[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dreger

[PnSWork at aol.com]

Hi Delores,

> Have noted that Dreger can be spelled Drager, Draeger, but am unsure
> as to why and alternative spelling could be Semler, Krecik, or Traeger.
> Is this because they sound the same or mean the same.

    Many of the alternate spellings result from the transliteration from the
Roman alphabet to the Cyrillic alphabet and back.  Alternate spellings
can also result from incorrect reading of the old writing.  Not sure how
Semler would come about though.

    I would like to point out that another alternate spelling is Dreher.  The
original spelling of Dreher in the Roman alphabet would be transliterated
as Dreger in Cyrillic because Cyrillic has no equivalent for the letter 'H'.
This has happened in my family.  The family name in Poland was Dreher
(Roman alphabet) up to 1868 when all records began to be recorded in
Russian (Cyrillic) when it changed to Dreger.  Take care,

    -Paul