As I try to always remember, Google is my friend. I tried to persuade the mighty search engine to translate Verootje, Google spat out a number of responses but nothing helpful. I inquired as to what language it might be, and was again presented with a number of responses, but nothing that answered my query. Following I phrased the question in every direct and indirect manner I could think of with no satisfaction. So, in defeat, I come before you and humbly ask, what the hell is a Verootje?
It occurs to me that it may be a Proper name, but in what language? Dutch? Google is being extremely unhelpful.
It would help if we knew the context in which you encountered the word. Did you search Google for just plain “verootje”?
Where and in what context did you see this word?
The “je” is a standard diminutive in Dutch, where there’s a habit of tacking it on to everyday words, so that all sorts of things become a “little” something or other. It might also be Afrikaans (South African Dutch): a bit of googling in dictionaries gives “verootmoediging” as meaning “abasement” or “humiliation”, where “moediging” means “encourage”. “Ver” is more or less our “far”. So I’d guess this is someone’s idiom for a small setback of some kind.
I’m guessing that it’s a name or nickname of some sort.
Naah, the equivalent Afrikaans diminutive ending is -tjie , that looks like Dutch or Flemish to me. But it isn’t in a dictionary of either, so I’m guessing it’s either a word in a dialect (of which Dutch has many) or it’s a portmanteau or similar.
BTW, for many of the Google hits, it is obviously a portmanteau, where the roots are Veronique and Ootje.
Ootje itself is a diminutive for the letter “O”. I can only find it as a nickname, in kid’s books, and in the uitdrukking (expression) “'in het ootje nemen” (make fun of. Literally something like “Taken into the ring”) where “ootje” literally means “Little Letter O”/Circle - in the sense of everyone forming a ring around someone to belittle them. Some actual Dutch person would know better if it’s a common nickname or not…
No, the root of that word is ootmoed (humble), and the rest is verbifiying that.
(Dutch native)
That, a typo or something not Dutch.
Op, how about a context?
It may be a posting on Vero, made diminutive like the Dutch do with everything. Compare “tweetje” as used to describe a tweet.
That would be Verotje, though.
No, it would be Verootje. If you want the sound at the end of vero to stay the same.
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This thread is now the first search result.
I have no idea how Vero is pronounced 
I take it it’s a -oo then, not the -oh I thought.
Oo as Dutch oo. Not English oo.
Long time reader, finally registered because I might be able to shed some light on this.
‘Vero’ is often used as a short form of the French surname ‘Véronique’ (Veronica), which in Dutch is usually written with a plain ‘e’. ‘Verootje’ is a diminutive from of this, so it means ‘little Vero’.
I’m familiar with Dutch oo, it’s the same in my native Afrikaans. But -o is not usually the same as -oo, hence my confusion.
It depends on the place in the words. At the end of a word it is always the long oo. So eventough there typically (I really can’t think of any exceptions) is only one o, it has the oo sound of “rook” rather than the short o sound of “rok”. If the diminutive is used the oo needs to be written down.
Same as in “kado” and “kadootje” (gift and little gift).
BTW it being the diminutive of the abbreviation for Veronique sounds plausible to me.
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Cool, thanks for the info.
Google may be an even better friend to you than you know. Typing in “Dutch to English” gives you a translation tool where you can type in what you want translated. Based on my experience with German, which I know a lot better than Dutch, it’s usually correct.
verootje = “farewell”
ver ootje = “far away”
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