26
votes
Accepted
Ist es unhöflich, Vornamen mit Artikel zu erwähnen?
Since the link was broken, the new link to the results of the Atlas zur Deutschen Alltäglichen Sprache, respective 9th round is:
- 30.5k
25
votes
Accepted
How to pronounce "Gröbner"?
The letters "ö" and "o" represent two different vowels, so "o" as in soft or ocean is not correct (both would be "o" in German, too), and the short "oo&...
- 25k
24
votes
Trying to decipher a German name
This is Sütterlin script (i.e., a later version of the Kurrent). Apart from that, I agree with @HalvarF that the text reads:
Erinnerung an Neapel
which translates to:
Memory of Naples.
Details
It ...
- 7,723
21
votes
Accepted
What is the proper translation/name of Jesus Christ in German?
Since the cases in German closely correspond to the cases in Latin, and since the Latin language is such a significant cultural possession of the Roman Catholic church, the name "Jesus Christus" is ...
- 396
19
votes
Accepted
How should I read "Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind" in German?
This name is pronounced [ˈdeːdəˌkɪnt].
His whole name is "Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind", but he became known as "Richard Dedekind" which is pronounced [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈdeːdəˌkɪnt]
...
- 120k
18
votes
Use of ss or ß in a surname
No, personal names are always spelled as they are officially registered on birth. They do not fall under the changes of rules of New German Orthography.(1)
If an ß is not available (on your keyboard),...
- 10.2k
18
votes
Accepted
What is the 'mit A-Y' in 'ist dort die Firma Mayer mit A-Y'?
In ancient times, a Meier was a land agent (the administrator of an estate). The estate that he administrated was called Meierei.
Today many people have the name of this old profession as their ...
- 120k
17
votes
Is 'Th.' in a name the short form of Theodor?
Th as an abbreviation name can stand for many first names and is not explicitly intended for ONE first name. It can be for "Theodor", but it can also be "Thomas", "Thaddäus&...
- 2,210
16
votes
Accepted
Gödel but Noether?
What you learnt is correct. You always write the umlaut unless you don’t have it on your keyboard. However especially in names the rules are somewhat flexible. So you might see people using the e ...
- 442
16
votes
How to pronounce "Gröbner"?
HalvarF already said it in his answer: Letters with umlauts (ä, ö, ü) are distinct letters in German language. Historically they derived from the letters without dots, and there are still connections (...
- 120k
14
votes
Pronunciation of “Leonhard Euler”
The article in the English Wikipedia gives two similar pronunciations /ˈɔɪlər/ (Swiss) and /ˈɔʏlɐ/ (German). I agree with them. The article even has a footnote that explains with references that ...
- 9,111
14
votes
Accepted
Pronunciation of the surname Ruhle
If the original form of the name was Ruhle without an umlaut, its German pronunciation would be very similar to the word ruler in non-rhotic accents of English (which include Australian English), i.e. ...
- 19.6k
14
votes
Gödel but Noether?
Proper nouns are not covered by orthographic rules, full stop. That is the essence when asking for why a given person or a given place is spelt the way they are.
Excursion on the use of umlauts
For ...
- 38.4k
13
votes
Use of ss or ß in a surname
No, they cannot be used interchangeably nowadays. However, spelling used to be less strict, so in older documents you may find several spellings for the same person. Consequently, surnames today often ...
- 20.3k
13
votes
Accepted
Wie spricht man den Namen Pahl aus?
The h after the a is a length marker. The h itself is silent. It marks only, that the vowel before it is a long vowel. So, you pronounce "Pahl" exactly the same way as "Paal": [...
- 120k
13
votes
Accepted
Is the name Alfred derived from Abraham?
That does not seem to be the usual derivation, but rather a compound of two old German words, 'alb' and 'rad' (according to Wikipedia or Wiktionary):
From Old English Ælfrǣd, from ælf (“elf”) and rǣd ...
- 9,224
11
votes
How to pronounce Zoe(y), Lucy, Amy and Stella as German names?
The appropriate thing to do would be to ask them. People with "foreign" names often want their name pronounced differently than German-speakers might otherwise pronounce them.
- 4,428
11
votes
Is 'Th.' in a name the short form of Theodor?
In your example it's indeed short for Theodor Gabler.
Doctor theologiae is in short Dr. theol..
As @guidot pointed out in a comment: Any specification following Dr. is lower-case, as
rer. nat.
h.c....
- 7,608
11
votes
Was bedeutet „Feuchtwangen“ auf Englisch?
The problem with names is that long age often obscures their origin: The original meaning is lost or reinterpreted; changes in pronunciation and spelling occur.
The German Wikipedia entry for ...
- 24.9k
11
votes
Is the name Alfred derived from Abraham?
A lot of Jewish folks have a Hebrew name used in synagogue; often there is an English (or German, or French, etc.) name too. Sometimes it's a straight cognate -- "Joseph" for "Yosef&...
- 211
11
votes
Why is a definite article required here?
As soon as you're adding adjective attributes to a name, you need an article.
Frau Calvin hat mir das gesagt.
Die alte Frau Calvin hat mir das gesagt.
Die heute besonders auffallend frisierte Frau ...
- 25k
10
votes
Ist es unhöflich, Vornamen mit Artikel zu erwähnen?
Lange Antwort
Ich bin erstaunt über die Behauptung "der Didi" klinge distanzierter als "Didi". Ich kenne zwei sprachliche Paradigmen, von denen keines diese Deutung nahelegt!
Ich ...
- 6,702
10
votes
How do you pronounce 'René', a German male given name, in German?
My first name is René. I call myself [ʁe:ˈne:] and most people default to this pronunciation even when they never spoke to me. Using the French pronunciation makes you sound smug. It's not commonly ...
- 227
10
votes
What is the 'mit A-Y' in 'ist dort die Firma Mayer mit A-Y'?
It's simply spelling out a and y for clarification.
That's done often with last names like Mayer, because there are many other common spellings of that name like e.g. Meier or Maier.
- 8,512
10
votes
Is 'Th.' in a name the short form of Theodor?
In Germany, the degree Doctor theologiae is abbreviated as Dr. theol. Here, Th. abbreviates the given name of Dr. Gabler, which could be, for example
Theodor
Theodora
Thomas
Theolen
Theobald
Thaddeus ...
- 22.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Warum gibt es keine traditionell deutschen* Vornamen, die mit "Sch" beginnen?
Namen verhalten sich grundsätzlich wie alle anderen Wörter, was die Etymologie betrifft. »Traditionell deutsche Vornamen« lassen sich einteilen in:
von Germanischen Vorläufern abgeleitete Namen
aus ...
- 38.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Gottemeitschi is from which German language?
I speak the language, Gottemeitschi means goddaughter. Meitschi is a Term for Mädchen (Girl) commonly and specifically used around Bern. Most Swiss German speakers in northeastern Switzerland would ...
- 116
9
votes
Origin of the surname Bargfleth
This is one of the instances where English and northern German languages show their relation:
A fleet is a saline waterway, channel or inlet, literally meaning "something that flows" - the spelling ...
- 24k
9
votes
Accepted
How to pronounce Zoe(y), Lucy, Amy and Stella as German names?
English names are pronounced the English way, just as you described. (Another example is Justin)
This is also true for most names from other languages. Just when such names contain consonants or ...
- 120k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible