An e-mail from Su about Schamers

The first page of the 1932
Schamers Chronicle.

An interesting position in the villages and towns of Bohemia (and probably elsewhere, too) was that of the municipal  chronicler. How else would the landowner (or we) know about the minutiae of village life if not for a record of it all, being written as it happened?  Of course, one hopes the chronicler was fair, precise, and wrote clearly.  I suspect not all of em were.
Did every village keep a chronicle? We don't know, but it would make sense.  Maybe SRA Trebon just hasn't published Niedermuhl and Oberschlagles yet.

Anyway, they have published a few years' worth of Schamers' chronicles, and Su is busy trying to decipher the narrative there, from 1932-1938.  The project involves transcribing an unfamiliar language from unfamiliar script (tho they begin to grow on a person), and then translate what you think you read.  It's actually pretty exciting work, in an intellectual, nosy sort of way ☺.   Su said, "I rather warm to Hans Schimeczek, the chronicler,  who admits to an addiction to research!"  Su has the unfailing help of Google Translate, as well as Herman, the translating dictionary.  (What google goofs on, Herman usually knows).  And I'd say Hans isn't the only one addicted to research, eh? ☺


Here's a charming story she found--it starts with the last sentence on page 11 and continues on page 12--the story of how Schamers got its name.  See if you can follow in the original:

Als Beispiel, welche früchte die Sucht, jeden Namen zu erklären, reibt, sei hier noch folgende Nament deutung angeführt,

die sogar hartnäckige Verteidiger findet: 

As an example, what fruits of addiction to explain every name, drives, is still following

 name indicated significance, even the stubborn defender finds:

Kaiserin Maria Theresia reiste einst nach Prag und

berührte dabei auch unseren Heimatsort.  

Empress Maria Theresa oncetraveled to Prague and it also touched our native place.  

Als sie hier in dem damals neben der Straße liegenden Teiche Männlein und Weiblein mit einander im Adamskostüm baden sah, war sie darüber se entrüstet, daß sie den biederen Schamersern zurief: 

When they here in the then along the road past ponds they saw  little man and little woman bathe with each other in their birthday suits  they were very angry that they were respectable and called out to the  Schamersern:
 "Schamers ruch!" Den umverschämtem Bewrhnern soll

davon der Name Schaminger geblieben sein.  

"Schamers smell!" The name of shame still remains with the outrageous residents.  

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So, children were swimming nekkid in a pond on a hot day, and the Empress happened past and shamed them.  It's as good a naming method as any, I suppose ☺).

Thanks, Su--and hooray!