[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] SCHWOCHOW

[Günther Böhm]

Marlo50 schrieb:

>Otto, now you bought up a thought.  My family history has a name Schwochow 
>and I don't know where they came from except Pommern.  You say the Germans 
>added an "ow"
>to sound more Prussian.  Can there be a name Schwoch and would it be German? 
>And do you know when this was done?  I have an Andreas Michael Schwochow who 
>was born in 1813 perhaps in Kreis Rummelsburg.
>Any help?      Margaret
>
Margaret,
no, since Schwochow [Swochowo] was a village in the Pyritz district of 
Pomerania (12 km northwest of Pyritz) and you can be sure that your 
SCHWOCHOW ancestors came from there. It was founded before 1300. I don't 
think that its name was originally German since the first nobilized 
owners of Schwochow called themselves "von SCHWOCHOW". Later owners were 
v.BORCK, v.der SCHULENBURG, v.PODEWILS, v.PUTTKAMER, Freiherren v.der 
GOLTZ and v.KUNOW.

The apparently original Pomeranian / Polish root 'swoch' derives 
(genitive plural) from 'swoj' = 'his' and means 'of his' [land, properties].

The only similarly sounding German word 'schwach' = 'weak' can hardly be 
the name origin of Schwochow.

Guenther