Roger Mills wrote:
> Seems to me I've seen Cortez~Cortes even in Spanish sources. Speculation:
> Cortez may be formed analogically on the basis of common surname
> ending -ez (Martínez, González et al.) applied to given names, originally
> meaning (I'm told) "son of". Since "Corte" seems not to be an authorized
> given name, perhaps _Cortes_ is a de-accented form of original
> _cortés_ 'courteous; courtly'? I once listed all the -ez surnames I
Most Cortes I know are actually "Cortés", and I thing is derived from
_cortés_ 'courteous; courtly'. The -ez orthography seams to me an analogic
form from real -ez names.
_Café de Colombia_ promotional figure: Juan Valdez (the one with the mule
and the mountains in the background) uses an -ez orthography in order to
*look* Spanish. The actuall family name is _Valdés_, which origin I cant
tell.
> could think of (±30), and only a handful could not be allied with
> some Christian name (and even those few might be based on
> names no longer in use??) Then too, there have been occasional
Could you list those?
> unsuccessful attempts at spelling reforms, and -z in names >
> -s may be a holdover (like Isabel vs Ysabel, Ibarra vs. Ybarra).
-- Carlos Th