɹɛkt/, /-dɹɛxt/

Proper noun

Dordrecht

A city and municipality of South Holland, Netherlands.

Dutch

Etymology

First attested as thuredrith and thuredrit in 1064. From Middle Dutch dordrecht, which had various spellings (thuredrith, durthric, ...). There is some uncertainty as to the origin, mainly that of the suffix -drecht.

Van Berkel and Samplonius (2006) derive the name from the Germanic elements *þurhw (“through”) + *driftiz (“creek, waterway”), as the name initially would have been applied to a waterway connecting the Dubbel to the Merwede.
Van Osta (1996), in an essay attempting to trace the origins of the toponymic suffix -drecht, gives an overview of proposed etymologies for the second element -drecht. He considers the derivation from *drifti- unlikely for various reasons; for example, the ft to cht change that this view supposes is contradicted by the fact that in earlier attestations and in dialects where this change did not happen until much later, -cht is always found instead of the expected -ft. In his conclusion he follows Pottmeyer (1929) in his view that the element likely is to be reconstructed as a noun derived from *draganą (“to pull, draw, carry”), but unlike Pottmeyer (who interprets it as a portage), Van Osta believes it refers to a waterway with a towpath. He also briefly mentions Dordrecht, accepting the view that the first element means through.
The old explanation, that the second element -drecht is derived from Latin traiectum (which is the case for the toponymic element -trecht in Utrecht for example), has been rejected by many scholars (due to the unexplained change of tr to dr, among other reasons), though the claim is still repeated by some authors. Van Osta treats this at length.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈdɔr.drɛxt/
Audio (file)
Hyphenation: Dor‧drecht

Proper noun

Dordrecht n

Dordrecht (a city and municipality of South Holland, Netherlands).
Synonym: Dordt, Ooi- en Ramsgat (Carnival nickname)
Meronyms: Dubbeldam, Kop van 't Land, Tweede Tol, Wieldrecht

Usage notes

An inhabitant of Dordrecht is called a Dordtenaar.

Derived terms

Dordrechts
Nieuw-Dordrecht

References

van Berkel, Gerard; Samplonius, Kees (2018), “dordrecht”, in Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN
Van Osta, W., 'Drecht en drecht-namen', Naamkunde 28 (issue 1-2) (1996) pp. 51-77.