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From: Brigitte Jahnke <>
Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Off Subject But Genealogy Related
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:42:46 +0200
References: <1348163971.659723.1319133497193.JavaMail.root@sz0103a.emeryville.ca.mail.comcast.net><FA228BE93E3C42D399DFE0BFF0AFC388@BobbiPC>
In-Reply-To: <FA228BE93E3C42D399DFE0BFF0AFC388@BobbiPC>


Hi Bobbi,

you are right, the "h" in Witthen is not pronounced, it is an old way of
spelling, today still in use in a word like "Thron" (throne), and in
many family names such as Theissing, Thiede, Theuerkauf, Bothe,
Nathmann, etc., or maybe in the name of the river Warthe. People bought
"Thee/Tee/tea" and "thun/tun/ to do" was written in a way that today is
rather strange to most Germans.
The "h" never was pronounced, it has been called the "begleitende h/
collateral h". Most of these collateral "h" have been dropped since a
reform of German Ortography in 1901.
After that reform some families changed the spelling of their names,
others didn't.

The unpronounced "h" in Christoffer or Christina is something different.

Brigitte


Am 20.10.2011 20:20, schrieb Bobbi:
> Hi Ursula,
>
> I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you. It is quite possible for names
> to have an "h" in it that is not pronounced.
>
> My grandmother's maiden name is Theussert. And that is the way it is
> written in the German records. Also think of the name Christof or
> Christian. They are also spelled with the letter "h".
>
> Bobbi
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ursula"
> To:<>
> Sent: 20 October, 2011 1:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Off Subject But Genealogy Related
>
>
>> Karl,
>>
>> unlike in the English language, in the German any words are pronounced the
>> way they are spelled, by that I mean to say that
>> the name "Whitten" would first of all not be spelled with an "h" and would
>> be pronounced to rhyme with "written", without the "r" of course.
>>
>> That said, if your ggrandma's maiden name was pronounced to rhyme with
>> "Whiting" then the German derivative could have been spelled as
>> "Weiting" [rymes with "writing"], or "Weiding" [rhymes with "siding"].
>>
>> Let's see what Vera can come up with.
>>
>> Ursula
>
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