Re: Dutch surnames (scatological warning!)

If you look at a crowbar, you will notice the cloven end resembles a 'cow
foot', which is probably how it came to be called so in some languages. The
version 'Koevoets' as a family name may be a dialect variation.
However, according to Answers dot com, 'koevoet' is a Nederlands term for
'crowbar'. One of the French terms is 'doe foot'.
Their list:
 Translations: <http://www.answers.com/library/Translations-cid-19840>
*Translations
for:* Crowbar Top
Home <http://www.answers.com/> >
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Translations<http://www.answers.com/library/Translations-cid-19840>

Dansk (Danish)
n. - koben, brækjern
v. tr. - at bryde/brække op med brækjern

Nederlands (Dutch)
breekijzer, koevoet

Français (French)
n. - pince-monseigneur, pied-de-biche
v. tr. - extraire/introduire avec force

Deutsch (German)
n. - Brechstange
v. - mit einem Brecheisen aufbrechen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - λοστάρι, λοστός

Italiano (Italian)
palanchino

Português (Portuguese)
n. - alavanca (f)

Русский (Russian)
лом

Español (Spanish)
n. - palanca
v. tr. - hacer palanca

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kofot

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
铁橇, 起货钩, 铁棍, 橇开

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鐵橇, 起貨鉤, 鐵棍
v. tr. - 橇開

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 쇠지렛대
v. tr. - 쇠지렛대로 열다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - バール, 金てこ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عتله حديديه‏
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מוט-הרמה‬
v. tr. - ‮השתמש במוט-הרמה‬

Que Deus te abençoe sempre, e de todas as maneiras,
Paul

On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 5:17 AM, Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets <tsela.cg@
gmail.com> wrote:

> 2009/4/7 René Uittenbogaard <ruittenb@...>
>
> > 2009/4/6 Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets <tsela.cg@...>:
> > >
> > > Note that my second last name (my husband's family name) is also
> > relatively
> > > strange/funny. "Koevoets" simply means "cow foot" :) .
> >
> > does it? I don't know about the etymology of the name, but I'd expect
> > "cow foot" to be "koeienvoet".
> > Perhaps it's related to "koevoet" = crowbar?
> >
> >
> I doubt it. It's what the Koevoets themselves say their name means (they
> even have a family weapon with a cow's foot on it. It's not an original one
> of course, it was made something like a century ago). That said, it might
> be
> folk etymology. In any case, whether the name means "cow foot" or
> "crowbar",
> you have to agree that it's a weird family name (as far as I know, the
> Koevoets family name originates from Breda. Would that explain the
> etymology?).
>
> My husband always says that when completely translated into French, his
> full
> name sounds quite noble (as long as you don't know French :) ). Of course,
> in French he makes it Jean Henry Marie Pied de la Vache-Grandsire (mine
> would be Christophe Alain Grandsire-Pied de la Vache). I personally prefer
> to keep to the original version :) .
> --
> Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets.
>
> http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com/
> http://www.christophoronomicon.nl/
>

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