[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] NELL-Schemionken, Nicol-as

[Otto]

Evening or morning on your end Nell,

I always have a bit of difficulty using Germanic or Slavic  
distinctions when it comes to language parts. Language is ancient, we  
are the remnants of a genetic dust-storm, linguists within the last  
500 years or so classified words, naming those groups. . . A question  
that always runs through my mind is "Does the horse know it is a horse?"

You now mention East Prussia/Ost Preussen. . .
That could change the meaning of the suffix. If the village name was  
"Schemion-ken", the surname spelled 'Schemion-eck'. with the suffix  
'eck' could well be East Prussian dialect.  'Ecke' is High German for  
corner, 'eck' could well be a low-German form of ecke.

Individuals on this ListServ that hail from East Prussia may be able  
to verify this. Let's wait and see. Their input will be appreciated.
Further comment on both "Schemion" and "eck" will be appreciated.

nell stated>  "I have been told previously that the name is Slavic,  
probably Masurian and certainly means little or son of Simeon.  Until  
I started this research I had never heard of Masuria but it does  
appear that a lot of the Schemioneck families have lived in this area  
(previously in East Prussia, now Poland). Although I haven't been  
able to confirm it, I think our ancestor came from Summowen, East  
Prussia (now Summowo, Poland).  I have even found mention of a  
village of Schemionken in the area."<
=======================
My maternal great grandfather's surname is "Langas" The 'as' suffix  
is Lithuanian (Lithuania ruled a large area of Poland at one time) It  
indicates 'from the family of Lang'. I also have a "Louisa" in the  
family.  My paternal grandmother is Louisa Blank.

Your Nicolas, Nicolis is the Lithuanian way of writing the German  
surname "Nickel'.

-Online translation applications work with a limited number of  
present day language terms and leave things to be desired.

nell stated>  "I have a similar mystery with the other side of the  
family with the name of Nicklass.  Another name originally from the  
Greeks,then given to a saint, it seems to have so many variations -  
Nickels, Nicles, Nicolas, Nicolaus, Niclas, Nicholls...  There seem  
to be very few Nicklass families around now.  I know the vagaries of  
automatic page translations on the web but does anyone have any idea  
why Haus Nicklass (a hotel/restaurant mear Nurnberg) would translate  
as Hotel Pitchlet?"<
"

. . .  Otto

                      " The Zen moment..." wk. of March 5, 2006
                      ________________________________
                         "Remove what isn't... What is remains."