Talk:Assmann

Wow.--Planetary 22:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Cleanup

I removed the following redlinked people because they didn't have further information and I doubt that they are notable. If they are, someone will include them anyway, hopefully with more information.

• Claus Assmann
• Emmanuelle Assmann
• Hugo Assmann - Possibly notable to Liberation theology. (pt) (de)
• Ini Assmann
• Rainer Assmann
• Marco Assmann (b. 1973), German magician, musician and comedian, see see de:Marco Assmann -- German article doesn't exist, rather nonnotable person in Germany
• Heinz Assmann (1931-1981), German politician, see de:Heinz Assmann (SPD) -- even the German article is really short

– sgeureka ^t•c 12:28, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation?

It'd be really nice to have the IPA transcription of this surname. I mean, it would save both people saying the name and people named Assman all sorts of embarrassment. Mendaliv 07:12, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Rhymes with "us none". No connection to the English curseword whatsoever. Pretty common German surname . – sgeureka ^t•c 22:09, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Eroneous information

It is, of course, tempting to believe that the name Assmann has something to do with the village of Assmannshausen on the Rhine. However, this is not the case.

In fact, the village was originally called ‘Hasemannshusen’ (also spelled ‘Hasemanneshusen’). This name appears in numerous documents from as early as 1108 and is a compound of the words ‘Hasemann’, meaning someone who keeps hares, and ‘husen’, meaning a small village.

‘Hasemannshusen’ was evidently a small settlement inhabited by one or more people who bred hares.

Over time, the place name changed: ‘Hasemannshusen’ gradually became ‘Hasmansshussen’, then the H was omitted, resulting in ‘Assmannshausen’. This change took place gradually and began around 1500.

As for the change from ‘-husen’ to ‘-hausen’: in many German words, ‘u’ became ‘au’, e.g. ‘hus’ – ‘Haus’ (house), ‘mus’ – ‘Maus’ (mouse).

It is relatively common for place names to change in the course of time, not only in German (e.g. Rossdach became Rostock, Lipsk became Leipzig), but also in English (e.g. Eoforwic became York, Snotingaham became Nottingham, Grantabrycg became Cambridge).

So, in short: the place name Assmannshausen does not derive from the surname Assmann.

Now, one might say: perhaps it was the other way round, and the Assmanns took their name from Assmannshausen (because they lived there or nearby).

However, this can be ruled out quite definitively. For if they had wanted to take the name of the place, they would never have chosen just the first part of the place name, but would have called themselves Assmannshauser (this form of the name, ending in -hauser, is relatively common in German, see e.g. https://wiki.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Familienname_mit_Endung_hauser )

For related information, see also the local history section on Assmannshausen’s official website: https://www.assmannshausen-am-rhein.de/html/geschichte.html  

It states: “In the year 1108, Ruthard, Archbishop of Mainz, donated a vineyard in the Hasemanneshusen district to the Dissibodenberg monastery, situated on the upper Nahe. This marks Assmannshausen’s entry into history, and that deed of donation is, in a sense, its birth certificate. Until around the year 1500, the village is referred to as Hasemanneshusen in all documents; then the ‘H’ disappears and we are left with our familiar Assmannshausen.” („Im Jahre 1108 schenkte der Mainzer Erzbischof Ruthard dem an der oberen Nahe gelegenen Kloster Dissibodenberg einen Weinberg in der Gemarkung Hasemanneshusen . Damit tritt Assmannshausen in die Geschichte ein, und jene Schenkungsurkunde ist gewissermaßen sein Geburtsschein. Bis ums Jahr 1500 heißt das Dorf in allen Urkunden Hasemanneshusen, dann verschwindet das “H” und es bleibt unser vertrautes Assmannshausen.“) ~2026-38864-31 (talk) 21:53, 8 July 2026 (UTC)