On Monday, October 20, 1997 at 7:29:48 pm MET, Phillip Helbig <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> like in von Beethoven, where the von is kind of equivalent to the English >> `lord' (it also means `of' but if I do not err, Beethoven was not a von >> Beethoven all of his life). I would prefer to find him underneath B. > >I believe it was actually `Ludwig van Beethoven' even though he was >German, not Dutch. > >The German `von' is the normal word for `of' or `from' and carries >aristocratic connotations in a name, just as `Reginald of Kent' does and >Reginald Kent does not, especially if it is `Graf von' (`Count of') or >something similar. > You are right. I always thought Beethoven was knighted at some moment in his life, but I looked it up in the encyclopedia and it turned out that Van Beethoven is a Flemmish (Belgium) family name. So, if my Belgium friends are right, we should write Ludwig Van Beethoven. Maarten ========================================================================= Maarten Gelderman email: [log in to unmask] Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam phone: +31 20 444 6073 De Boelelaan 1105 room 3a-36 fax +31 20 444 6005 NL-1081 HV AMSTERDAM The Netherlands