ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2291 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2291 ************************************ 23 Apr 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a man from southern Germany between 1450 and 1550. This letter is a brief answer to your question. Your name is essentially fine, though we will recommend a slightly different spelling depending on some details of your persona. There were two main dialects of German in your period: Low German, spoken in the north and northwest; and High German, spoken in the south. (Low and High refer to altitude, i.e. High German was spoken in the Alpine highlands while Low German was spoken in the lowlands nearer the sea. Modern standard German derives predominently from High German.) Many names were used in both dialects, but often with different spellings. The spelling variations followed some clear patterns. If you want a name suitable for southern Germany, then you should choose a High German spelling. However, because the spelling you chose for your given name is typical of Low German, we'll discuss both possibilities. is a Low German form of a name that was common throughout Germany in your period. Period examples include 1272, 1140, 1240, 1276 and 1272/1330 [1]. All of these except the last have been given Latin grammatical endings to match the language of the documents in which they appear. The actual Low German name is or in the first case and or in the others [2]. The High German form of this name was usually [3]. The use of for is typical of High German. For example, in Low German we typically find and for the names whose High German forms are and [2]. The spelling change reflects a difference in pronunciation: The Low German form of the name was pronounced \OHL-reek\; the High German form \OOL-reech\. \OH\ represents the found in , and the \ee\ should be a shorter-duration vowel than in English, not be drawn out at all. In the second version, \ch\ represents the hissing sound in the German word . We found one place called , in Hessen in northwestern Germany; there are other places of this name as well as several called . One of the latter is in Breisgau in the southwest. All these names derive from a Middle High German word that meant "towering rock, (round) mountain top" [4]. The compound is therefore quite logical, and we would not be surprised to learn that there were many places of that name. The locative byname is a correct way to identify a person from Staufenberg, but it may not be the most appropriate form, depending on what social class and which region of Germany you want your name to fit. By your period, especially in the cities, most commoners had dropped the preposition from their surnames. The nobility, on the other hand, was more conservative and retained the preposition. They had always been the class most likely to use bynames with , probably because in their case such names had two possible sources: not only could they indicate origin, they could (and probably more often did) refer to land held in fief. Thus, as the use of by commoners slowly but steadily declined, the preposition became in practice more and more a sign of noble status. However, it wasn't until the 17th century that the two became effectively synonymous [5]. In Low German, the preposition was , pronounced \vawn\ with a short-duration vowel, rather than ; but in that region it was most common to form a locative simply by using the place name without a preposition, e.g. . In most of the High German dialects of the south, it was more common to use the adjectival form of the place name, . The prepositional phrase, , was most typical of the southwest. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Maridonna Benvenuti, Dietmar von Straubing, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Hartmann Rogge. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Apr 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Zoder, R., _Familiennamen in Ostfalen_. 2 vols. (Hildesheim: 1968) pp. 27, 46, 56. [2] Zoder, pp. 25-143 passim. [3] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period German Masculine Given Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). The article cites (a scribal variant of ) in 15th century Arnsburg and in 14th century Plauen. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/germmasc/ [4] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.nn. Staufen, Staufenberg. [5] Schwarz, Ernst, _Deutsche Namenforschung I: Ruf- und Familiennamen_ (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1949); pp. 101ff, 164.