Thursday, December 29, 2005

What's an Urner?

Insignia of Kanton Uri, Switzerland
(use permitted by GFDL)

The name Urus, plural Uri, with the Greek forms oupos ouot originally designated a species of wild mountain ox that was common among the higher Alps. So a free definition of the word Urner might be, "a dweller in the land of the mountain ox."*

* Geneology of the Urner Family by Isaac N. Urner, Clinton, Mississippi, 1893, revised and updated by Barbara Urner Johnson, Bakersfield CA, 1996, pg. 37 (I'm mentioned in a bio of my parents, pg. 242). Library of Congress Catalog Card Number : 96-78942.