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Of course I
couldn’t leave things alone. That’s when I found, as many of
you did, the hypothesis that our last name had the
ignominious original meaning of “stupid person,” or, as I
have also seen it, “idiot,” or “simpleton.” The scholar who
advanced this brief meaning will admit that he does “off the
rack” interpretations, And he added, in a personal
correspondence with me, that if I wanted more I would have
to do “tailor-made” research. Well, that’s why we’re here.
The scholar
I am alluding to has apparently advanced the “stupid
person” interpretation enough that it has worked itself into
the Dictionary of First Names, the reference source
that
Ancestry.com cites when they list the “stupid person”
interpretation on a Google search of Dubiel. Let’s examine
what’s going on here.
The
authority that many of the Polish genealogical scholars rely
upon is Kazimierz Rymut and his Nazwiska Polakow (The
Surnames of Poles.) Rymut and his followers defend
themselves by alluding to “onomastic principles.” This
refers to the techniques used in searching out the meanings
of proper names. “Onomastic science” is not a phrase that
should intimidate anyone. Searching for the meanings of
surnames in particular is at best imprecise. The point is
that the “onomastic sciences” advance a number of
hypotheses. Let the best one win. These hypotheses are
not---cannot be--- subject to anything akin to scientific
validity. It’s not the game we are playing, so to speak.
The
Rymut interpretations are based upon meanings that were
given to a name---- dubiel as a noun in this case.
Whether dubiel meant a simpleton ---or a carp
(fish)--- this was a meaning associated with the word at a
given period of history. It is an associated meaning
that existed long ago, appearing as early as 1424. It isn’t
the original meaning . Nor does this answer questions
regarding where the word came from.
Associated meanings of words are meanings that a word has
picked up through the course of history. Many words have
changed meaning dramatically. In Middle English (1100 to
about 1500) the word fret referred to the voracious
way that animals ate (as fressen in German still
does). The contemporary meaning “to worry” came about only
in time. A villain once meant a peasant who was
coarse, a brute. And in more recent times we have the word
gay.
Interestingly enough, Rymut himself offers a possible real
meaning for the name, stating that it likely came from the
German “Dubel” or “Dobel, with umlauts over the u and o,
respectively. This meaning was a “peg, plug, or dowel.” Back
to the world of woodworking. Why isn’t this offered as the
original meaning of Dubiel? Given the number of migrations
that occurred in the middle ages, and given the interaction
between the Germanic and Slavic people throughout history,
this hypothesis seems primary in the investigation of the
name.
I’ll cut
to the most significant item regarding these hypotheses. The
scholar with whom I had been corresponding (note that I am
not using his name) suggested that I write to Krakow and ask
the supreme experts there. (After all, he didn’t do
“tailor-made” research.) So I did make the inquiry.
I wrote
a letter to Prof. Aleksandra Cieslikova at the Instytut
Jezyka Polskiego Pracownia Antroponimiczna in Krakow. My
inquiry regarding the meaning of our name was answered in a
letter dated October 1, 2002. Prof. Cieslikowa and her two
associates confirmed the following: Dubiel is a very old
surname, recorded in 1424 and again in 1601. It came from an
old Polish nickname Dubiel which in turn came from
the common noun dubiel which meant “a species of
fish (a mix of carp and crucian carp).” In the 16th
century it also seemed to mean a “woodcutter, trunk, then
also simpleton, yokel.” The professor then adds that this
meaning was used in only some Polish dialects. It never
entered standard Polish. She then goes on at some length to
underscore that Dubiel became a hereditary name and lost all
its meanings. Professor Cieslikova also adds the following:
“The stem Dub- in Dubiel can also come from
some east Polish dialects, where it refers to the east
Slavic word dub “oak.” (My underline.)
Please
note: there is no mention of “stupid person” or “idiot.” The
first meaning she offered was that of a carp and then
woodcutter. Okay, it makes sense that some if not most
woodcutters were probably yokels in the 16th
century.
The
cavalier accounting of our name as we have seen here and
there is less than complete. The one sentence meaning
doesn’t tell the whole story, not even near it. Associated
meanings do not explain origins. For my money we have the
Russian/Ukrainian “dub”hypothesis, the one that Prof.
Cieslikowa has given a tentative nod to, and the competing
German “dubel-dobel” hypothesis.
PLACE
NAMES
We should
not overlook the toponymic possibilities. These refer to
actual places which might have been the source of the name,
though not necessarily. It might have been that people with
the name Dubiel simply settled there. There are two places
in Poland called Duble (both in the former Austrian
Galicia), and the village of Dublany in the extreme
northeastern Podlasie area. (Thanks to Robert Strybel, the "Pol-Am
Answerman.")
Add to
this the existence of a small town in the extreme
northwestern corner of Poland. Its name is, simply,
Dubiel. Check the link for details. The presence of the
town in this location adds credibility to the German origins
of the name hypothesis. But it is important to keep in mind
that our ancestors---whatever our name might be---often
migrated great distances. The existence of the name
Dubiel throughout Poland attests to this practice.
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/PL/30/Dubiel.html
So,
concerning the origin of the name, ladies and gentlemen,
place your bets.
As if
this isn’t enough, here’s another hypothesis to mull over…
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