LL-L "Names" 2010.02.01 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 01 February 2010 - Volume 02
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From: Diederik Masure <didimasure at hotmail.com>
Subject: Names

Hey Lowlanders,
 I have another mistery for ye!
I just got this question from a Romanian friend of mine, but it goes beyond
my knowledge to answer it myself. Any of you any clues?

"Well... I want to find out any possible origin or appropriate meaning for
the surname "Möwis". It's a Germanic surname, I mean it comes from Germany,
but it's very very uncommon in Germany nowadays... I found only one German
word which is close to the name, which is "möwe", meaning gull or seagull...
The name, as far as I could trace it, comes from Mecklenburg... I don't know
deeper than that... But Mecklenburg was part of Denmark for a while...
Maybe there is any Norwegian word, or old Norwegian, who may sound closely
to that? Someone told me a few days ago that, in his opinion, the name Möwis
may have a Scandinavian resonance... The name as I wrote it is in it's
German form, so maybe in the past it had other form, I mean it may have been
written in some other way... (for example, nowadays in Romanian it became
Mevis)"

Thanks guys!
Diederik, Bergen (Norway)

•

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