Talk:Sint Maarten

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Contents 1 Name is incorrect 2 Requested move 3 Official language English? 4 St. Martin's name is just that........St. Martin ! 5 motto: semper pro grediens?

[edit] Name is incorrect

I have never encountered any English speaking source ever using "Saint Martin" when referring to the Dutch side. If one can be found, please present it. As far as I know, there is no such thing as Saint Martin (Netherlands). The English name for the Dutch side of this island is St. Maarten (or Sint Maarten) --- "Saint Martin" is the French side. For examples of English language scholarly texts using St. Maarten see Google scholar search results here. For books see this Google list. Also, please note that St. Maarten is part of the anglophone Caribbean, although some Dutch is spoken by some layers of the population. St. Maarten is thus a name used by a native English-speaking population for their territory. How can such a name be "translated" to something else? Afv2006 10:13, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

I fully agree. "The Bonaire Reporter" and "The Daily Herald", the only two English-language Antillean newspapers I'm aware of, use only "Sint Maarten". I would like to make "Saint Martin (Netherlands)" redirect to "Sint Maarten", instead of the wrong way around like it is currently. Kww 13:16, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move

This page should be the lead page, and "Saint Martin (Netherlands) should redirect here. "Saint Martin (Netherlands) is both kludgy sounding, and, more importantly, completely unused outside of Wikipedia. Kww 21:17, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

I support this move request as per my post above. Afv2006 08:44, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

This article has been renamed as the result of a move request. Vegaswikian 02:39, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Official language English?

Is it really true that, as the infobox states, English is besides Dutch an official language of Sint Maarten? Gugganij 18:04, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes. Legislation was passed earlier this year to elevate Papiamentu and English to "official" status for the Netherlands Antilles. I believe the impact was countrywide, but in practice, Papiamentu is rarely used by the government in the northern islands, and English is rarely used by the government in the southern ones.Kww 19:07, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] St. Martin's name is just that........St. Martin !

As a native St. Martiner, I can tell you that the post-columbian and traditional spelling of the name of our island is "St. Martin." Historical and official documents for both parts of the island, for over 300 years, reflect this. I have documents from the 1800s, which clearly show that "St. Martin" was the way the name of our island was written. I dare say that the Dutch/French spelling "St. Maarten/Saint-Martin" was a political decision after the 1920s, and reinforced later as a tourism marketing tool--both identifying colonial division as opposed to the unity in the spelling of the name and how St. Martiners have lived as one people for over 300 years (remember the nation tongue of St. Martin is English, thus the spelling). This is one island. according to one of our old sayings: "The gale does not stop at the frontier.Arisutton 13:27, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

== St. Martin's name is just that.......Saint Martin ! ==

I dare to agree with this post with one correction.... The official name for both sides of the Island is the French spelling "Saint Martin" as the island was named after the "Saint" Martin of Tours who was of French descent. The use of the abbreviation "St." was for convenience purposes only and to this day does not reflect the official terminology.

Also the "Dutch side" government has taken the decision that when "St. Maarten or Sint Maarten" receives its new status (anticipated December 15, 2008) to officially re-instate the official name of "Saint Martin". Tommylee31 (talk) 10:04, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] motto: semper pro grediens?

my latin is a bit rusty but.... i think the right form should be "progrediens" ...anybody agrees? 87.11.35.221 (talk) 21:58, 13 May 2008 (UTC)