Re: CHAT: barbarisms (was: CHAT: Being both theologically correct and properly modern)

> Date:         Tue, 15 May 2001 01:02:45 -0500
> From: Eric Christopherson <rakko@...>
>
> On Mon, May 14, 2001 at 01:27:29PM -0700, Frank George Valoczy wrote:
> > No, you have it right...originally the name was Va'lo'ci, meaning "from
> > the village of Va'lo'c", then in late 1700s we received a small nobility
> > grant and it became Va'lo'czi (my cousin who lives in Lund sells it like
> > that), then in mid 1800s we received a second small nobility and the
> > selling became as it is now. I think, we were allowed to write our name as
> > von Valocz in Austrian times, but nobody ever did...
>
> Very interesting, but I don't understand what you mean about "receiv[ing] a
> small nobility." Do you mean someone bestowed titles upon your family? How
> does that pertain to the changes in spelling?
You _obviously_ can't have a noble family with the same name as all
those _commoners_ from that city, now can you? And when the head of
the family (I presume) got an extra dangly some generations down the
line, he _obviously_ had to change his name to distinguish himself
from all the uncles and whatnot who were only in line to the _old_
boring title.

Denmark is full of families, noble or otherwise, whose surnames are
just toponyms or common nouns (animal names, for instance), respelt in
verious creative ways. To which Danish, Swedish, German --- and
Hungarian, evidently --- seem to lend themselves better than English.

Originally, this was of course mostly a custom of noble families,
because they were the ones for whom it was most important, and who
were likely to know, or employ people who knew, how to spell.

The rest just got their names spelt as the deacon saw fit --- which
has brought some creative versions of surnames into being as well.
There are examples of families where all the brothers got different
versions.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)

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