1780s spelling for German "Schmidt"?
@Ulrich Neitzel ... Here's one for you. I am currently researching Schmidt ancestors. I've gotten into a Taufen registry for Vandsburg from 1770-1790 where I think I'm finding some strange spellings of names.
Attached is a snippet of a page which seems to show a spelling of Schmidt = "Szmÿt" in the 2nd entry for 1781.... Peter Schmidt and son Daniel
Based on other "Sch" names on these pages e.g., Schilke, Schauer, Scherbart, it seems that what appears to be "Sz" is actually "Sch".
Similarly, the "ÿ" seems to be a variation of "i", e.g., "Schliep" reads "Szlÿp".
What is your opinion?
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The letter "y" (often written ÿ in records so as to distinguish it from p) is interchangeable with "i."
The letters "t," "tt," "dt," and "th" are all interchangeable with each other.
Since Vandsburg is in modern-day Poland, it makes sense that the common German "sch" combination is exchanged for the common Polish "sz" combination. At https://forebears.io/surnames/szmyt you can see that Szmyt is a very Polish spelling of the surname.
Since scribes went by how names sounded (and then spelled them phonetically to their ears), spelling variations of given names, surnames, place names, and words are commonly seen throughout records. In border locations, names are also sometimes translated (for example, a German named Wilhelm living in Alsace-Lorraine may show up in some records with the French translation, Guillaume, and a surname with a meaning behind it may also be translated, like Schmidt turning into Smith in the United States).
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Thank you very much for that insight @Charlotte Noelle Champenois !!
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