this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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[–] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

How'd that get its name? It sounds almost like a corruption of French "acheter mer" ("to buy sea").

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.de 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Achter means in a local sense 'at the back' or 'behind' and meer means either 'more' or means 'sea' (e.g. IJsselmeer).

So it referrs to either "more land behind" the city of Alkmaar or or a sea behind the city.

[–] Bashnagdul@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Lake, meer means lake. Achtermeer is best translated as back lake, or behind lake. Assuming achter in this case is used as this. It could also mean the lake of Acht. Since Acht could also be the name of a location. See Markermeer.

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.de 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

TY. Funny how German and Dutch switch meaning here:

  • meer – der See
  • zee – das Meer, die See.
[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 2 points 5 months ago

Achter is like aft or after (as in behind); meer is like mere (as in a lake). Aftermere would be an English bastardisation of the name.