LL-L "Etymology" 2008.03.09 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 09 March 2008 - Volume 03
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From: wim <wkv at home.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.03.09 (01) [E]

Hi,

What comes to mind now is the words with the root of an ancient word for
white  in it,

Libanon, the alps, albinon… ( the libanon has white mountain tops in winter,
the alps too, and albinon white chalk clifs)
Wim verdoold

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From: orville crane <manbythewater at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.03.09 (02) [D/E]

Belarus-White Russia.
man by the water

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

Beste Jorge,

You wrote:

> I could go on forever, imagining what every name means…but, is it
> possible that any of you would be moved to explain online what your
> names really mean?

Sure.

Judging the oldest spelling of one of my ancestors' name, "Gielys Hellincx",
(1467, Merchtem, precisely the town where I grew up, and still the center of
all living Hellinckx' today), I believe it to be the Brabantish genitive of
"hallinc", a Middle Dutch word for a coin, worth half a penny, which you
could analyze as "half-ling".
Interestingly, Scots has the word "hauflin" (halflin(g)) for a sturdy
teenager, and Shakespeare used it to describe a man the size of a boy.
Tolkien as well, must have been inspired by the Scots word, when he was
designing the Hobbits.
Apparently, in the past, people were quite often named after currency. Dutch
names like "Schellinck(x)", "Penninck(x)" and "Hellinck(x)" prove this
(resp. shilling, penny and halfling). Of course there's quite a lot of
geographical variation in the spelling:

English: Shilling, Penny, Helling
Northern Dutch: Schelling, Penning, Helling
Southwestern Dutch: Schellinck, Penninck, Hellinck
Central Dutch: Schellinckx, Penninckx, Hellinckx
Eastern Dutch: Schellings, Pennings, Hellings
German: Schilling(er), Pfenni(n)g(er), Helling(er)

Another explanation, that I consider less likely, sees "Hellinckx" as the
genitive of a pet name (Hello, Hillin, Hellin...) for one of the many
hild-names. In Hildebrand, Hildeboud, Hildebert, Hildegard..., hild- means
"battle".
Even today, we still sometimes construct names this way: Luc > (de) Lukken,
Jef > (de) Seppen, Wim ~ Guillaume > (de) Lommen...
Such derivations are meant to be somewhat endearing, somehow more personal
than the original name on your birth certificate.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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

Luc,

German: Schilling(er), Pfenni(n)g(er), Helling(er)

I take it then this is not the same as the old *Heller*. That was a *Pfennig
* minted in Schwäbisch-Hall, thus *Haller* > *Häller* > *Heller*.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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