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Help[Surname] Re: Hakluyt
in reply to a message by Jim Young
Then there's this from Weekley's Surnames: "Of the Hack- names the most interesting is Hakluyt. The DNB. [Dictionary of National Biography] describes the geographer [Richard Hakluyt] as of a family long established in Herefordshire, probably of Dutch origin. The "Dutch" appears to be suggested by the second syllable. The name means "hack little," ME. lilt, and the founder of the family was probably a woodcutter without enthusiasm [Peter Hakelut, IpM., Heref.]. Walter Hackelute or Hakelut or Hakelutel occurs repeatedly in thirteenth-century records of Hereford and Salop."
Moreover, under Dolittle, a nickname for an idler, Reaney & Wilson compare an older form Dolute with Hakluyt. Perhaps the latter shouldn't be taken too literally as a 'lazy woodcutter' but simply as a 'do little' in general. In any case, the Welsh etymology seems less and less plausible to me now.
Moreover, under Dolittle, a nickname for an idler, Reaney & Wilson compare an older form Dolute with Hakluyt. Perhaps the latter shouldn't be taken too literally as a 'lazy woodcutter' but simply as a 'do little' in general. In any case, the Welsh etymology seems less and less plausible to me now.
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I am Dutch, and when I first laid eyes upon this surname, my first impression was that this surname is of Dutch origin as well. Words containing -uy- are usually very clearly archaic Dutch, as the modern spelling would always be -ui-. For example, in earlier times, "house" would be spelled as huys (modern Dutch spelling is huis), "fortune" would be spelled as fortuyn (modern Dutch spelling is fortuin), and so on.
Assuming that the surname is indeed of Dutch origin, then the first element definitely refers to the verb "to hack", which is hakken in modern dutch (archaic Dutch spelling would have been hacken). The second element could have been derived from the Dutch adjective luttel "little" (as in: a small amount of something), but it could also have been derived from the Dutch noun lui (archaic spelling: luy), which is a more informal way of saying "people". It's easy to mistake this with the Dutch adjective lui meaning "lazy", but I doubt "lazy" really is the correct etymology here. If we think about the fact that lui "people" becomes luitjes in diminutive form, we know that the archaic spelling of the diminutive would have been luytjes. As such, the surname could originally have been "hackluy(tjes)" or "hakluy(tjes)", literally meaning "hacking people(s)", which must have been a very informal (maybe even derogatory) term for woodcutters.
But, considering that earlier forms of the Hakluyt surname include the form Hakelutel, then it seems most likely that the second element was originally derived from Dutch luttel "little" (as I already mentioned before). So, even if we assume that the surname is of Dutch origin, the "hack little" meaning prevails. But the surname could just as easily be English in origin, since the English words "to hack" and "little" differ very little from their Dutch equivalents.
Assuming that the surname is indeed of Dutch origin, then the first element definitely refers to the verb "to hack", which is hakken in modern dutch (archaic Dutch spelling would have been hacken). The second element could have been derived from the Dutch adjective luttel "little" (as in: a small amount of something), but it could also have been derived from the Dutch noun lui (archaic spelling: luy), which is a more informal way of saying "people". It's easy to mistake this with the Dutch adjective lui meaning "lazy", but I doubt "lazy" really is the correct etymology here. If we think about the fact that lui "people" becomes luitjes in diminutive form, we know that the archaic spelling of the diminutive would have been luytjes. As such, the surname could originally have been "hackluy(tjes)" or "hakluy(tjes)", literally meaning "hacking people(s)", which must have been a very informal (maybe even derogatory) term for woodcutters.
But, considering that earlier forms of the Hakluyt surname include the form Hakelutel, then it seems most likely that the second element was originally derived from Dutch luttel "little" (as I already mentioned before). So, even if we assume that the surname is of Dutch origin, the "hack little" meaning prevails. But the surname could just as easily be English in origin, since the English words "to hack" and "little" differ very little from their Dutch equivalents.
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