Ed Stelmach - Origin of the surname of the Alberta Premier at Bill Casselman's Canadian Word of the Day

Edward Michael Stelmach, who assumed office on December 13, 2006, is the 13th premier of Alberta. In this column I examine his Stelmach surname, its etymology and its remarkable travels across the globe.

His nickname, Steady Eddy, has been earned after a long and effective career in Alberta politics where, on the wheel of provincial political spokes, Ed Stelmach represents rural, socially conservative viewpoints. He was elected to the office of premier while serving as MLA for the northern Alberta riding of Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville. Mr. Stelmach’s grandfather arrived in Alberta in 1898 from the western Ukraine and farmsteaded south of Andrew, Alberta. Premier Stelmach raised his own four children on the same homestead.

Stelmach as Surname

Stellmach begins in German Stellmach and Stellmacher, an occupational name used in East Germany and Silesia (and brought from there into Poland ) for “waggoner, cartwright.” In Poland it is more often spelled Stelmach, and as of 1990 there were 8,354 Polish citizens by that name.

Stellmacher is a German noun meaning ‘wagon-maker’ or ‘cartwright.’ Stellmach or Stallmach is the noun shortened. All three forms produced surnames in early German. Stellmacher appears in print by 1284 CE. Its abbreviated forms Stellmach and Stallmach appear within 50 years as German surnames.

Other German occupation nouns of similar meaning are Wagner like English waggoner and Fuhrmann ‘carter, one who owns and uses a wagon’ and Wagenmacher ‘one who makes carts and wagons.’

In a 13 th century German registry entry, we can almost observe the birth of a similar surname. A man named Wittigo had business with the church or local government and he was identified as Wittigo dictus Stellewagen. Dictus is monk’s Latin for ‘called by name.’ He was Wittigo nicknamed ‘Wagon-builder.’

From its 12th or 13th century beginnings, over the course of the next 500 years, the surname Stellmach spread throughout northern Europe. Today those who proudly bear this name may be Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, German, Russian, Slovakian, Lithuanian, from Belarus ( White Russia ) and of other nationalities. In Ellis Island U.S. immigration records are Stelmachs from Estonia and Hungary.

Stelmachs in Poland

Consider Poland. In the 1990 Census of Poland there were 8,354 Polish citizens with the surname Stelmach. So frequently borrowed was Stelmach into Polish (because of the large number of Germans who once dwelt there) that an elaboration of the surname Stelmach arose as Stelmaszewski. This is perhaps a founding ancestor from the Polish village called Stelmachowo in Bialystok province. One adds the common Polish surname suffix –ski ‘descendant of’ to produce the full name Stelmaszewski. There is also another Polish village called Stelmachy, which would originally have been named because a German wagon-maker lived there. If the ancestor came from that village, the common Polish naming suffix –ewski, adjectival in form, would be added to produce Stelmaszewski. In Polish onomatology, the suffix –ewski is almost always associated with a place name.

Why Did this Surname Spread So Far?

So what is the implication of this occupation name’s phenomenal spread? Does it mean there were no cartwrights in medieval Europe except German ones? Certainly not. Does it imply that the Polish and Ukrainian and Russian languages had no word of their own that meant ‘cartwright’ or ‘wagon-maker’? Certainly not. The surname’s expansion does suggest that German cartwrights looking for work or fleeing trouble or for other reasons may have migrated into Poland, into the Balkans, into the golden-yellow wheat fields of the Ukraine throughout the middle ages and well into the 17 th century, where they found what they sought and stayed to found families and businesses.

Interesting Stelmach Mistake In Israel

Some Stellmachs went much farther afield than Europe. In the 1920s and 1930s and continuing even today there is a movement in Israel to convert foreign names to their Hebrew equivalent names. Every race on earth has done and does continue to do that. The name of this particular translation process in English is hebraization. I found a relevant note in a paper entitled “The Policy of Hebraization of Surnames in Israeli Sports” where a Jewish man with the surname Stelmach became Mr. Peled. Peled is the modern Hebrew word for ‘steel.’ This is a misreading of the root of the surname Stellmach or Stallmach, where the translator imagines that Stelmach is in fact Stalhmacher ‘steelmaker.’ How many peasants were making steel in 13 th century Germany when the surname Stallmach arose? None, pal. Centuries later in German onomastics we get printed evidence of the first use of a surname Stalhmann which could be translated as ‘blacksmith’ or ‘forge operator.’

If a Jewish Stelmach wished to change his name so that the semantic weight remained the same, he might become Mr. Agalah, the biblical Hebrew word for ‘wagon’ or ‘cart.’

Stelmach is yet another surname that displays the genetic tossed salad that comprises the family history of most people in the West, the knowledge of which mixture behooves all of us to promote racial tolerance and to thwart the professional haters who stain our world with their ignorant odium.