How to Spot the Dot
What language belongs to those accents?
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Stefan Israel
- Mar 5, 2021
- 4 min
When France Came to Germany
Beethoven and Goethe, the German Shakespeare, were glad to see liberator Napoleon come, and glad to see occupier Napoleon go. Napoleonic la
572 views1 comment
Stefan Israel
- Jan 28, 2021
- 4 min
Why Couldn’t My Ancestor Spell Their Name the Same?
You’re tracing your family back, and the spellings sometimes just go crazy.
543 views3 comments
Stefan Israel
- Jan 14, 2021
- 6 min
A Plea to Save Letters!
Save letters! I have a treasure trove of memories downstairs.
So began the email from my mother earlier this week.
79 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Oct 30, 2020
- 1 min
Our Dutch (Speaking) President Martin Van Buren
The first U.S. president born in the United States (so after the country’s founding) didn’t even speak English as his first language.
769 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Apr 13, 2020
- 3 min
DUTCH, not DEUTSCH: English, Dutch and German
English, Dutch and German are all related languages - the languages diverged - you can see it in how the same original words now differ.-
1,185 views0 comments
Pamela Israel
- Mar 30, 2020
- 2 min
ä ë ï ö ü - Umlaut on the Keyboard
I’m typing away and I’d like to add a letter with an umlaut (two dots sometimes above a vowel)….agh
120,175 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Mar 17, 2020
- 4 min
Celtic father-names: Donaldson, McDonald, O’Donnell
The main Celtic traditions for genealogy are the Irish, the Scottish and the Welsh. Complicating matters, Irish settlers brought Gaelic from
519 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Mar 2, 2020
- 4 min
Understanding -Sen and -Son in a Name: Johnson, Janson and Jansen
Why do some family names end in -son and some in -sen?
6,690 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Feb 10, 2020
- 2 min
Dutch and Deutsch: so similar, so dissimilar
We’d talked about how much the German dialects vary, looking at dialect forms of the Lord’s Prayer. Let’s compare High German and Dutch.
587 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Jan 29, 2020
- 2 min
AUGH! From German to English
AUGH! It’s not just a cry of distress, it’s an anglicization. Why do we see lots of names ending in -augh? Baugh, Grumbaugh, Brumbaugh?
538 views0 comments
Pamela Israel
- Dec 13, 2019
- 3 min
1960 Christmas Card Mystery
Why were there piles of Christmas cards from 1960 sent from around the world to a young girl in Virginia?
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Pamela Israel
- Sep 19, 2019
- 3 min
Washing & Sewing: A Diary & Tins
Sewing, in addition to laundry, used to be a responsibility that almost every woman had. And yet it can be tough to get insights into this p
70 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Aug 5, 2019
- 3 min
Dutchland? Germany?
The tribes that coalesced into Germans spoke 'the people’s/ popular language’ as opposed to Latin
4,844 views0 comments
Pamela Israel
- Jul 26, 2019
- 2 min
Why Do We Say Germany (& Not Deutschland)?
Not long ago, a friend asked me why we say Germany when the Germans use the word Deutschland. The words aren't even related! Good quest
3,696 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- Jun 5, 2019
- 4 min
The Mystery of the Old "S" Explained
What on earth is going on with those letters? The s looks like an f !It sure does. I hope you never need those last couple of sentences. Old
2,552 views0 comments
Pamela Israel
- May 22, 2019
- 3 min
Old German Writing Tips
Here are a couple tricks to help decipher old German handwriting, Kurrent or Suetterlin, especially important with old family letters.
1,562 views0 comments
Stefan Israel
- May 8, 2019
- 3 min
H- huh? Making Sense of German
German and English both mostly use h the same, as that puff of air at the start of a word:
hello/hallo, here/hier, horn
But what’s that h do
424 views0 comments
Pamela Israel
- May 1, 2019
- 2 min
Tips for Finding the Day of the Week
Just a head's up for those looking up dates further back (generally prior or 1752) or from some other countries cultures: People used di
125 views0 comments
Pamela Israel
- Mar 1, 2019
- 2 min
Postcard Pals - Old Swedish Cards in Translation
A series of correspondence to and from the same people opens up a whole new understanding about them. Old Swedish postcards from greater
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