| Abrams en Zonen: | [Ah-brahms en Zo-nun] Abrams and Sons. |
| Anabaptists: | Groups of Reformation churches, so called because of their insistence on believer’s baptism as opposed to infant baptism. They did not themselves use the term Anabaptists, which literally means rebaptists, believing their adult baptism as a confession of faith was the only true baptism. |
| Apothecary: | From Dutch word apotheek [ah-po-take], meaning pharmacy. |
| Beguinage: | [Bay-guee-noj] French word for local site of Beguines, or lay order of charitable sisters in late medieval Catholic church. Mostly they were in the Low Lands and France. They shared their wealth but didn’t take religious vows and were free to leave when they liked. They dispensed mercy, medicine, and physical goods to persons in need. |
| Beggars: | Fanatical rebels who wanted to free the Netherlands from the control of Spain’s King Philip II. They posed as Calvinists, and indeed many were. Their motives were a mixture of political ambition, personal discontent, and religious zeal. |
| Ban: | Practice used in Anabaptist churches of excommunicating members whom the local assembly deemed were no longer practicing the required disciplines or adhering to the doctrines of their religious community. |
| Blood Council: | Inquisitional tribunal set up by the Spanish government to examine all persons in the Low Lands suspected of heresy. King Philip II and his regent, the Duke of Alva, called it the Council of Troubles, but Lowlanders referred to it as the Blood Council, because it brought so many of them to confiscation of goods and execution. |
| Button leek: | Literal translation of Dutch word knoflook, which means garlic. |
| Children of God: | Name taken by many Anabaptist groups. They never referred to themselves as Anabaptists. |
| Engeland: | Dutch for England. |
| Flux of wombe: | Old English term for hemorrhage following childbirth. |
| Heatte: | Old English term for fever. |
| Hidden Church: | Any church assembly meeting without approval of existing government, forced to meet in secret, usually in homes, attics, or barns. |
| Ja: | Dutch for yes. |
| Jongen: | Dutch for boy or lad. |
| Kasteel: | [Kahs-tail] Dutch for castle. |
| Kasteelplein: | [Kahs-tail-plane] Dutch for a large open square located in front of a castle. A plein is a city square, usually a market square of some sort. |
| Knights of the Order | of the Golden |
| Fleece: | Advisory council of local noblemen called together at the discretion of the ruler of the Netherlands (e.g., King Philip II), who functioned as their president. |
| Low Lands: | Area now encompassed in borders of Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands (Holland). |
| Man: | [Mahn] Dutch for either man or husband. |
| Mieke: | [Mee-ka] Dutch name applicable to a street girl or woman. |
| Moeder: | [Mu-der] Dutch for mother. |
| Munster Rebellion: | Radical group of Anabaptists who took over the city of Munster, Germany, and tried to set up the Kingdom of God there. Jan van Leyden, their leader, claimed to be King David and the Messiah. They practiced polygamy, communal living, and violence. They were deposed by the city fathers but gave the whole Anabaptist movement a bad reputation that stayed with them all the way into the twentieth century. However, after their fall, Anabaptists became adamant pacifists and refused to carry a sword. |
| Oma & Opa: | [Oh-ma, Oh-pa] Current Dutch terms for grandma and grandpa. Belonging to the twentieth century but giving the feeling intended by the sixteenth-century words grootmoeder and grootvader. |
| Oude Man: | [ow-de mahn] Dutch for old man. |
| Physicke: | Old English word found in herbal books. Refers to medicine—the profession or a person practicing medical or herbal arts. |
| Popish or Papist: | Describing any person or practice that followed Roman Catholic ways. |
| Que no?: | Spanish for right? at the end of a sentence. |
| Robustious: | Old English word for robust, used in seventeenth- century herbal book. |
| Splintery new: | Literal translation of Dutch phrase for brand new. |
| Straat: | [Straht] Dutch for street. |
| Stuiver: | Dutch coin comparable to our penny. |
| Tante: | [Tahn-tuh] Dutch for aunt. |
| Tot ziens: | [Tote seens] See you later! |
| Vader: | Dutch for father. |
| Vaderland: | [Fah-der-lahnd] Dutch for fatherland. |
| Verboden Boecken: | [Fair-bo-den Bu-ken] Forbidden books. The Catholic Church compiled a list of books that they forbade parishioners to read. Transgressors could be treated as victims of the Inquisition and be imprisoned or executed. Books, when seized, were often burned. |
| De Vriend: | [Duh Freent] The Friend. |
| Vrouw: | [Frow] Dutch for either woman or wife. |
| Waterlanders: | One of the main branches of Anabaptists. They held views that were a bit more tolerant and liberal than other groups. |
| Willem van Oranje: | [Vil-um fahn O-rahn-yuh] William of Orange. |
| Wombe: | Old English spelling for womb. |