[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name translations

[Richard Benert]

Well, well.  I've certainly reaped a harvest of confusion from my little 
seed of a question about my surname, "Boehnert"!  Let's see if I got it 
straight.  First of all, my little seed was not a bean.  I had suspected 
that the umlaut might be a problem for my bean-theory, and Otto confirmed 
this. Otto thinks that I may be descended from the Celtic tribe of Baii, 
living in Bohemia, and it's only the elimination of one down-stroke to an 
"m" (to make it an "n") that distinguishes my clan from the Boehms and the 
Boehmerts.   Or at least that's a possibility.

Günther Boehm will have none of this, and I don't blame him.  An "n" not 
only looks different from an "m"; it also sounds different.  I'd think 
someone would have caught the mistake before a whole slew of Boehmerts 
discovered that they were now being called Boehnerts.  I kind of like the 
idea Günther offers that my name was originally Bernhard, the heart of a 
bear.  Growwwlllll.   But then to use terms like "erosion" (even if it is 
onomastical [and I have to admit I had look this up]} to explain how it 
became "Benert" is also a bit hard on the familial ego.  But it is true, it 
became Benert for at least one 17th-century Prussian peasant, although I've 
found mostly Behnerts and Bohnerts, along with Boehnerts, in later Prussian 
lists.  But I'm gratified somewhat by Günther's belief that the scribe who 
"mistakenly" transformed the "e" into "oe" was rendering the name into 
HOCHdeutsch!

At this point an elephant enters the room, either being pushed or pulled by 
Otto, depending on which end is the onomasiological and which the 
semasiological.  I'm guessing that the head end is the onomasiological 
(seeing things from the top down), while the other is the semasiological 
(seeing things from the bottom up).   Otto is pushing the elephant.  The 
elephant tells us that neither the top-down nor the bottoms-up approach can 
see the whole animal.  Which is just about what I was thinking before the 
beast came in and confirmed it.  Elephants can be very convincing.

But then today a bird flew quietly into my study bearing a private message 
from Irene (Kopetzki) König, who I hope will not mind if I share the 
message:

"Richard, [she says]
I'll quote from Max Gottschald's "Deutsche Namenkunde" of 1932.

B O N: zu altnordisch bôn, angelsächsisch bên: "Bitte, Forderung".
Einfluß von lateinisch, bonus "gut". [Influence from Latin, bonus=good]
--
Example of names:

B o n a r d: Bo(h)nard, Bonatz, Böhnhart, Böhnert, Bönet, Ponader [plus many 
others]
--
Sorry that Gottschald's explanation may not be as nourishing as the
bean-grower version. But then, ich hatte kein Latein und mußte die
Bedeutung nachschlagen: bonus=gut=tüchtig=tauglich=brav, das ist ja auch
nichts, dessen man sich schämen müßte. [But then, I did not study Latin, and 
had to look up the meanings:  bonus=good=competent=worthy, this is indeed 
nothing to be ashamed of.]"

The elephant then left, with the bird trying to decide which end to ride on. 
I was left feeling pretty good about my family, until I remembered Otto's 
parting thoughts:  "not knowing...confusion; and knowing...delusion".  Is my 
"bonus" family merely a delusion, after all?  And then Otto reminds me that 
I have also to take into account my mother's heritage, not to mention all 
the others that have "halved" into the genetic structure.  So, to start 
with, what is known about the name, Bartel?  Some of my uncles loved the 
story about a left-behind Napoleonic soldier (it sounds French, after all), 
but I don't believe it.

Thanks to you three for your help!  And as you say, Otto, my exclamation 
points are laden with emotion!  But as I often say when thoroughly confused, 
"Oh, beans!".

Dick Benert