LL-L "Names" 2003.02.27 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Helge Tietz <helgetietz at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Names" 2003.02.27 (02) [E]

I would suggest the region would be the former East
Prussia, very likely the Northern part of it which is
now part of Russia as the Kalinigrad Oblast because
this was the Low Saxon speaking part of East Prussia.
Dallmann is as such a common name in the whole of
Northern Germany, as far as I know it is common in
Westphalia as well.

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From: Heinrich Becker <heinrich.becker at gmx.net>
Subject: LL-L "Names" 2003.02.27 (02) [E]

> From: Mary Dallman <Immkd at email.msn.com>
> Subject: Surname
>
> I am resarching my surname, DALLMANN, which I discovered recently is a Low
> Saxon name.  "Dall" from ME "dale".  Our family was "Prussian" but came to
> the US in mid-19th century and no records have been found.
>
> Any ideas as to where (region) the name comes from (Poland, Germany,
etc.)?
>
> Thank you.  Mary Dallman Immkd at email.msn.com

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

Mary Dallman wrote:

> I am resarching my surname, DALLMANN, which I
> discovered recently is a Low
> Saxon name.  "Dall" from ME "dale".  Our family was
> "Prussian" but came to
> the US in mid-19th century and no records have been
> found.
>
> Any ideas as to where (region) the name comes from
> (Poland, Germany, etc.)?

Mary, it seems difficult to pinpoint the area, but I am at least reasonably
sure that the name Dallmann is Lowlands Saxon (Low German).

Please bear in mind that the area roughly east of Hamburg and Hanover used
to be populated by Slavonic- and Baltic-speaking people.  These areas came
under Germanic-speaking domination, and, beginning with the 12th century,
came to be settled by large numbers of Germanic speakers from many parts of
Western Europe.  This included not only Saxons from what is now Northwestern
Germany and the eastern parts of the Netherlands, but also various Frankish
and Southern German people.  The Frankish people included those from what
are now the Netherlands and Belgium, namely Low-Franconian-speaking people.
There were even Scottish settlers!  As a result -- and add to that
intermarriage -- the population make-up of those areas is extremely complex
with regard to ethnic and geographic origin.  Most "Germans" from that area
(including my own ancestors) are in part of Slavic and Baltic descent.

The "Prussians" -- now associated with former German power -- received their
name from ethnicities that used to speak Baltic language varieties akin to
today's Lithuanian and Latvian.  In its more recent sense, "Prussian" is
rather vague.  It can be associated with the entire
(German-)Prussian-dominated state (from before World War I), with "Western
Prussia" (nowadays Northern Poland) or with "Eastern Prussia" (today's
Russian-administered enclave of Kaliningrad, and parts of Nethern Poland).

As I said, I assume that Dallmann is a Saxon-derived name, probably akin to
Daalmann and Dalemann, also to Flemish (Zeelandic?) Daelman, Daelmans,
Daeleman and Daelemans.  It may also be akin to Talmann, Tälmann, Tälemann,
Telemann, Teelmann, etc., but I am really not sure about this last one.

Yes, I believe you may be right in assuming that the "Dall" part of Dallmann
is related to English "dale," namely a valley.  In Lowlands Saxon, _Daal_
(_daol_, etc.) means 'valley'; so the _Dallmann_ or _Daalmann_ was the
settler in the valley.  Actually, given the predominantly rather flat
terrain of the Lowlands, I would translate _Dall_ or _Daal_ as 'dell'
(related to Saxon _Dell(e)_ 'dent', i.e., "depression," probably related to
_dale_ and _daal_), thus a depression rather than an actual valley (just as
_Barg_ tends to denote 'hill' in addition to 'mountain').

So, there you have it.  I say the original meaning of Dallmann was ... "The
Farmer in the Dell"!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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