Hello hermes1,
Bobbie7 is correct: "boym" or "boim" is Yiddish for "tree". See, for example:
"Oyfn veg shteyt a boym = On the road there's a tree" (noting
alternate transliterations of "boym" and "boim"]
Keynote [Dedoc Software]
http://www.dedocsoft.com/keynote/pag/TUE.htm
In German, the word is "baum". In languages related to German, such
as Yiddish, the word is similar.
It seems that "Beerbohm" comes from Low German (Niederdeutsch). It is
the equivalent of the German word -- and common Jewish name --
"Birnbaum", meaning "pear tree". ("Birnboim", less often written
"Birnboym", appears to be another spelling of that surname.
Conceivably "Barenboim", as in Daniel Barenboim, also has the same
derivation, though I'm not sure of that.)
Unfortunately, my confirmation is on a German web page. I'll
translate the relevant portion:
"Im Deutschen Namenslexikon von Hans Bahlow wird der Name wie folgt erklärt:
Birnbaum (mittelniederdeutsch berbom) Bierbaum (mittelhochdeutsch
birboum) niederdeutsch Beerbohm."
(The name was explained in the German name dictionary by Hans Below, as follows:
Birnbaum (Middle Low German berbom) Bierbaum (Middle High German
birboum) Low German Beerbohm."
"Herkunft des Namen Birnbaum" (Origin of the Name Birnbaum)
Homepage der Familie Gschweng aus Greifswald
http://www.gschweng.de/birnbaum.htm
- justaskscott
I searched for the following words, in various combinations, on Google:
boim
boym
baum
bohm
beerbohm
birnbaum
birnboim
birnboym |
