Hopefully someone speaking German natively will happen upon this. My parents called each other Schatz and, often, Schätzel. My father passed away earlier this year and I’ve decided to get my mother a nice bracelet engraved with Schätzel.
So my question is, is this a reasonable spelling? Is the umlaut appropriate?
Searching yields indications that this is a diminutive form of dearest, but no “take it to the bank” reference was forthcoming. I realize with these idioms that spelling can be iffy. I don’t want to find out a few years down the road that I’ve given my mother a bracelet with some unfortunate word that really means “I dig for treasure” or some other nonsense. Or that if I had foregone the umlaut and went with Schatzel I would have nailed it.
In case it matters, my parents were from the Rhineland-Palatinate very close to the French border.
I appreciate any assistance.
I am not a native German speaker, but I’ll help how I can, anyway. I think you want <Schatz>, and Schätzelein sounds more correct to me (of course, I’m not privy to what your parents actually said). I’m sure a native speaker will give a definitive answer soon. 
“Schäztel” would seem logical as a (more dialectical) diminutive form of “Schatz”. It’s normal for the stressed vowel in a word to change to the Umlaut version (if it can) when making a diminutive form of the word (Baum -> Bäumchen, Haus -> Häusle). This would also change the pronunication of the vowel from /a/ to /ɛ/.
Schatz is the German word for treasure. It’s the German equivalent of spouses calling each other honey in the English speaking world. It used to be more common than it is now. Schätzel is a variation which seems indeed to have a regional ring to it, Rhineland-Palatinate could be right. Probably (but I’m not entirely sure about this) Schätzle is a more common variation. An opinion from somebody who hails from the Southwest of Germany would be helpful.
There even is a folk song:
I’m from Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate in fact), and while it’s not the most common, “Schätzel” may well be used as an (abbreviated) diminutive of “Schatz”, and would immediately be understood as a term of endearment. However, the more common diminutive is “Schätzchen”, perhaps. “Schätzle” I would associate with Baden-Württemberg, or generally the southern regions of Germany (they have a habit of appending the suffix “-le” to form the diminutive). Especially when addressing a spouse or significant other, “Schatzi” is also a common variation.
And maybe this thought: It’s certainly a sweet idea, but Schatz (or Schätzel or Schätzle) is a rather generic word, as I said, like honey in English. I am not exactly the maven in all things romantic, but a bracelet engraved “honey” would probably not be seen as something particularly individual.
On the other hand, I take it that your parents emigrated to an English speaking country, so maybe the expression from the old country does have a special meaning.
Thanks so much.
Yes, we are in America; we came here just a few years after I was born. So a bracelet with Schätzel would be very meaningful.
They were together for almost 60 years and this will be her first Christmas without him. It’s off to tiffany.com!
Not a native speaker but I spent 3 years in Germany in the Eifel area and like Half Man Half Wit, I’m familiar with the word “Schatzi”. It was explained to me that the word was loosely comparable to our using the term “Honey” or “Sweetie”.
