A Bit of Information about Guderup
Gentle reader,
I can see by my stats counter that our last post provoked a lot of interest. And so, while we wait for Carsten to drop by our hallowed halls of Festung Europa once again, I thought I would start some quick Internet searches to provide a bit of information on the little town, Guderup, Denmark, where my great-grandfather, Peter Gude, hailed from.
I couldn't find anything specific about Guderup at first, but I do find the name etymologically interesting, since, of course, Gude is a part of it, which could mean that there are many with that family name in the area. (I have yet to search the Guderup phone book!) Additionally, I searched for the Danish suffix -rup. Rup (from -t(e)rup) is the Danish version of the Swedish suffix, -torp, which means a small farm on the outskirts of a village. In Old English, the suffix would be -thorp, while in German, the word is Dorf, meaning "village". When you compare -dorf to -torp, you can see the similarities, especially when you consider the High German consonant shift. So we can take this village to originally mean: the small farm of the Gude family, which I find rather intriguing. Gude in and of itself may be related to the Danish word for God, Gud.
Guderup is located on the island of Als, which is not far from the German border and was subject to contention during the time that Peter Gude emigrated in the late 19th century. In fact, he may well have left to avoid service in the Prussian Army, as Prussia had taken over Als along with the rest of the Danish provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, defeating Denmark in the Second Schleswig War in 1864. After German defeat in World War I, however, a referendum was held in 1920, and Als once again came under Danish control.
Being an island, Als is a popular vacation destination. Guderup now is part of the municipality of Sønderborg, which has a nice tourist website. I may have to plan a visit!
-CRM
I can see by my stats counter that our last post provoked a lot of interest. And so, while we wait for Carsten to drop by our hallowed halls of Festung Europa once again, I thought I would start some quick Internet searches to provide a bit of information on the little town, Guderup, Denmark, where my great-grandfather, Peter Gude, hailed from.
I couldn't find anything specific about Guderup at first, but I do find the name etymologically interesting, since, of course, Gude is a part of it, which could mean that there are many with that family name in the area. (I have yet to search the Guderup phone book!) Additionally, I searched for the Danish suffix -rup. Rup (from -t(e)rup) is the Danish version of the Swedish suffix, -torp, which means a small farm on the outskirts of a village. In Old English, the suffix would be -thorp, while in German, the word is Dorf, meaning "village". When you compare -dorf to -torp, you can see the similarities, especially when you consider the High German consonant shift. So we can take this village to originally mean: the small farm of the Gude family, which I find rather intriguing. Gude in and of itself may be related to the Danish word for God, Gud.
Guderup is located on the island of Als, which is not far from the German border and was subject to contention during the time that Peter Gude emigrated in the late 19th century. In fact, he may well have left to avoid service in the Prussian Army, as Prussia had taken over Als along with the rest of the Danish provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, defeating Denmark in the Second Schleswig War in 1864. After German defeat in World War I, however, a referendum was held in 1920, and Als once again came under Danish control.
Being an island, Als is a popular vacation destination. Guderup now is part of the municipality of Sønderborg, which has a nice tourist website. I may have to plan a visit!
-CRM
Comments