# Offensive English translation of Arnold Schwarzenegger's last name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134 "2006-11-28T22:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/21 "2010-07-25T10:10:41Z")
> [@kellner](#): > > Black is for Blacksmith, a person who works with “Black” metals (iron or steel). In this case steel as a spring harrow cannot be made of any other metal of the time (middle ages to 19th century). So we get a harrow made of steel by a blacksmith. Quite an accomplishment and something worthy of naming your family after. Where a plow breaks up the compacted soil a harrow will come afterwards to break up the large clumps or clods that might limit crop growth and the resulting crop yield. Do you have any evidence supporting that theory, rather than the one in the first reply? You know, the one that actually matches the etymological patterns of other germanic names and has the benefit of being able to point to lots of places in Austria and Switzerland called Schwarzenegg? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/22 "2010-07-25T10:11:54Z")
> [@DHMO](#): > > This discussion reminds me of the controversies which ensued because people were too stupid to look up the definition and etymology of the word, “[niggardly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22).” Or a few years ago when PETA tried to get the town of Fishkill, NY to change their name because “killing fish was wrong”. The locals responded “kill” is derived from the Dutch settlers who found the area and translates as “stream”. So essentially it means “Fish in stream”. The PETA person whined “How are people supposed to know that”? Earth to PETA: Take your head out of your rear end. The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/23 "2010-07-25T10:53:53Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Reminds me of a riddle I heard in the 80s: > > Arnold Schwarzenegger’s is long and hard. The president’s is very short. Madonna doesn’t have one, and the Pope has one, but he doesn’t use it. Madonna has one, but like the Pope she doesn’t use it. So there’s ONE thing they have in common. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/24 "2010-07-25T12:51:44Z")
Harrow is also the name of a famous public school (English for “private school”), whence the following conversation reported in a Victorian book I read once… A: Do you know C? B: Of course! Him and me were at Harrow together. (later) A: What say you, D? D: Well, perhaps B was a Harrow boy, but he certainly talks more like a _plough_ boy. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/25 "2010-07-25T22:19:30Z")
I was always embarrassed to say “that’s a nice coon dog you got there” at the dog park. Like that Fishkill/PETA exam cited above. PETA ish, I know. There’s a raccoon and a nip in the air. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/26 "2010-07-25T23:40:47Z")
> [@jimmmy](#): > > I am 99% sure that Schwarzenegger himself told David Letterman sometime back that his name translated as “_Black Plowman_” the reason I remember this is Letterman’s rejoinder: > > “So, how do he Kennedys feel about having a Black Plowman in the family?” > > Very funny - esp. in context. I have a bunch of google hits on the anecdote, but no first hand GQ worthy one -so no cite sorry. [Here’s proof](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ev6zeR8MgM) that your memory (and mine–I recall seeing the original broadcast) is correct–Arnold starts talking about the pronunciation and meaning of “Schwarzenegger” around 3:19, and Dave cracks his joke almost a minute after that. ETA: this was from a 1987 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/27 "2010-07-26T02:08:25Z")
I shouldn’t get involved in something I know nothing about, so treat this as a WAG. Switzerland has a number of place names that end in “egg” (pronounced “ek” and it was explained to me that it means “corner”, like High German “Ecke”. So Waldegg means the corner of the woods, or some such. I suppose it could mean “furrow”. Probably it is related to “edge”. “Schwarzen” is surely a dative form, not a plural. So it could mean an inhabitant (that’s the final “-er”) of the town at the black corner ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/28 "2010-07-26T09:40:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I shouldn’t get involved in something I know nothing about, so treat this as a WAG. Switzerland has a number of place names that end in “egg” (pronounced “ek” and it was explained to me that it means “corner”, like High German “Ecke”. So Waldegg means the corner of the woods, or some such. I suppose it could mean “furrow”. Probably it is related to “edge”. “Schwarzen” is surely a dative form, not a plural. So it could mean an inhabitant (that’s the final “-er”) of the town at the black corner As the first reply states, the word, in geographical context, means mountain ridge. But it is indeed related to edge. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/29 "2010-07-26T09:59:12Z")
> [@Gotterfunken](#): > > > [@jimmmy](#): > > > > I am 99% sure that Schwarzenegger himself told David Letterman sometime back that his name translated as “_Black Plowman_” the reason I remember this is Letterman’s rejoinder: > > > > “So, how do he Kennedys feel about having a Black Plowman in the family?” > > > > Very funny - esp. in context. I have a bunch of google hits on the anecdote, but no first hand GQ worthy one -so no cite sorry. > > [Here’s proof](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ev6zeR8MgM) that your memory (and mine–I recall seeing the original broadcast) is correct–Arnold starts talking about the pronunciation and meaning of “Schwarzenegger” around 3:19, and Dave cracks his joke almost a minute after that. > > ETA: this was from a 1987 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. I have no cite for this, as it is from memory. I was watching Arsenio Hall and Arnold was his guest. Aresenio asked him what Schwarzenegger means in English, and of course Arnie told him, “Black Plowman.” Arsenio then wrapped his arms around Arnold and cried out, “Brother!” This was in 1993 or 1994, as I also remember Arsenio asking if there was going to be a third Terminator film, to which Arnold replied, “Yeah. It’s going to be called ‘Sperminator 3: I Come Again.’” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/what_do_I_type_here)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134/30 "2010-07-27T18:35:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > [QUOTE=kellner] > _Egge_ isn’t a plough but a harrow. Ah, close enough that I can see where the confusion came from. Most Americans probably wouldn’t know what a harrow is. Why is it Schwarzen and not just Schwarz? Is that pluralized for some reason? [/QUOTE] I know this was posted four years ago but I speculate that Schwarzen is the adjective form of Schwarz. But then I don’t know why it’s Schwarzschild and not Schwarzenschild. I always feel funny responding to old threads. I mean Old Mace posted this four years ago. He could be dead by now for all I know. It’s like looking at naked pictures of Anna Nicole Smith. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-english-translation-of-arnold-schwarzeneggers-last-name/382134.md?page=1)