 The Meaning of Haslacker |
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| tucker |
| Posted: August 04 2005 at 11:00am | IP Logged
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I posted part of this in my Who Are You intro but I thought not everyone would see that so I'm reposting the first bit here with additional analyses.
My primary interest with this site is in tracing the name Haslacker. As they came from Hesse-Dramstadt, my hunch is that the 'has' part is a place name. I'm still working on the 'lacker' bit but my research has shown me thus far that it may be a job descriptor.
I've also heard that Haslacker means 'hunter of rabbits'.
This was according to a nun down South from Germany who told a cousin that we'd been spelling it wrong for years and that the proper spelling was hasslacker with the 'hass' part has to do with rabbits and the 'lacker' means hunter. So it may be that we're rabbit hunters.
However, this is not supported by the German-English dictionaries to which I have access. I realize that flaw of this is that modern definitions hunter in all likelihood vary widely with the German in Hesse-Dramstadt which has been the focus of my inquiries.
There is an interesting tidbit I've run across, though. I found that the -lacker part might come from Dutch, not German. It might be a German version of the Dutch 'lekker' meaning 'nice, shiny, luminous.' Given the immigration practice of changing your name upon moving to the new country...Zachariah might've changed his name incorporating this variation which would be defined as 'nice people from hesse' (has[from hesse]+lacker[nice]=haslacker[nice+from hesse]).
Given my limited knowledge of early 19th century german, i'm totally willing to be disproven but as far as i can see, the two leading theories are as follows...
1. Hasslacker= hass(rabbit) + lacker(hunter) Strength of approach...actual german person said it. Weaknesses...The -lacker part isn't supported by any known German text, has been disputed by a professor who teaches german(Dr. Ritterbusch of Shepherd University).
2. Haslacker= has(from hesse) + lacker(german version of dutch 'lekker' meaning 'nice') Strength...text support from modern german/dutch dictionaries. Weaknesses...relies on theory that Zach changed his name upon immigration and that 'lacker' was in use in Hesse-Darmstadt around the date in question.
Feel free to dispute and disprove! The stronger your evidence, the stronger your argument...
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| tucker |
| Posted: August 04 2005 at 11:12am | IP Logged
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more on the same theme....
Has meanings
1. From Hesse
2. Rabbit (hasse variation)
3. Other...it could mean something completely different of which we are unaware.
Lacker meanings
1. Hunter...according to the German nun
2. Nice/Shining...from the Dutch lekker
3. Waxy/shining...from the Obsolete French lacre
4. Other...something completely different of which we are unaware.
Interesting tidbit....
Both the Dutch and French meanings have the same root, the Old French 'lacce' which comes from Medieval Latin 'lacca' which comes from Arabic 'lakk' which comes from Prakrit 'lakkha' which comes from Sanskrit 'laksa' which means resin.
Personally, I'd like to pick and choose from the current meaning and conclude that the name means Shiny Rabbit!
As I said before, feel free to dispute and disprove, just have strong info with which to do so. What have y'all heard about the origin of the name?
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| tucker |
| Posted: December 29 2005 at 7:12pm | IP Logged
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focus in the past few months has been on 'lacker'.
found a few things of interest.
1. If our 'lacker' is derived from the german 'lacher', it could mean 'one who laughs' so haslacker might mean 'nice person from hesse' or 'laughing bunny' or 'laughing person from hesse' (which reminds me of the video Cathy and Mom and Donald singing) if you follow this interpretation.
2. If our 'lacker' is derived from the german 'lecher' its definition is similar to our 'tasty' or 'yummy'. So we could interpret it to mean 'tasty person from hesse' (cannibalism or self-promotion?) or 'yummy rabbit'. This would go along with the aforementioned german nun's theory that we're rabbit hunters.
3. Until the early 1800s German was standard in its written form ONLY. So regionalism, especially given that Hesse is on a linguistic border between not two but THREE major variations in pronuciation and vocabulary, makes the search for the 'true' meaning of haslacker a gargantuan intellectual feat...especially if you don't speak german in the first place!
4. For the time being I've dropped the hunter part of 'lacker' as I can find no text support of it(german for hunter tends to be a variety of 'jager'). This doesn't mean it's not right. Just that I personally am concentrating my focus elsewhere. If anyone can find a text saying that 'lacker' is linked to hunter, feel free to post it!
5. So the leading three theories, as I understand them, for the meaning of haslacker are as follows....
A: Yummy Rabbit. (hasse[rabbit] + lecher[yummy]) Supported by the German nun saying we were rabbit hunters and german slang for yummy.
B: Nice (or happy or laughing) People from Hesse. (has[from hesse] + lacce[nice]) Supported by dictionaries given the amount of interplay between Dutch and Middle High German languages as well as Haslackers in good moods in groups.
C: Something Completely Different. I have never claimed to be the knowall endall authority on the development of the languages of Deutchland. There's a lot I don't know about the languages and I invite everyone to contribute to this investigation into our shared roots.
Option A is more suited to my wacky sense of humor for a family name but I can understand how option B is a better PR move not only for Zachariah 200 years ago but also for the prestige of Haslackers today. As for option C I shall continue to post my findings and encourage anyone doing concurrent research to do likewise.
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| tucker |
| Posted: December 29 2005 at 7:27pm | IP Logged
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I think I found it.
The whole premise of my search was that has and lacker were the bases for the name.
This was putting the split in the wrong place.
Haslacker is a variation of haselacker, a compound word which means 'acre of hazel trees'. It comes from combining hasel (hazel) with acker (acre).
Given Occam's Razor (the simplest explanation is preferred) I'm going with the hypothesis that our name Haslacker comes from the german word for acre of hazel trees. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise but I consider the problem solved and question answered.
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Haslacker : General Discussion
Topic: The Meaning of Haslacker
