LL-L "Names" 2007.03.05 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 05 March 2007 - Volume 06

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

Beste Peter,

You wrote:

Hello Lowlanders,

 I have decided to get off the lurking chair and ask for some assistance. As
many would know my family name is Snepvangers. The Snep part of this name
refers to the bird called snipe or snip in Dutch. The vangers I presume
refers to Catchers from the Dutch vangen. I have been researching my family
tree and have so far traced back to the 1480's into North Brabant near
Zundert, Breda, Rijsbergen, Rucphen etc.

This coincides pretty well with the present-day situation: see
http://www.familienaam.be/ for the Belgian and
http://www.familienaam.nl/for the Dutch geographical distribution.

 I have been provided with information from a genealogist of name variations
of the Snepvangers name in the 1300's. I presume these would be Brabants or
medieval Dutch. I have also been forwarded some information written in
"Thiois" which I think is old Dietsch. Could anyone with knowledge of oude
Brabants provide me with spellings of how the Snepvangers name may have been
written, or how it may have been written by sound. Some of the variations
are as simple as van de Snepvangers, van Snepvangers, van Snepveghem, van
Sneveghem etc.

Your last two guesses seem to hint at a totally different explanation of
"Snepvangers".

"...g(h)em" namely refers to a toponym (home of ...), whereas Debrabandere
F. for example, mentions "Snepvanger(s)" as a snipe-catcher. If the
"...vanger"-form is older than the "...g(h)em" one (which I rather doubt),
then one could search along the lines of

"snipvang(h)er(e)",
"snipveng(h)er(e)",
"snepvang(h)er(e)",
"snepveng(h)er(e)"

even "(de) snepper(e)(s)"

This last one looks somewhat related to "sniper" (E), which is often
interpreted as a hunter skilled at shooting snipe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper
(etymology is not yet fully accepted though).

On a different note, according to Grimm, in German a "Schnepfenjäger" can
also denote a guy who chases "birds" (of the human kind *s*), hope you catch
my drift; read more here:
http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/dwb/wbgui?lemid=GS15273
I guess it shouldn't be ruled out that this double meaning of "Snepvanger"
(literal and figurative sense) may well have played a role during the
namegiving process.

Slightly more "outrageous" is the attestation of "sneppenschieters" (both
male and female ones) in Ghent (in olden days). In this case, "sneppen" were
excreta, and these folks were hired to gather them with a shovel and collect
them in a basket...'nuff said.

For your interest, this is how the MNW (Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1250
- 1550) defines a "snippe":

SNIPPE (sneppe), znw. vr. Mnd. ndd. snippe, sneppe; mhd. snepfe; ohd.
snepfo, m.; snepfa, vr.; eng. snipe; hd. schnepfe; ndl. snip, snep. Zie
verder de Wdbb. over den naam van dit dier, dat, evenals fra. bécasse,
genoemd is naar zijn spitsen snavel of naar het snappen of vangen van
insekten (Hadr. Jun. Nomencl. 45a op ficedula o. a. „al. schnapffel, a
captandis hiante ore culicibus"). Voc. Cop. een sneppe, ficedula (avis).
Teuth. eynreley vogel s. sneppe, ortigometra; snep, eyn vogel, coturnix.
Plant. sneppe oft snippe, une becasse ou perdix griesches, gallinago,
rusticola, astolopas vel ficedula. Kil.sneppe, ficedula et gallinago,
rusticula, scolopax, rustica perdix, vulgo sneppa; ook snephoen, ficedula,
gallinago (vgl. ald. sneppen j. snappen). Gemma 76r: een snippe, ficedula.
|| Hoenre, gansen, snippen, patrisen, Rein. II, 7197. IIII ganse ..., IIII
sneppen, Rek. Bissch. v. Utr. 435. Nepa dinct mi die snippe wesen, ...
tfleesch van der snippen es ghesont, want et verduwet in corter stont, Nat.
Bl. III, 2823 (var. sneppe). Pluvieren, snyppen, duven, R. v. Utr. 1, 202,
1. Al en etic suyppen (l. snyppen) noch plovier, Vrouw. e. M. VII, 213.

It's not online yet (but in future it will). For the time being, keep an eye
on http://wnt.inl.nl/ which already contains the "Woordenboek der
Nederlandsche Taal", a treasury of all words used between 1500 and 1976.
Moreover, when everything is ready, the site will also host the ONW (500 -
1200) and the VMNW (1200 - 1300).

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx
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