LL-L "Language politics" 2008.02.29 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 29 February 2008 - Volume 06
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From: Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.29 (04) [E]

Hi Mike, Re your request for info on origin of last names:

Bungenberg apparently is a Frisian name after the hillock on which the bells
were mounted that announced danger from a flood.

Note also that the word "berg" is highly exaggerated. The following anecdote
might explain this better:

My children and I were in the Netherlands to visit "Oma" who then lived in
Haaksbergen near Hengelo. The children had been promised an outing to a
famous pancake house and we were driving there. Alex was sitting on my
mothers lap. She pointed to a hill and said "Kijk Alex, daar is de
Tankenberg". Alex turned around and looked at her with those clear blue eyes
of a five year old junior scientist and said  "Oma, dat kan niet,
Hollandgaat niet naar boven, het gaat alleen maar naar beneden!" Aah
the truth!

Jacqueline
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From: Mike Morgan <mwmosaka at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.29 (04) [E]

Lost in Puerto Rico (aka Jorge) wrote:


>  Since High German is the only language I have ever studied formally, I
> always thought that your surname was "Rooster".
>

Many, many years ago when I was teaching Russian at Duke University, I sat
in on (audited) a Yiddish class (as an student of Russia and Eastern Europe,
I had long been interested in the language and culture, but had never had
the opportunity to study formally). The class was small: two of us .. not
counting the teacher, plus a woman from Israel (whose mother was a Yiddish
native speaker, but who herself spoke very little of the *Mame loshn*). Some
months into the class the subject came up, and she was surprised, having
assumed since my name was Morgan that I was ... Jewish? (I don't know how
common the common noun *morgn* "morning" is as a Jewish surname, but ... )

As for the query about what everyone on the List's name means, I can only
say that, although Morgan is the most common Welsh surname (Jones has the
honor of being the most common surname in Wales, but it is not Welsh so that
is a different matter!), there is still some debate. It has on occasion been
etymologized as something like "sea-born" (*mor* = sea and **gan* < *geni* =
to be born), hence my somewhat flowery Japanese (mis)translation. Almost
certainly, though, it does not (one would expect the initial *g* of the
second element of such a compound to mutate -- and in the case of an initial
*g*, disappear), and proposals that it possibly derives from Welsh
*mor*"sea" (< IE *mori) and
*cant* "circle" (modern Weslh "tire / tyre" < IE *kan-t(h)-o- "corner, a
bending") fit better with the morphophonology of the language. But I think
it is more likely from the adverbial *mor* "so" plus an adjectival root *
*cant* > Modern Welsh *cann* "bright" < IE **(s)kand-*, so I am "So bright!"
(alas, NOT in the sense of !so intelligent", but in the sense of "so white,
so shiny")

[My copy of *Geriadur y Prifysgol Cymru* (nor my copy of the *OED*!) did not
find its way into my luggage when I came to Bombay. Once I settle into the
cooler foothills of the Himalayas and build a big enough house perhaps ...
Anyway, fortunately and FYI, there is an online (albeit "concise" that is to
say, partial) version available at:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/geiriadur/gpc_pdfs.htm#DANGOSEIRIAU
And it is also downloadable. At downloaidng it as we speak, and, at my
current connection speed, I should have it all ... in about 2 months!]

As for Michael (a name which I use in my signature but which NO-one except
my mother calls me, and that ONLY when she is mad!), I WAS born the day
before the Feast of Saint Michael, but I think that is just a coincidence
(as neither parent is Catholic). My name WAS going to be David (Dafydd
Morgan would have been a VERY Welsh name indeed!), until an aunt stole it
and gave it to a cousin who was born 4 months prior to me. ... Oh well, I
have kind of gotten used to Mike, so I guess I will keep it!

Found in BombayMWM || マイク || Мика || माईक
- Hide quoted text -

================

Dr Michael W Morgan
Managing Director
Ishara Foundation
Mumbai (Bombay), India

++++++++++++++++

माईकल मोर्गन (पी.एच.डी.)
मेनेजिंग डॉयरेक्टर
ईशारा फॉउंडेशन (मुंबई )

++++++++++++++++

茂流岸マイク(言語学博士)
イシャラ基金の専務理事・事務局長
ムンバイ(ボンベイ)、インド

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.29 (04) [E]

> From: Jorge Potter <jorgepot at gmail.com>
> Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.22 (04) [E]
>
> Basil Cottle traces Potter to Old English and considers it an
> occupational name, though it's well known that many Smiths, Potters,
> etc., merely lived near a pottery or smithy, rather than working at it
> themselves. OED traces the first use of the word potter to 1100.
> Interestingly, Le Petit Robert traces the first use of potier to 1120,
> and our family always said we went back to the Normans for no reason
> known to me.

One thing that might be news to you is that the name Potter is
well-known in the Deaf community in England, particularly in the London
area. In fact I know one Potter family here in Somerset and the mother,
father and all three children are deaf.

> 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?

I suppose 'Fleming' is a bit too obvious to need explanation on this
list!

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/
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