Surname Wurth, Weurth, Wirt, Wert, Werth, Wirth, Pfirt, Voigt. Werts or Wirts or Weitz

    I am researching my family in Germany/ Alsace/ Swiss/Austria. I would very much like to have some feed back about the surname Wirth.
    From what I have read in the tips on researching names the spelling of a surname depended on the person entering it into the record.
    The surname could also change over time and due to events?? ( i.e. the Reformation)
    I have seen records with the Father Wirt and the Children named Wurth Wirth Wuerth.
    I have three particular problems that need discussion.
    1. could the surname Pfirt be mistaken, misread changed to Wirt /Wirth ???
    2. What would the name Heinrich an_der_Egge WIRT imply was Heinrich living on the river Egua or in the Eggge hills.
    3. Does the surname Voigt have any connection to or sound like the Wirth surname.
    Thanks Martin

    Hello Martin,


    answering your questions
    # 1) possibly yes, written like misunderstood
    # 2) seems to be an academic question: Egge river and Egge hills are both near Oldendorf
    # 3) no connection between the surnames Voigt (= reeve) and Wirt(h) (= innkeeper)


    Kind regards
    Detlef

    Hello Martin,


    1. main spelling is Wirt(h), the others are temporal or local variations


    2. Egge river or Egge hill near Oldendorf (but there are many other Egge hills in Germany too) might have been, but your Heinrich an der Egge lived in Rottweil, far away from (Preussisch-)Oldendorf
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottweil


    In Rottweil existed a place named Eckhof, meaning yard at the corner (an der Ecke).
    http://books.google.de/books?e…archwithinvolume&q=Eckhof


    Its local name simply was Egge (= Ecke - corner)
    Das
    Land Baden-Württemberg: Register: - Seite 122
    books.google.de/books?id=3bpVAAAAYAAJ
    Landesarchivdirektion
    Baden-Württemberg     - 1983 - ‎Snippet-Ansicht
    Egge = Eck : Weilheim, Stadt
    Tübingen, TÜ VU 164 Egge = Eck am Berg :
    Stödtlen, AA IV 801 Egge = Eckhöfe : Lichtental,
    Stkr. Baden- Baden V 18 Egge = Eckhof : Stadt Rottweil, RW VI 489 Egge = (?)Königsegg :
    Guggenhausen, RV VII 655 ...
    (Sorry, the Google books link does not work correctly. But I have put it in by copy and past.)


    So this "Heinrich an der Egge" means Heinrich at the corner or Heinrich at the Eckhof. His profession was Wirt - innkeeper, as Detlef already mentioned. Later on the profession term became a surname. As carpenter > Carpenter in English.


    Today you can eat there a giant Schnitzel
    https://www.google.de/#psj=1&q=Rottweil+Eckhof


    Kind regards
    Xylander

    Thank you for reply this has helped my research. With my limited but slowly increasing knowledge of German culture and history I am very interested in the Ostsiedlung. I have been told that my Wirth family came from the Alsace region this could include the area on both sides of the Rhine ( Rottweil) in that period. I have this extract from a history of Rottweil
    "Around 1340 the brothers Johann and Heinrich were the "Erbern" (legal heir, heir at law) members of the Wirt family. They and their descendants but are not most data in the documents referred to by the name "Wirt", but with the last name "Erber". The sons and grandsons of Jacob, the Wirt and the Adelaide of Stöffeln called in the 14th and 15th century after their mother "von Stöffeln", although the seal of the Wirt retained (a right triangle in the Bracke rising sign).
    I think ?? that the Wirt/ Wirth family were (emigration from Swiss ) or is Wirt / Wurt abbreviated from Wirtemburg / Wurtemburg ( the host on the Mount) ??
    Thanks again Martin