Schwarzenegger/ German Translation Request

General Schwarzkopf is General Blackhead

Governor Schwarzenegger is Governor Black…

I’d like a translation for “negger” which I can’t get on-line because it may be archaic German. Can any one help?

I’d like to get my own compelling pidgin translation out of my head.

I don’t speak German, and can’t vouch that he’s right, but Arnold himself has always said the name translates as “the black plowman.”

You’re parsing it wrong. Try Schwarzen + Egger. Eggen is to till or harrow.

Schwartz is ‘black’. I’ve heard that an Egg is a mountain ridge. So Schwartzenegg would be ‘black mountain ridge’. A Schwartzenegger would be a person from Schwartzenegg, much as a person from Berlin is a Berliner.

Egge is, I think, the name of some sort of a garden implement. So Schwartzenegger might be a dark (haired, or perhaps complected) person who uses the implement. But I think ‘a person from Schwartzenegg’ makes more sense.

I have heard him say that too. I’m going to assume he is right since it is his name and he can apparently speak German.

There is a Swiss town named Schwarzenegg, so originally the name could be derived from there.

Schwarzen is definitely ‘black’ and egger almost certainly derives from ‘egge’ meaning harrow or a tool like a plow. However, my understanding, which is confirmed after consulting with a resident German speaker here, the name actually means a “plower of black fields” as opposed to a “black plower of fields” .

Am I not too far off in guessing that both Egg ‘mountain ridge’ and Egge ‘harrow/plow’ are cognates of English “edge”?

My best guess is that it means “man from Schwarzenegg” - there is one Schwarzenegg in Switzerland but a number of municipialities called Egg in the German-speaking areas, so Schwarzenegg looks like a likly toponym.

If it meant black ploughman, wouldn’t it be Schwarzegger?

“Schwarzen” also means black,(blacks or black person) according to this dictionary

“Schwarzen” also means “to pass the buck” and “to leave holding the baby” which I suspect is more modern usage.

Yeah, but in the accusative/dative/genitive, or plural, none of which I would have thought would apply here.

Oh wait, you mean the noun Schwarzen. OK.

Schwarzenegger, Schwarz/en = Black, Egger = Harrower, Egge = Harrow,
Pflug = Plow.

The problem is that his name today has gone through different variations and phonic changes, possibly even spelling changes*, so only somebody who delves into the family history of this family of the Schwarzenegger can talk with any certainty whether it’s a man from a town called Schwarzenegg (related to a black mountain ridge) or a black(haired) plower/plower of black fields.

Unless Arnold has done family history research himself, his own explanation is no more valid than the above guessings.

  • One example: a current name would be translated as related to hammer, but is really a phonetic corruption, related to the family moving twice, of heaven.
    Another common surname can relate to a balance or a waggoner (waggon-maker) or somebody who makes wheels, or something else.