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Re: Surname SPIELDENNER (German?)
It sounds alot like German, but remember; the German language adapts and or borrows alot of the French words. I tried looking it up, but all I found was Spielmeyer-Vogt, which is definitely German.
So Spieldenner might be French :)
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But what does SPIELDENNER mean?
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Some outlandish thoughts on Spieldenner.
An old German dictionary of mine has the word DENER, which it explains as "denarius". Now I don't think the Germans ever had a coin called a denarius, but I'm open to correction.
However, this word, in various forms, seems to have kicked around Europe and been used to signify money, or sometimes a coin of a certain value. Examples - dinero, Spanish for "money"; denaro, something simlar in Italian; dinar, the currency of the dimembered Yugoslav Republic; deaner, English slang for a shilling.
Could dener have been used in Germany, or parts of Germany, as an everyday word for money, or a particular sum of money? If so Spiel-Dener might be a nickname for a gambler. I'm thinking for comparison of an English surname, Wimpenny, which means "win penny".
Incidentally I've checked for the spelling Spieldener on the web, with positive results.
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You are right: "dener" or "denner" is not important, I guess. Now your theory sounds very interesting. But I can't find anything like "dener" or "denner", not even in Grimm's 33 volume Wörterbuch, and they should really have it. All I could find was Old High German (time of Charles the Great) "dennen", which corresponds with the modern word "dehnen" (stretch, spread). Any ideas with that?
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I think we must accept Herr Grimm's monumental work as the last word. On dennen/dehnen I've no idea. I have found another spelling of the name, Spieldiener. Could this have something to do with Dienen, alluding to service of some sort?
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SPIELDIENER is a good one! Grimm has: "die knaben wurden sogleich ergriffen, von ihren spieldienern und erziehern abgesondert." Sagen 431"The boys were seized at once and separated by their spieldieners and educators (or: teachers)." So a spieldiener would have been something like a private playing tutor?
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What about "games master"?
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Something like that.
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This surname exists in Northern France!
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It's got to be German, but the people of Alsace are French, yet they often have German surnames and speak a German dialect unofficially.
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