This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: Austrian surnames: Jelem and Jelemensky
It seems to me Jelem is a gypsy word... google found a gypsy folk song Jelem Jelem. I have no idea what it means, though.
Plus I found this:
http://www.visomap.com/place-fr/Jelem/-2876592
- Ghana!Jelemensky seems to be a Slovak name, guessing from the google finds. No idea about its meaning, though, unless it was derived from that gypsy word...That place name in CR is actually just a street. I agree that it seems to be connected to jilm, but it can just as well be a Czech version of some unknown German word, that's a very common way of getting unintelligible words in Czech, especially when place names are concerned.
And jelem=jilm seems a bit too far stretched to me. Just as the jelen possibility. It isn't what our language usually works like, really not.
vote up1vote down

No replies