[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dreger; Spelling and Phonetics

[Ed]

The Traeger family from Volhynia moved to Hamilton, Ontario.
The Semler family is in Barrhead Alberta

----- Original Message -----
From: <AlbertMuth at aol.com>
To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: April 16, 2003 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dreger; Spelling and Phonetics


> Dreger/Draeger interchange a lot in the Polish records. This is
> uncontroversial
> since it happens in German also.
>
> Kre~cik is the Polish equivalent of the German surname. Remember, even
> surnames have meanings; in this case, both are based on a word meaning 'to
> turn, spin'.
>
> Traeger vs. Dreger/Draeger  is an alternation that occurs in the Polish
> records,
> but on a low level of frequency.  In phonetic description, T- and D-
differ
> only
> in voicing (voiceless versus voiced), but it is possible in a bilingual
> situation,
> that aspiration may be confused with voicing.  This certainly happens in
> Spanish perceptions of English speakers (I teach Spanish at the college
> level).
>
> Paul is right to mention the Dreger/Dreher alternation, but this is only
at
> the Russian level.  The Dreher family appears to be only in the Wyszogrod
> area; I have not seen it elsewhere
>
> Polish, particularly in the earliest 19th century records, does not
> always know what to do with German aspirated H-.  I do not think that
> the -H- in Dreher is particularly aspirated (if at all); I haven't seen
the
> earliest 19th c. records on the surname.  But the aspirated H- is often
> spelled as CH (which is the normal spelling of said sound in Polish).
> So we have Wilchelm, Chermann, and so on.  It doesn't happen all the
> time, in all places. Just sporadically.  In records written in Polish.
>
> Once you get to the Russian stage (after 1868), you need to know
> that Russian does not have a letter H.  The German name Helene can
> occur as Elena or Gelena (transliterated).
>
> Surnames are harder.  In the SGGEE database, there are both
> Hartmann (in the parishes of Sobieseki, Wladyslawow, Gostynin) and
> Gartmann (Gostynin and Gabin), Hermann and Germann (Konin area)
> (Jermann too, but this is a German dialect variation that we see in
> Gesse/Jesse, Geske/Jeske).  And, of course, Dreher becomes Dreger.
>
> Al Muth
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