[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name translations

[Günther Böhm]

Greg Mason schrieb:

>I have been following this discussion with great interest and I have  
>learned a lot from all of your comments and ideas.  Perhaps some of  
>you can shed some light on some questions that I have, involving the  
>names: Schachtschneider  and/or Schattschneider/Shattschneider  from  
>Congress Poland.
>
>My understanding is  that these are different family names, but  
>within my wife's family, these names were used interchangeably and  
>without much rhyme or reason.  In particular, we have documents from  
>church, civil and personal correspondence for her Grandfather that  
>show all variations at different times in his life.  (Compounding the  
>problem is the fact that after he had been in the US for a few years,  
>he changed his name to Sneider and his two brothers changed their  
>name to Schneider.)
>
>Do any of you have any ideas or knowledge concerning the origins of  
>these surnames and their evolution?  Does translating the name  
>between German and Polish have any bearing on the spelling or the  
>pronunciation?
>

Hello Greg,
yes, the name is not too rare and its original meaning is known.
In modern German, Schacht = shaft, the vertical traffic route of a mine.
But in Middle High German, there was just the word Schaft = spear, pole, 
stick, tool handle. And a Schaftschneider who later bekame a 
Schachtschneider, was in most cases a spear maker (spears were not 
allowed to be turned - like today by machines - but had to be cut along 
the wood grain to make them more elastic and prevent rupturing). 
Schattschneider is just abraded from Schachtschneider.

Guenther