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How did "Flemish Cape" get its name?

Question #96142. Asked by Flem-ish.
Last updated May 18 2023.

author
Answer has 5 votes
Currently Best Answer
author
22 year member
2834 replies

Answer has 5 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Maybe you are asking for the Flemish Cap, which is not a "cape"?

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_Cap

Does it have anything to do with Dutch piracy in Newfoundland?

link https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/war-and-trade-in-eighteenthcentury-newfoundland/problem-of-piracy-in-the-newfoundland-fishery-in-the-aftermath-of-the-war-of-the-spanish-succession/F7EAAF94F91F6CF3F95F74699DC5A771

Or possibly it has something to do with the Dutch seizure of St.Johns during the Anglo-Dutch Wars? As you can see, I'm only guessing.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s%2C_Newfoundland_and_Labrador#History

Response last updated by satguru on May 18 2023.
May 29 2008, 10:02 AM
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Flem-ish
Answer has 3 votes
Flem-ish
23 year member
894 replies avatar

Answer has 3 votes.
I found Flemish Cape as well as Flemish Cap. See this site of New York Times.
link http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE3D8153AE533A25757C2A96F9C94609ED7CF
BRAVE FISHERMEN ALARMED.; THE SEA SERPENT AND A HUGE SHARK OFF FLEMISH... - Article Preview - The New York Times
Confusion between Flemish and Dutch is not unusual in a medieval context. Ships from Flanders and ships from the Zealandese islands won't have been perceived as so very different. But after the Dutch revolution there must have been a more marked dividing line. Not very sure that the "Flemish cap" got its name from Dutch pirates.

May 29 2008, 11:32 AM
flemishexpert
Answer has 5 votes
flemishexpert

Answer has 5 votes.
Etymologically speaking, the term "Flemish Cap" is a misnomer from the Flemish/Dutch term "De Vlaamse Kaap", which refers to Flemish Kaapvaart (or trawling in and around the grand banks and international waters nearest Canada in the 1600s).

link http://untreaty.un.org/unts/60001_120000/23/13/00044634.pdf

English speakers bastardized the word "Kaap" into "Cap", given the similarity in pronunciation. However, "Kaap" in fact translates to "Cape"... just as "Kaapstad, Zuid-Afrika" translates to "Capetown, South Africa".

link http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaapstad

Jan 03 2010, 7:18 PM
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