SCHMAKEIT Genealogy / Familienforschung

Spellings for the same family

Previously the data were entered into the church books as they were heard by the pastor and understood. Even a vague notation in the Sütterlin script meant that there were several spellings for the same family. Even handwritten copies and official transfers can have this error.

• Smakeitis, Smakaitis, Smakait (Prussian original form, that is-ince "descendent of", the ending is-means a male person)
• Schmakaitis,Schmackaitis, Schmakaitis, Schmackaitis,
• Schmakat (dialect from the 17th century)
• Schmakeit, Schmackeit, Schmakat are the present-day forms.

An East Prussian family name

The meaning of the name has long been explored. Only when it became clear that this is not a German, Polish or Russian names was the name of secrecy be lifted with the help of Baltic linguists. Schmakeit is from the origin, a name, derived from the Old Prussian language. Old Prussian - or also known as Old Prussian - belongs to the Baltic language family in Europe. This language family has a strong affinity with the Indian Sanskrit and has nothing to do with the Indo-European (German) or Slavic (Polish, Russian) language family.

Surnames ending in-eit,-ait, or-at Historically be assigned to the former East Prussia. From forth the distribution, are in Prussia more "ince" to find the closer we get to the neighboring Lithuania, there are more people with suffix "at".

If the "-ince 's" are to families that originated among the ancient tribes have the Prussians. So do their Schmakeit's, whose origin lies in the north of East Prussia. More specifically, the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) and the "Curonian Spit". It can be found on current maps in the Russian part of the Baltic region in Europe, which draws up to Lithuania.

Many surnames evolved over the centuries, and reached only at the beginning of the 20th Century, the current spelling. Usual for the earlier generations who lived until about 1800, is the ending of the family name with the syllable-is on Schmakeitis. Until the mid-18th century appear on the forms and Schmakeitis. This Old Prussian nor the originating extension was in the 19 Century, placed in the context of the progressive Germanization of East Prussia, by most families. At the same time, many originally Lithuanian place names were slowly adapted to the German language.

The namesakes of our ancestors come from the former North-East Prussia.Even more ancestors have names that suggest that they lived before the German occupation by the Teutonic Order in the area and therefore the Baltic tribe of Prussians have heard.

Name in Old Prussian families

In the Old Prussian language is the suffix attached to the position in the household.

* Schmak - The proper name of the family
* Schmakeitis - the man
* Schmakeite - his wife
* Schmakeituks - the daughter
* Schmakeitruks - the son

The names on-eitis, aitis-or-atis its origin to the former use of this suffix due to the formation of patronymic (= the name of the father's family name derived). In the church records are mainly in the form schriftlitauischen aitis, but also in the vernacular monophtongisierten form to find atis. The slurring of the dialect aitis-to-atis, according Fenzlau (1936) found only from around 1700. In girls names corresponded to the Aite-aitis the suffix-or-ate.
The suffix-aitis later became a permanent part of the name forms: by 1850 it had lost its function in Mittellitauischen Patronymikabildung to a large extent. The patronymic was as ending-at in the name of the fathers to the fixed part of the name.

Other names by unclear entries

Whether birth or marriage, until shortly before the end of the 19th Century such events were held only in the church records. Only at the end of the 19th Century took over the Prussian state this task with the registry offices. When transfers from the parish register to the registry office, it could therefore lead to errors. Once officially registered, so all further entries of the family branch with "ck were made. Even when research in the church records often results in inconsistencies through a difficult legible handwriting or different spellings. Gave reasons for failure are many other spellings.The pastor could be hard of hearing, the reporter said, indistinct or himself could not read what was entered.

In the case of the family Schmakeit so in the 19th Century of the new branch Schmackeit emerged. The probable reason for this is found in the old German script, the so-called "Sütterlin. At slightly indistinct handwritten notation was quite a "ck be" read. Through this transmission errors are found, among other things also Schmakei, Schmakaeit. These spellings were corrected later, so that no new branches formed.