De Turck Lucien

De Turck Lucien

Kromstraat, 12

1500 HALLE België

e-mail: Lucien.De.Turck@telenet.be

I have been doing my personal research in Vlaanderen about the family name DeTurck

for more than ten years. Every generation I have researched, has taken me back to the 17^th century.

Check my website for the results of my research. The spelling of my name varied as time

progressed. I found TURC, DE TEURCK, TURK, DE TURQ, DE TURK, TURCQ, DE

TURCK.

I consulted the work of Professor De Brabandere: "Dictionary of family names in

Belgium and North France." He said in the preface that in explaining the name, it is important to

find the basis and depth of the meaning. This is the original form that lies at is basis. One must

bring back as many names as possible. Inb my case, it was TURK.

In the above mentioned work Professor De Brabandere proposes that the form of the

common name of the TURKs lies at the base of our name. Eventually, the name of the house

(clan or tribe) became a family name.

Jozef Van Overstraeten (1896-1986) wrote in: "What is the Meaning of My Family

Name?" that the house name lies at the basis of the family name. He gives the example of a

tobacco trader who had a smoking Turk on his letterhead. He was called TURK.

Professor De Brabandere proposes foremost of all, that we must never presume or

mislead by explaining the modern form of the name. That is why one can never safely explain

the family name without knowledge of the original form.

The explanations are often speculative. The reader may, with the help of related

information and old forms, judge for himself the validity of the explanation. In the end, he must

choose. However, in my research concerning my progenitors in Vlaanderen, I determined that

my earliest progenitors came from the same area as Lieven TORCK (TURCK) a knight, born on

May 9, 1534, in the castle of Pilckum, south of Hamm in Rheinland-Westfalen, Germany. He

came to establish himself, after he with his wife and his five children had taken possession of the

area, to the so-called "Estate of a Count" Brabant (Belgium). He had taken flight from his

pursuers. Because he remained loyal to his ruler and the Roman Catholic faith, his goods and

belongings were confiscated by the Protestants. This all happened in the 16^th century. Lieven

TORCK appears in "The Main TURK database". The lineage of the name TORCK (TURCK)

lies as the base of numerous descendants in Vlaanderen (Flanders).

Therefore, it is likely that this lineage lies at the base of my branch of the name TORCK.

Jozef Van Overstraeten draws our attention to his previously mentioned work. The Mid-

Nederlands word TORKE (TURKE), or in French TORCHE, means flame carrier or flame

maker. More importantly, TURKE (TORKE) also means headgear in Mid-Nederlands, headgear

also means turban. This was the headgear of a Turk.

This same Jozef Van Overstraeten proposes that a TURCQUE also means a man with a

wild appearance. This was especially the case in Wallonie (Belgium). Like Professor De

Brabandere proposes: "The reader must judge for himself the worth of these explanations or

findings."