[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dreger; Spelling and Phonetics

[AlbertMuth at aol.com]

Dreger/Draeger interchange a lot in the Polish records. This is 
uncontroversial
since it happens in German also.

Kre~cik is the Polish equivalent of the German surname. Remember, even
surnames have meanings; in this case, both are based on a word meaning 'to
turn, spin'.

Traeger vs. Dreger/Draeger  is an alternation that occurs in the Polish 
records,
but on a low level of frequency.  In phonetic description, T- and D- differ 
only
in voicing (voiceless versus voiced), but it is possible in a bilingual 
situation,
that aspiration may be confused with voicing.  This certainly happens in
Spanish perceptions of English speakers (I teach Spanish at the college
level).

Paul is right to mention the Dreger/Dreher alternation, but this is only at 
the Russian level.  The Dreher family appears to be only in the Wyszogrod 
area; I have not seen it elsewhere

Polish, particularly in the earliest 19th century records, does not 
always know what to do with German aspirated H-.  I do not think that 
the -H- in Dreher is particularly aspirated (if at all); I haven't seen the 
earliest 19th c. records on the surname.  But the aspirated H- is often 
spelled as CH (which is the normal spelling of said sound in Polish). 
So we have Wilchelm, Chermann, and so on.  It doesn't happen all the 
time, in all places. Just sporadically.  In records written in Polish.

Once you get to the Russian stage (after 1868), you need to know 
that Russian does not have a letter H.  The German name Helene can 
occur as Elena or Gelena (transliterated).  

Surnames are harder.  In the SGGEE database, there are both 
Hartmann (in the parishes of Sobieseki, Wladyslawow, Gostynin) and 
Gartmann (Gostynin and Gabin), Hermann and Germann (Konin area)
(Jermann too, but this is a German dialect variation that we see in 
Gesse/Jesse, Geske/Jeske).  And, of course, Dreher becomes Dreger.

Al Muth