Re: request to Celtic specialists

Boy! That is certainly food for thought. Thank you very much, George. From humble "dumpling" to aristocratic scion or at least "toughie". I'll try not to let it go to my head (:=))

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "t0lgsoo1" <guestuser.0x9357@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> >Thanks a lot guys! You're gonna laugh at what prompted my query. I
> >was attempting to trace the origin of my surname (:=)) and among
> >various possibilities (in Vasmer and elsewhere) found that mention
> >of "kinesh" by Dobrev, allegedly in some Eastern Iranian tongue 
> >(in the sense of "seed', "sowing", "growth", with an alleged Celtic
> >cognate (but with no references).
>
> Your name might be a derivation of... knyaz. This according to
> Hans Bahlow, Deutsches Namenlexikon, 2nd ed., 1976, (Suhrkamp
> paperback #65).
>
> German-Slavic onomastic derivations highly frequent in Germany
> and Austria are: _Kniesche, Knieschke, Niese, Knesch, Knesche,
> Kneschke, Knösche_.
>
> The onomastic dictionary says: "ostdeutsch-slawisch 'Fürst, Herr',
> (from) _knesik_ 'Junker'; vergleiche (compare) knesepole
> 'Fürstenfeld'" Example for attestations given: "Ein Slawe _Dubbermer
> Kneseke_ (in) 1301 (in) Stralsund" // _Kneese_: place name in
> Mecklenburg.
>
> ***
>
> But if your name might be a Slavic adaption of a German name,
> this one might have been the South-German (esp. Bavarian/Austrian)
> _Kneissl_ - from _Kneissel, Kneussel, Knäussle_ < _Knaus_ < _knu:s_
> "knotty; gnarly, gnarled; snaggy; knobbed", fig. "raw; rude; tough";
> esp. Suebian _Knaus_ (_Knäusle_ and _Knüsslin_ are diminutives
> thereof) and Swiss Alemannian _knûs_ /knu:s/. Attested in South
> Germany since the 14th century.
>
> (In North Germany, esp. Hamburg, there are _Gnaß, Gnoß, Gnasa_,
> _Gnosa_: the dictionary says "ostdeutsch-slawisch", yet without
> explanations. Idem of _Gniesmer_ "ostdeutsch-slawisch".)
>
> George
>