[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name translations

[Otto]

Good morning Günther,

We attempt to eat an elephant, you, from the onomasiological end, and  
I, from the semasiological end.
You see a whole elephant, and I, a basket of parts. Undoubtedly the  
reason for your use of the term 'erosion'. . . only an original form  
can erode.  From my standpoint there are 'no original forms,' no  
original elephant. We are all but a basketful of parts.
I use the term 'morph' loosely referring to morphology. -'morphology'  
as applied to linguistics: The study of the structure and form of  
words in language or a language, including inflection, derivation,  
and the formation of compounds.
-You and I will never see the same animal.

Perhaps Richard himself can express his viewpoints regarding his  
surname for us? Professors do that you know.

We do an injustice to ourselves focusing on a surname in an attempt  
to express origin. 50% of what we are is from the mother's side,  
possessing her own unique surname. 'Identity' is halved each and  
every generation.  Surnames are not a solid, a whole, we cannot  
encapsulate surnames to form a solid. We attempt to carry water in a  
sieve if we do.

I discuss given and surname meanings online to stimulate interest in  
ourselves as living, breathing, historical artifacts, to stimulate  
continued interest in our journey through time, space, and life.

Our surnames are a unique and the foremost genealogical CLUSTER we  
will work with in our research. Each and every one of us is a  
walking, talking genetic clan. We are all the end result of eons and  
eons of breeding.
I call my surname cluster my 'menagerie', my zoo. I am the keeper of  
the keys.
I keep a little plaque on my desk displaying two of my 'zen moments',
"Not knowing... confusion,  and knowing... delusion."
"Things real... not certain, and things certain... not real."
(similar to a state of mind achieved attempting to translate Russian  
documents)

By the way, those were some of my relatives at Bohnsack/Beanbag on  
the shore of the Baltic.
It would be neat if they really raised 'purple royalty' beans... I  
like that variety.

On Oct 11, 2006, at 6:10 AM, Günther Böhm wrote:

> Guenther schrieb:
>
> Hello Richard & Otto,
> maybe he can but not because of his surname.
>
> Though the trails of onomastical erosion, misunderstanding and again
> erosion are complicated, replacing an m by an n would be too unusual.
> More likely the name developed in the following way:
>
> BERNHARD [from baerenhart = hard as a bear] was a very common  
> christian
> name since the early middle ages (Saint BERNHARD of Clairvaux was born
> abt. 1090 at Fontaine castle near Dijon). The name was eroded to  
> BENERT
> , BENNERT or BEHNERT in northern Germany and to BANNERT or BAHNERT in
> more southern regions (in French speaking countries to BERNARD, BÉNARD
> and BANARD).
>
> Then there must have been an official misunderstanding. In northern
> Germany ö (oe) normaly turns to (plattdeutsch) e. Any priest or parish
> official then must have tried to restore the name into  
> "hochdeutsch" and
> turned it by misunderstanding from BEHNERT into BÖHNERT. I found  
> several
> similar cases in Silesian parish registers where BANNERT was  
> (correctly
> though not very sensitively) restored into BERNHARD.
>
> Guenther Boehm

. . .   Otto

                      " The Zen moment..." wk. of September 24, 2006-
                          ________________________________
                     "Wisdom... has a corrosive effect on  
complications."