[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] name 'Luise'

[Spaghettitree at aol.com]

Linda - I believe those variant spellings are perhaps more by the whim and  
heritage and sophistication and education of the writers of their time, 
since  spellings were not given structure until late in the 19th century and 
early 20th  century - and many of those were ignored, by the clergy, by the 
educated, and  especially by the immigrants and those with whom they came in 
contact.   There are far more extensive etymologies for surnames (I have a 
bunch of those)  than for what we call given names, though some of those wound 
up as  surnames.   
 
You are correct about the 'e' at the end of a name being pronounced in  
Germanic names, but just barely, like Porsche, a small 'eh'.  Far less  
pronounced than the tin can I drive (Honda).   Easier than French,  though - lots 
and lots of that is silent, except when sung, then it is  articulated.   In 
addition, many, many, many Germanic church records  are in a combination of 
German, Latin and French - and all their  dialects.   
 
I appreciate the Wikipedia references, thank you kindly, but unless I can  
see some hard citations, (ingrained from too many years working in the law, 
I  s'pose) I consider that volunteer data.  That doesn't mean  it's at all 
incorrect, obviously, but there is no proof or reliable  source given for 99% 
of those I've ever seen, therefore I cannot bring  myself to justify 
Wikipedia as a source either.   I am so  old-fashioned I still look to books, the 
calibre of books, the credibility  of authors, and more than one book on a 
given subject, for substantive  answers.    Even the publishers of 
Encyclopaedia Britannica and  Webster's and the multitude of professorial histories 
make mistakes sometimes -  but I think they are more reliable, as is the 
O.E.D. and the other  worldwide publications, than anything on Wikipedia - at 
least so far, without  knowing where it came from or how it is quoted.   I read 
through  some of that Creative Commons gobbledegook; doesn't change my  
opinion.   That's just my personal view and doesn't make anyone  else's 
viewpoint incorrect whatsoever, only  individual.    .  
 
I just read recently in "Newsweek" that some woman had published a textbook 
 to be used for teaching in the schools (of Virginia, I think it was) which 
 stated that the blacks in the South fought for the Confederacy.  When 
asked  for her authority, she said "the Internet".      
 
Maureen (I'm from Missouri - Show Me!)  
 
 
 
In a message dated 11/13/2010 1:06:01 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
marmel at pctcnet.net writes:
 
I've  been extracting the 1700-1855 German church records of Blasheim,  
northwestern Germany, for 4 years now, and the name "Luise" is spelled  
that 
way up until the end of May 1853, when the church records start  recording 
it 
"Louise".  I believe "Luise" was likely pronounced  "Louisa".  And in those 
church books, the name Elizabeth is  consistantly spelled "Elisabeth" so 
far.

Linda in  Wisconsin

Blasheim: Windmoeller, Rowekamp, Kleinschmidt,  Voss
Provinz Posen: Hedtke, Neumann, Schulz; Steinbach,  Liebenau
Pommern: Hass, Voss
East Prussia: Gnoss
Volhynia: Steinbach,  Liebenau, Gnoss

> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:52:20  EST
> From: Spaghettitree at aol.com
> Subject: Re:  [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dabie Lutheran
> To: gary at warnerengineering.com,  michael.stockhausen.ff at web.de
> Cc:  ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
> Message-ID:  <aa885.32fc9a85.3a102a54 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Looking at one source, Names, Nicknames and  Misspelled Names by  Nancy
> Ellen Carlberg, which is more a  collection than an explanation, I had 
> thought
> you would be  most certainly correct, but not according to this  book. 
>  Luise
> says see Louise, Lucy and there are dozens of versions  of  those, but
> nothing close to Elizabeth, as would seem logical -   Liza/Louisa/Luise. 
> In
> another source, German Names - A  Practical  Guide by Kenneth L. Smith, a 
> very
> scholarly  approach, again, many versions  of Elizabeth, but beginning 
with 
>  Li
> rather than Lo or Lu.  Louise or  Luise isn't even  mentioned here.   So 
> this
> Luise appears to derive  from  Louise or Lucy rather than Elizabeth..
> According to The  Facts on File  Dictionary of First Names by Dunkling and
> Gosling,  again, lists of  alternates and nicknames for Elizabeth along 
>  with its
> historical origin but  none beginning with Lo or  Lu.  Louise is declared 
> as the
> French feminine   form of Louis. Lucy is stated to be the "normal English
> form of   Lucia".   Luise is not listed.
>
> If I locate anything  to the contrary, I'll let you know.
>
>  Maureen



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