Douch

Douch (/daʊtʃ/) is an English-language surname meaning German.[1]

Douch
Pronunciation/daʊtʃ/
Language(s)English
Origin
Language(s)Pre-modern English
MeaningGerman
Region of originEngland
Other names
See alsoDeutsch

Etymology

Douch is an archaic English orthography of Dutch.[1]

When this orthography was used, Douch (or Dutch) was an English-language adjective synonymous with German sensu lato or Germanic, only acquiring a narrower definition in modern usage as an adjective for the Netherlands.[1]

John Russell Smith, in Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom (1860), writes the following entry for Douch:[1]

DOUCH. An old orthography of 'Dutch,' by which however we must understand, not a Hollander, but a German: the latter word being of rather recent importation into English. The first translation of the whole Bible into our language, by Miles Coverdale, is stated on the title page to have been rendered "out of the Douche (meaning German) and Latyn into Englyshe, 1535." Even so lately as 1660, Howell, in the preface of his Lexicon says, "the root of most of the English language is Dutch," by which of course he means the Teutonic or old German.

The above fact is evident in the common etymological origin of Douch (or Dutch) with the German-language word Deutsch (which means German).

People

Notable people with this surname include:

References
  1. Lower, M A (1860). Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russell Smith. p. 93.
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