[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name translations

[Miles Ertman]

Oh my, and I was going to ask about the origins of the family names  
in my ancestry:

Erdmann, Schmidt, Keller, Scheler (Schaeler), Kost (Kust), Borchert,  
Leschert (Laeschert), Ehmke, Weschke (Waeschke), Rohr, Braun, Rosin,  
Schendel, Neumann, Hintz, Fercho (Ferchau), Eschner, Arndt, Tiede,  
Walter, Zentz, Nitz, Zuelse, Peters, Eppel (or Appelt), Boelter,  
Jaenke, Doms, Littmann, Buk, Bris (or Brus), Rehl (or Roehl), Jobs,  
Thom (or Tomse), Gienau, Frank, Grueger (or Groeger).


Miles Ertman


On 12-Oct-06, at 4:37 PM, Richard Benert wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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