Talk:Killer Bees (1974 film)

"Van" not "von"
The prefixes "Van" and "von" do share a common Indo-European origin, as does the Gaelic cognate "uan" - they all originally mean 'grandson'; and are made into "grandson of [somebody]" by the attachment the genitive particle to a personal name, viz. Peter + -es + -on = Petereson > Peterson.

But as Dutch and German prefixes, their use is very different. "Von" indicates nobility in German, viz. "Ritter von Trapp" = "Baron Trapp" or "Graef von Trapp" = "Count Trapp." The "von" is not part of the family name, which is simply "Trapp"; it is part of a title.

In Dutch and Afrikaans, "Van" *is* part of the name: Van Wyk, Van Dyke, VanderRoest, VandeVal, Van Bohlen, and so on.

And in this particular TV movie, which I have in my radio-musicology library (and watched just before writing this), everyone in it is clearly saying "Van Bohlen" not "von."

2601:645:C300:42D0:F11E:73A4:78C4:4743 (talk) 13:29, 22 August 2016 (UTC)