Talk:Watermael-Boitsfort
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This article is Brussels related, and should follow the Brussels naming conventions. |
[edit] Names survey, result
Between 23 December 2006 and 28 January 2007 there has been a survey about which names the articles for the municipalities in the Brussels region should have. The municipalities in question have different names in French and Dutch, the two official languages of the region. A majority of contributors to the survey prefers using one single same over using both names in the title. This single name should follow English usage, which has been determined using domain specific Google searches.
The final result of the survey is that:
- for the following municipalities the French name has been chosen, in line with the most commonly used names in English:
- for the following municipalities no significant preference in the English language has been found. After discussion, the Dutch names have been chosen:
Details about the survey can be found at Talk:Brussels-Capital Region/NamingArchive3. Markussep 18:36, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Origin of the name?
Watermael = Where the water was "ge-mael-en". Maelen is old-flemish for "malen" as used in "malen van graan", meaning where the water gets churned is transferred from 1 recipient into another, referring to the several lakes in Watermaal where one feeds the other with fresh water from the source in the "Kweeperen park" = "Parc Tercoigne". Maal heeft ook de betekenis van "rechtsplaats", place where justice was spoken. So Watermael, refers to a place where justice was spoken, situated next to water.
Bosvoorde = Bos = Forest and Voorde = V-shaped hollow way due to charriots passing in a sloped road and the rain cutting it into a V-shaped road. This old road can still be seen between the Parc Solvay and the Railway and ran/runs all the way along the church of Watermael.
Boitsfort = Boit = box but Bois = forest. I don't know if the word Boits exists in french. Fort = strong. So "Strong Box". Is it a sad example of the Frenchification of Brussels strategy? Historical documents of the XIIIe century mention the name "Boitsfort". Boits = Boit + s. "s" = Son of or Sijn=Zijn=his. Boit = Boud = Boits. Fort, Germanic for domain with forests, lands and waters. So the forest domain of Boud. --SvenAERTS (talk) 20:13, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
