(female equivalent: ; in the masculine only; ''jonkvrouw'' is used in the feminine, even in French; ) is an

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, this is the lowest title within the nobility system, recognised by the Court of Cassation. It is the

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

and equivalent of the German noble honorific , which was historically used throughout the German-speaking part of Europe, and to some extent also within

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. The abbreviation of the honorific is ''jhr.'', and that of the female equivalent ''jkvr.'', which is placed before the given name and titles. When using the French translation ''écuyer'', it is placed after the full name, separated by a comma, like the English '' esquire'', but in Belgium it is not a courtesy title and neither does it indicate a lawyer (for whom the postfix ''", avocat"'' or the prefix ''"Maître"'' would be used instead, depending on context).

Honorific of nobility

or is literally translated as 'young

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

' or 'young lady'. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, such a person was a young and unmarried child of a high-ranking knight or nobleman. Many noble families could not support all their sons to become a knight, because of the expensive equipment. So the eldest son of a knight was a young lord, while his brothers remained as esquires. However, in the Low Countries (and other parts of

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

), in most cases the head of most noble families carries a title, inheritance being by male lineage. As a result, most of the nobility is untitled in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. , or its female equivalent , developed therefore quite early into a different but general meaning: an honorific to show that someone does belong to the nobility but does not possess a title. The abbreviation ''jhr.'' (for men) or ''jkvr.'' (for women) is placed in front of the name, preceding academic but not state titles. The honorific could be compared more or less with "" in Austria or "" in Germany, though due to circumstances of German and especially

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n history, "Junker" assumed connotations of militarism absent from the Dutch equivalent. Ranking this with the British nobility, it is roughly comparable to "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

" when the untitled person is a son or daughter of a baron, viscount, or the younger son of an earl; or "

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

" or " Lady" when the person belongs to the old untitled but high-ranking (Dutch) nobility from before 1815 (e.g. "Heer van X" or Lord of X). A female spouse of a is not named but , translated into English as ''

Madam Madam (), or madame ( or ), is a polite and formal form of address for Woman, women in the English language, often contracted to ma'am (pronounced in American English and this way but also in British English). The term derives from the French la ...

'' and abbreviated as ''Mrs.'' (with the use of her husband's name). However, if she is a in her own right, she can be styled as such (together with her maiden name), unless she chooses to use her husband's name.

Title of nobility

is, in Belgium, the lowest title and an official Dutch mark of status (not a title), as stated above, and is used as such, most notably by members of the Dutch royal family with the

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

Jonkheer van Amsberg. Often however a title of nobility may be claimed by a family whose members are officially recognised only as , the title not being acknowledged by the modern monarchy either because the family is registered as untitled nobility and may thus only use the honorific or predicate, or because the family has not requested official registration of the title, but possesses a grant of nobility which predates the founding of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

in 1815. In

, a number of families may bear the hereditary title of . Some notable examples include Jonkvrouw Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz ( Queen Mathilde of Belgium) and ( Princess Delphine of Belgium).

Coronet

The coronet of rank for the untitled nobility in the Netherlands and Belgium is the same as that for the rank of a hereditary knight, i.e. : a plain circlet of gold with eight golden points, each topped with a pearl; five of them are seen in a representation. Furthermore, the golden circlet of the heraldic coronet is surrounded with a pearl collar. Unrecognised titleholders use the same coronet of rank as hereditary knights, described above. Unrecognised titles cannot officially use a coronet of rank and thus use the coronet that they have been historically awarded, if any at all.

''Jonker''

(, old Dutch spelling ) is another form of the word . During the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

this was however the primary designation given to the untitled – and office-bearing – nobles in the Netherlands. Later (especially in the 17th and 18th century) these jonkers often went calling themselves "

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

" after the German example, which was adopted by most of these noble families when the

was established. At present, the variant title is still used to indicate a , but most of these modern "jonkers", or thus , however, often do not originate from the older untitled nobility, but from the Dutch urban and non-noble patriciate which were elevated into the newly instituted nobility during the foundation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Nickname

The best-known use of the honorific among English-speaking people is as the root of the name of the city of

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. The word was probably a nickname, as opposed to an honorific, associated with Adriaen van der Donck; a young Dutch lawmaker, pioneering politician and landowner in New Netherland. While his business ventures largely proved less than successful, the city of Yonkers takes its name from his steadfast work in the formation of the state of Manhattan itself. The word, in reference to Van der Donck, is variously spelled among modern scholars. In Thomas F. O'Donnell's introduction to a translation of Van der Donck's ''A Description of the New Netherland'', it is suggested that Van der Donck was known as "The Joncker". Russell Shorto's ''The Island at the Center of the World'' has "jonker", while Edward Hagaman Hall's book on Philipse Manor Hall uses "youncker". Jonker Street () in Malacca,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, which derives its name from Dutch, can be traced back to when the Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798.

References