Would anyone know what "KEB" or "KEBBY" might mean in Swiss-German? My GGGrandmother was born Bern, Switzerland area in 1838 and used to call her grandson (my Grandfather who was born 1904) Keb and Kebby. The family lore is that this was some sort of endearment term, such as little darling, sweet little boy, little boy, etc. I've checked some of the online translation sites and not found anything similar. Could it be a sort of slang, or old term? Thanks for any suggestions. Jamie

Hi Jamie, [in my opinion] your first guess was right on..... "Koebbi" (with an Umlaut..... pucker up!) is a term of endearment, especially by grandparents. It means " little guy" ; little boy". "Du besch a liebe Koebbi" = you're a dear little boy "Du besch a luschtige Koebbi " = you're a funny little guy etc. I guess with your grandfather it stuck as a nickname. Who knows, maybe his grama didn't remember his name at times and "Koebbi" was handy. My Dad used that nickname very freely for little boys that were either sweet or funny. Best wishes, Hanneli ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jamie" <BakerJ@coralwave.com> To: <SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 7:47 AM Subject: Translation of KEB/KEBBY > Would anyone know what "KEB" or "KEBBY" might mean in Swiss-German? My > GGGrandmother was born Bern, Switzerland area in 1838 and used to call her > grandson (my Grandfather who was born 1904) Keb and Kebby. The family lore > is that this was some sort of endearment term, such as little darling, > sweet > little boy, little boy, etc. I've checked some of the online translation > sites and not found anything similar. Could it be a sort of slang, or old > term? Thanks for any suggestions. > > > > Jamie > > ______________________________

Hy Jamie The husband of my sister is also named "Köbu" (kebbou). This is a nickname of Jakob in Bern dialect. Jean-Pierre -----Original Message----- From: Jamie [mailto:BakerJ@coralwave.com] Sent: jeudi 9 mars 2006 16:47 To: SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [SWITZ] Translation of KEB/KEBBY Would anyone know what "KEB" or "KEBBY" might mean in Swiss-German? My GGGrandmother was born Bern, Switzerland area in 1838 and used to call her grandson (my Grandfather who was born 1904) Keb and Kebby. The family lore is that this was some sort of endearment term, such as little darling, sweet little boy, little boy, etc. I've checked some of the online translation sites and not found anything similar. Could it be a sort of slang, or old term? Thanks for any suggestions. Jamie ==== SWITZERLAND Mailing List ==== Resource Site http://www.rootsweb.com/~chewgw