Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!news.tc.cornell.edu!news3.cac.psu.edu!howland.erols.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-pull.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-pen-15.sprintlink.net!interpath!news.interpath.net!news.interpath.net!sas!newshost.unx.sas.com!sdcmvs.mvs.sas.com!EURMXK
From: EURMXK@sdcmvs.mvs.sas.com
Subject: Re: waldorf astoria
Sender: MVS NNTP News Reader <NNMVS@sdcmvs.mvs.sas.com>
Message-ID: <19970110095229EURMXK@sdcmvs.mvs.sas.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:52:00 GMT
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: sdcmvs.mvs.sas.com
References: <E31z6y.Eu6@midway.uchicago.edu>
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Lines: 32

In article <E31z6y.Eu6@midway.uchicago.edu>,
deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) writes:
 
>In article <1996Dec23.124334@visi6>, Richard Mathar <mathar@qtp.ufl.edu> wrote:
>>
>>EURMXK@sdcmvs.mvs.sas.com writes:
>>|> >John Davies <john@redwoods.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>|> >
>>|> >>In article <850594415.24519@dejanews.com>, zvib@netvision.net.il writes
>>|> >>> what is the meaning of the world Waldorf,and what is it's
>>|> >>>   etymology?
>>|>
>>|> Well, perhaps you couldn't find it because of its "Americanized" (?)
>>|> spelling.  Actually it is Walldorf near Heidelberg, a rather small
>>|> town but somewhat famous for a big software company that has its
>>|> Corporate Headquarters there.
>>|>
>>
>>My trivial guess is that the origin (original meaning) of this name is
>>a melting of the words "Wald" (forest) or "Wall" (dike) with "Dorf" (village)
>>with removal of one of the d's or one of the l's. This might lead to
>>some hundered villages and towns with similar names in Germany.
>
>        As I posted before (to no effect, it seems), the _Cambridge
>Dictionary of Surnames_, a quite reliable general reference source in such
>matters, derives all German towns of this name (they mention only three)
>from "wald" + "dorf".
The Astors actually came from the one near Heidelberg, another one is
near Frankfurt, I haven't checked about any others.
 
Regards, 
Manfred Kiefer
