3 ms·
That’s interesting, but since the Habsburg is an actual castle (burg) here in German speaking Switzerland, there is only one right way of spelling it.
by steve1977 11mo ago
That’s interesting, but since the Habsburg is an actual castle (burg) here in German speaking Switzerland, there is only one right way of spelling it.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- gsf_emergency_6 11mo agoAh right, here's the Schloss Habsburg page for those interested https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/habsburg-castle https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/habsburg-castle (Winter hours apply?) There's a middle German word hap (ford) which could make the NYT correct in 1100 :) It's on par with spelling Koeln Cologne imho pity those guys
- steve1977 11mo agoHap seems to be an old word for Hafen (i.e. port). Now the Habsburg is on a mountain and no ports in sight ;) Also, according to historians, the name probably stems from "Habesburg" (haben = have in English). There's also a myth that it stems from Habicht (Eurasian goshawk), but that is likely just that, a myth. In either case, the castle was never spelled with a p, even in the middle ages. So there's no way to spin this spelling into something that makes sense. It's just wrong. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_(Burg)#Geschichte https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_(Burg)#Geschichte
- gsf_emergency_6 11mo agoNah I just took en.wiki's word for it which is always dangerous ); If I really have to push the theory, it would be an old high German form of Haupt (referring to an cowshead), since a hill can be head-shaped :) Otoh I would not go against the word of someone who has probably seen the medieval docs Edit: de.wiki link you gave mentions the ford Wahrscheinlich ist der Name der Burg vom althochdeutschen Wort hab oder haw abgeleitet, das «Flussübergang» bedeutet. Damit ist eine Furt bei Altenburg gemeint
- steve1977 11mo ago> Edit: de.wiki link you gave mentions the ford Oh you’re right. But that's spelled "hab" as well, still no p in sight ;)
- gsf_emergency_6 11mo agoYeah, the en.wiki guy was probably just trying to capture the pronunciation (devoicing) in his dialect
- monerozcash 11mo agoEnglish is pronounced differently than German, so there isn't "only one right way of spelling it".
- steve1977 11mo agoIf you pronounce Hapsburg in English, it also sounds wrong.
- monerozcash 11mo agoIt sounds much less wrong than if you were to pronounce the p as a b instead.