Phonetic approximation
Hi everyone.
I’ve asked recently about relatives who married In Kosice, Kosice, Slovakia in the mid 1800’s. Their place of origin says Bielitz and Biala.
Their names in the records of Kosice are spelled Baszgoldrich or Baszgolderich or variations.
I’ve been told that these spellings may be Hungarian or Slovakian phonetic interpretations of an original German name.
Can any of you take an educated guess as to an original German spelling?
Carol Pestone
Best Answer
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The 'sz' is Hungarian; it means /s/ as in "Sam". ('S' by itself means /sh/ as in "sham".)
The 'ch' at the end is not standard (modern) Hungarian. In the centuries prior to spelling rules (published in 1832), it was used for either /ch/ as in "church" or /ts/ as in "cats", depending on the style of spelling being used. It also occurs frequently in Hungary in German-derived names, where it can indicate the vaguely-sh-like sound in ich, the hard-h sound in bach, or either of the Hungarian sounds. Of these, the /ts/ sound is the least likely possibility in the mid-1800s, but nothing can be absolutely ruled out.
The rest of the letters of the name are used the same way in German and Hungarian (and Latin).
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