verhouder

Verhouder is a Dutch term that also appears as a surname. In historical Dutch usage, verhouder designated a person who held or managed property or assets on behalf of someone else, acting as a custodian, steward, or bailiff in various administrative contexts. The form is then found mainly in medieval and early modern records and is now largely obsolete in standard Dutch.

Etymology and usage notes: the word combines houden, “to hold,” with the agentive suffix -houder, and is preceded by the prefix ver-, a common feature in older Dutch compound nouns. In historical contexts, a verhouder would typically be responsible for managing lands, rents, or other holdings for a lord, municipality, or property owner. Modern Dutch rarely uses the term, and it is mostly encountered in archival documents, glossaries, or discussions of historical offices.

Verhouder as a surname: the name remains rare. In genealogical and civil records, only a small number of individuals bear the surname Verhouder, with occurrences primarily in the Netherlands and parts of northern Belgium. Like many occupational surnames, it likely originated from an ancestor who served as a verhouder for a landowner or community and later passed the designation to descendants.

Overall, verhouder today is chiefly of historical and genealogical interest, reflecting a once-common occupational role that has largely fallen out of contemporary Dutch usage.