Schmidt / Schmitt
The Wogster
Does anyone know where I can find info regarding the reasoning behind
the different spellings. Family tell me it's related to Schmidt being
Protestant and Schmitt being Roman Catholic variants of the same name.
I would assume names like Eberhardt and Eberhartt would be similar....
Thanks
W
Bernd Hoch
Dear W.
In the German language the spelling of names and Surnames
changed through the centuries. The spelling depends also on
the region and on the various dialects (bavarian, soxonian,
thuringian, silevian ......)
Meier
Mayer
Meyer
Maier
f.e. are all variations
Schmied
Schmidt
Schmid
Schmitt
Smiet
also variations all starting from the surname that described
the profession Smith or Hammersmith
Do u understand?
It has nothing to do with the confession or church -
nothing!!!!!!
The Wogster
> The Wogster schrieb:
>
> In the German language the spelling of names and Surnames changed
> through the centuries. The spelling depends also on the region and on
> the various dialects (bavarian, soxonian, thuringian, silevian ......)
> Meier
> Mayer
> Meyer
> Maier
> f.e. are all variations
>
> Schmied
> Schmidt
> Schmid
> Schmitt
> Smiet
>
> also variations all starting from the surname that described the
> profession Smith or Hammersmith
>
> Do u understand?
>
> It has nothing to do with the confession or church - nothing!!!!!!
Yeah, thanks, just wondering about the history of the name, since the
variations were initially regional, how would I find what region/dialect
was the base for a certain spelling -- Schmidt -- in this case.
W
Bernd Hoch
Uhps that is too much for me.
sorry idunno
Celia Mitschelen
"Bernd Hoch" <ep...@bernd-hoch.de> wrote in message
news:d2es3m$7jj$01$1...@news.t-online.com...
> In the German language the spelling of names and Surnames
> changed through the centuries. The spelling depends also on
> the region and on the various dialects (bavarian, soxonian,
> thuringian, silevian ......)
> Meier
> Mayer
> Meyer
> Maier
> f.e. are all variations
Hey, Bernd, you missed one - Majer! 8-)
Celia
Tassilo S. Schweiger
> Does anyone know where I can find info regarding the reasoning behind the
> different spellings. Family tell me it's related to Schmidt being
> Protestant and Schmitt being Roman Catholic variants of the same name.
I am sorry, it is too late. Because I heard the same thing about the
relation between these spellings and their confessional origin, I tried to
find out something. I couldn't...
===========
http://www.onomastik.com/klassen.php
Berufsnamen: Unter den 20 häufigsten deutschen Familiennamen finden sie:
Müller, Schmi(e)d, Schneider, Fischer, Meyer, Bäcker, Bauer, Wagner, Koch -
die wichtigsten Berufe von früher sind die bekanntesten Familiennamen von
heute. Wie die Person
benannt wurde, liegt auf der Hand.
===========
There, the most common german names are listed, which used to be prior names
for the most important professions, e.g. Schmid(t) deirves from Schmied, a
person woh works with iron.
Unfortunately, nothing is written about the confessional origins. A short
guess is that the former Emperiors, or kings each had their own writers, who
wrote these professions in a different way. And then, a relation could
appear. But, meanwhile Bernd is right to say, that, in general, you can't
tell by the spelling of that name if a person living today is either
protestant or catholic, because these names changed.
But, I heard of that fact, too, that there are these differences. I'll try
to find a source for it.
> I would assume names like Eberhardt and Eberhartt would be similar....
Maybe.
Tassilo
Bernd Hoch
Well, I mentioned f.e. (for example) I am shure that I
missed more than this (1421 hits for Majer in the actual
german phonebook ;-))
Bernd Hoch
Ok, Wogster?
by the way do u know what the Name "Eberhardt , Eberhard,
Eberhartt ......... means?
I could tell ya.
Bernd
The Wogster
I don't recall exactly, had a friend with the name.... Had something to
do with pigs, from what I do recall. When I was a kid, having anything
to do with Germans or Germany was not considered a good thing.....
Never learned the language, although I often wish now that I had learned
it......
W
Bernd Hoch
Eber that is the male wild pig - the boar- ( saying: strong
without anxiety) and Hard/Hart/Hardt si for Heart (ge: Herz)
combined Boar Heart
Same like in Bern-hard, Bernard, Bernhardt, Bernnhartt,
shortly Bernd etc. === Heart like a Bear or Bear's heart
Well , when I was young I started to learn Dutch, English
and French for the same reason u mentioned - I did not
consider being german a good thing - :-)
take care and best regards
Bernd
Edmund Mashmann
My guess is that Rein means king so Reinhard would have the heart of a king?
Ed
"Bernd Hoch" <ep...@bernd-hoch.de> wrote in message
news:d2h3t6$fh5$04$1...@news.t-online.com...
Henning Boettcher
"Edmund Mashmann" <emas...@nycap.rr.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Mf96e.2974$BJ3....@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
> What would a name like Reinhard mean?
>
> My guess is that Rein means king so Reinhard would have the heart
of a king?
>
word that is some hundred years old with the pronouncing of a
present word. In most cases the result is totally wrong.
Reinhard is derived from the Germanic word 'Reginhart' or '
Raginhart'. The meaning was 'im Rate kühn' = 'in the advice bold'?.
The above is said by the book
Hans Bahlow: Deutsches Namenlexikon
ISBN 3-8112-2271-6
--
Kind regards
Henning Boettcher
Switzerland
http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/boettche/
(universally applicable hints/German language only/ last review:
Febr. 2005)
Celia Mitschelen
"Henning Boettcher" <boet...@smile.ch> wrote in message
news:3btj05F...@individual.net...
>
> "Edmund Mashmann" <emas...@nycap.rr.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:Mf96e.2974$BJ3....@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
> > What would a name like Reinhard mean?
> >
> > My guess is that Rein means king so Reinhard would have the heart
> of a king?
> >
> That is in Germany 'Volksethymologie' = comparing the sound of a
> word that is some hundred years old with the pronouncing of a
> present word. In most cases the result is totally wrong.
>
> Reinhard is derived from the Germanic word 'Reginhart' or '
> Raginhart'. The meaning was 'im Rate kühn' = 'in the advice bold'?.
> The above is said by the book
> Hans Bahlow: Deutsches Namenlexikon
> ISBN 3-8112-2271-6
I can't go back as far as Henning and if asked would have to confess I would
have said "pure" apparently too modern for help with name origins.
Roi is the French word for king. I checked my secondhand paperback French
dictionary and found that rein means kidney, turning the page I did find
reine, meaning queen. I can't recall I ever heard what the French called a
queen.
Celia
Bernd Hoch
Herkunftssprache: Althochdeutsch
Angaben zur Herkunft: alter deutscher zweigliedriger Name
im Mittelalter weit verbreitet
Wörter: ragin=der Rat, der Beschluss;
harti=hart, stark, fest, entschlossen
Varianten: Reinhard Deutsch
Raginhard Althochdeutsch (alte/ursprüngliche Namens-Form)