MDMD(5): Johanna and her Daughters

[Paul Mackin]

Very informative about the Vroom women and their names. Thanks, Michel.

        P.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michel Ryckx" <michel.ryckx at freebel.net>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 2:12 PM
Subject: MDMD(5): Johanna and her Daughters


> Johanna, Jet, Greet and Els.  A mother and her daughters.  Being a
> native Dutch speaker myself (Flemish variation), a bit more on those
> names:
>
> 1. How to pronounce them?
> - Jet: the 'j' as in yeti. Jet is not a plane
> - Greet:  the 'g' has no voice; with a Dutch rolling 'r'; the 'ee' is
> more or less pronounced as the 'a' in 'ate'. (try it out)
> - Johanna: the same 'j' as in Jet; the 'h' is fully pronounced; the
> vowels are all short
>
> 2. The names are shortened forms:
> - Jet: from Henriëtta, female form of Dutch Hendrik (Henry).  The name
> 'Henriëtta' and its shortened form were at the time only recently in
> use.
> - Greet: from Margaretha
> - Els, of course, for Elizabeth.
>
> They were and are quite common names.
>
> - 'Vroom' is the Dutch word for 'pious'. (the 'oo' pronounced as the 'o'
> in 'rainbow').
>
> 3. I suppose I am wrong on this --that it is a mere conincidence-- but
> I'm not a scholar at all, so: all names are from European royals.  Some
> examples:
> - 'Henry' being a common name of kings in Portugal, France and Britain;
> - Margaretha of Austria, of the Habsburger dynasty (Austria and Spain)
> - Elisabeth, a bit more Virgin Queen than our Els here; in 1761 the
> Russia Czarina was a Elisabeth;
> - And even Johanna, of Aquitaine (northern France) who was one of the
> most powerful women of the Dark Ages (jaartallen); there's also the mad
> Johanna.
>
> Four Women, Four Queens?  Anyway, they seem to act as they please.  And
> not very pious at all.
>
> 4. As farfetched as the previous explanation:
> - There are at least two Margarets in the Pynchon family: the first one
> was a daughter of William Pynchon; she died very young, at the age of
> 30 in 1653.  The second Margaret I know of, was the wife of John Pynchon
> II (1647-1714) who outlived her husband with two years;
> - Since 'Jet' is a shortened and female form for 'Henry': William
> Pynchon's second wife, Frances Sanford, had a son,  Henry Smith, from
> her first marriage.  This Henry married Anne Pynchon, one of William's
> other daughters (he had three daughters during his first marriage);
> - There's at least one Elisabeth in the family: she was the daughter of
> John Pynchon III and died at the age of  74 on September 26, 1776; and
> - And of course, Johanna and John are the same names.  I know of at
> least 6 John Pynchon's.  Five of them died in respectively 1702 or 1703,
> 1721, 1742, 1754 and 1826, the sixth one is Thomas's kid brother.
>
> As I said in the first MDMD(5) post: now and then off the track.
>
> Michel.
>
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>
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