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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Scandanavian surnames [was: Re: And...other last-name elements 
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References: <5cd6m0$gql@tukki.cc.jyu.fi> <5cerac$j13@panix2.panix.com> <5clb7s$jl0@news.axess.com> <32F27E81.55C9@openmail.ueds5751.sukeplow.simis.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 19:03:25 GMT
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In article <32F27E81.55C9@openmail.ueds5751.sukeplow.simis.com>,
Jostein Kvale  <j.kvale@openmail.ueds5751.sukeplow.simis.com> wrote:
>
>> In article <5cerac$j13@panix2.panix.com>, rcpj@panix.com says...
>> >
>> >Loren Petrich <petrich@netcom.com> writes:
>> > >
>> > > Continental Scandinavian last names include elements like lund/lind,
>> > > dal/dahl, strup, quist, gren, etc. Are those words or parts of words?=
> I
>> > > know that son/sen, which often appears, means "son".
>
>"Continental Scandinavian" ?  Sorry, not being facetious (or at least =
>not intending to), but who are you referring to ?

I would assume "Nordic, except Icelandic and Faroese".

>Anyway: A large number of Scandinavian surnames do as you say contain =
>these words and others, which are indeed real words.  Most are easily =
>identified by a modern Norwegian/Danish/Swedish speaker, but some =
>require knowledge of Old Norse or the national variants that replaced =
>it (and here I'm afraid I'm quite useless).

>As in modern Icelandic, all Scandinavian second names were patronymic =
>in the Middle Ages (any of the Norse Sagas will illustrate well).  =
>Occasionally someone would also be given a second "surname", perhaps =
>referring to some particular personal trait, or more often a reference =
>to the home of the person or his/her kin (not unlike the common German =
>"von" Someplace - or Dutch or French or Spanish etc. equivalents).  =

Actually, by modern times, German "von" became almost solely an honorific,
with no geographical reference implied (except in certain Restgebiete like
Switzerland).  "zu" was more literal, but restricted to names of nobility.
Most German geographical surnames consist of the toponymn itself (though
city names with -er are common, particularly among Jews).

>All the words you quote probably have such origins: lund/lind meaning =
>grove, dal/dahl valley, strup - sorry (though I see which names you =
>mean), quist(s)/gren(n/dk) meaning branch or twig.  At some point in time
>(when? can somebody can help out here?) these rather poetic (I think)
>family names became the proper surnames and the patronymics became
>(optional) middle names.  Or the patronymics simply transmogrified into
>family names, creating the many -son -sen modern Scandinavian surnames.
[...]

Very few modern Scandanavian names derive from topnymns.  Most of the ones
with the elements mentioned above are so-called "ornamental" names,
combinations of poetic elements, often with little regard for sense.  The
are most common among German Jews, who--along with the Scandanavians--were
among the last Europeans to adopt heriditary surnames.  In fact, both
groups had to be forced to adopt surnames by the government and previously
had used only patronymics.  For Jews, the process began in about the 16th
century, but it didn't affect Scandanavians until the early 19th.  Most
simply froze their patronymics, causing the governments to pass further
laws meant to enlarge the pool of surnames.  As an Scandanavian telephone
book attests, these attempts were not exactly crowned with success.

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
