The Dialect Basis of Spelling Variation in German Surnames: Difference between revisions

In the first half millennium of our era, there was no single or official German language; there were many Germanic tribes, such as the Saxons, the Alamanni, the Bavarians, the Franks, and some others, each speaking closely related dialects. The consonant inventory of these early Germanic dialects was more or less the same as that of Modern English. So, we will illustrate the changes in German by comparison with English words, while keeping in mind that the English consonants represent the old Germanic consonants.  

From this list, we see that old, Germanic ‘t’ changes to ‘z or ‘ss’ in German.  

From this list, we see that old, Germanic ‘k’ changes to ‘ch’ in German.  

From this list, we see that old, Germanic ‘d’ changes to ‘t’ in German.  

But what does all this have to do with variation in names? Names have also been affected by these sound changes. Those people who lived south of the line described above have names that were affected to various degrees by these changes. The names of those people who lived north of the line remained unaffected by the changes. Of course, migration from one area to another often obscures this pattern, as we now find many people who live ‘on the other side’ of the dialect dividing lines. Also, the origin of a name is sometimes impossible to know because the name might have been changed from a dialect to a standard form.  

&nbsp;*‘th’ in German sounds like ‘t,’ not like ‘th’ in English.<br>  

Bahlow, Hans.&nbsp; 2002. ''Dictionary of German Names''.&nbsp; Translated and Revised by Edda Gentry.  

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Baker, Theola Walden. "[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mstone/dialectical.html Internal Dialectical Clues in German Surnames]." ''Missouri State ''  

Lockwood, W.B. 1976.&nbsp; ''An Informal History of the German Language with Chapters on Dutch and''  

Watermann, John T.&nbsp;1976.&nbsp;&nbsp;''A History of the German Language''. Seattle and London: University of&nbsp;  

[[Category:Germany Language and Handwriting]] [[Category:Language and Handwriting]]