ORANJESTAD – After years of extensive research and collaboration, a team of scholars from the University of Curaçao has published the Dutch–Papiamento Legal Dictionary, providing an important new resource for Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire’s legal communities.
The dictionary was developed by Prof. Lodewijk Rogier, Prof. Dr. Ronald Severing, Mr. Dr. Annemarie Marchena-Slot, Drs. Ithel Brute, and Manuel Maduro. It contains more than 2,500 legal terms in Dutch and Papiamento, complete with explanations and translations.
Designed as both a legal reference and translation tool, the dictionary draws its terminology from legislation, case law, legal scholarship, business, and public administration. It is intended to support judges, government officials, police officers, customs officers, interpreters, translators, law students, legal professionals, and journalists.
The publication is expected to promote greater consistency in legal terminology and strengthen the use of Papiamento in legal proceedings and justice-related publications. It also contributes to ongoing discussions about the role of Papiamento under Aruba’s Official Languages Ordinance.
Although the dictionary follows the phonological spelling used in Curaçao and Bonaire, readers in Aruba can easily adapt it to Aruba’s etymological spelling system.
The publication has been welcomed as a significant contribution to legal language and access to justice throughout the Dutch Caribbean.
