Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/16

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Subject: [Leica] Reprise: On the Spelling of Voigtlander
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 08:52:26 -0500

At 08:21 AM 2/16/2001 -0000, Logan Reinwood wrote:
>There is no "h" but there is a -"- on the "a" (Umlaut).
>So people that speak German use to put a "e" after the a to
>mark that: Voigtlaender.

I'm sorry, Logan, but that isn't correct in this particular case -- and,
yes, both Stan Tamarkin and Cosina have it wrong on this, as Cosina
apparently has little sense for history.

In 1956, on the 200th anniversary of the firm, both the Voigtlander Company
and the family issued a joint press release where both requested that the
name be spelled either with an umlaut or simply with an a, and specifically
requesting that the name NOT be spelled with the "ae" digraph.  (For that
matter, while the company's name was "Voigtländer und Sohne Braunschweig"
in Germany, the American branch was, for almost a century, simply
"Voigtlander".

So, either "Voigtländer" or "Voigtlander", but not "Voigtlaender", at least
if you respect the family's wishes.

Marc

msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!