LL-L: "Names" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 16.JUN.1999 (03)

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at geocities.com>
Subject: Names

Brian Schulz wrote under "Folk Beliefs":

> I am looking for a definative collection of surnames( could be a subject
> by itself) and their meanings i.e. what does Schulz mean in the early
> German?

Brian, as you can see, I have moved this to a new subject line, since it did not
belong to "Folk Beliefs."  (Subjects must be kept separate.)

I don't know if there's a definitive index of surnames.  There are lots of books
and quite a few web pages dealing with the origin of familiy names, but I don't
think any of them is definitive or exhaustive.

You might like to try http://www.familychronicle.com/surname.htm, but please
don't for a second assume that all of the information there is correct.

Of course, Schulz is a German name, and German is not one of the main focus
languages of Lowlands-L.  However, here is what I know:

Schulz, Schultz, Scholz, Scholtz, Schulze, etc., are all derived from Old High
German _Scultheizzo_.  This used to denote a position: that of the elder or
headman of a settlement.  From this has developed Modern German _Schultheiß_,
often translated as 'bailiff', used in reference to medieval and ancient
history.  Literally, _Scultheizzo_ denoted the person who was named as bearing
the guilt (_Schuld_) or to be scolded (or worse) for the supposed misdeeds of
his settlement's inhabitants, i.e., the person responsible.  It is often
translated as _Dorfschulze_ in Modern German.  It is therefore something of a
Germanic equivalent of Meyer, Mayer, Meier, etc., which are related to English
'mayor' and come from Latin _maior_.

Getting back to the Lowlands, let it be mentioned that among the Low Saxon (Low
German) equivalents of the family name Schulz, etc., are Schult, Scholt and
Schulte.  (Being a Lowlands language, Low Saxon did not participate in the
German t > ts shift.)

I hope this helped.

Reinhard/Ron

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