Re: ...the scoop on SKYLER
in reply to a message by sky
It's a Dutch representation of the umlaut in German Schüler, not "learned one", but "scholar", not a Dutch word, but an adaptation of a German name. As a surname it probably referred to an academic or teacher, as the only "schools" were originally the universities. In modern German though it refers to someone attending a school for younger pupils (i.e. elementary, middle or high school). There seems no basis for interpreting it as "sheltering". for one, the grammar is wrong, for another, it makes no sense as a surname as it originally was. Dutch schuil "shelter, hiding" appears related to skulk and skulker. Someone possibly may have earned the nickname "skulker", but the term "schuiler" does not occur in Dutch (there is "schuilener", but that seems rare and the sense something like "stalker, hounder").