Of all the mysteries that have befallen the Mennonite community over the centuries, the most baffling of them all is why Loewen is pronounced “Low-en” and Toews is pronounced “Taves.” For consistency they should either be pronounced Layven and Taves or Lowen and Toes. Now some will point out, “ahh, but I do know some strange Loewen family out in Chilliwack or someplace who pronounces it Layven,” or “I did meet a guy once who pronounced his name Taves.” Sure, okay, but we can’t use the outlier to prove the rule. The question remains, in a community, for example Steinbach, where all the Loewens and Toewses immigrated from the same colony in Ukraine, spoke the same language, and have lived together for more than century and a half, why would they be inconsistent in their pronunciations.
I’m sure that many of you will say, “oh the answer is obvious. It was the influence of the Mennonite Brethren who corrupted the Loewens and their pronunciation.” But we can’t blame everything on the MBs. Other might say, “Oh, well it was the unwillingness of the strict Toews family to adopt to modern ways, which can still be seen in their propensity to wear socks with sandals.” Again, I say, this cannot be the answer because the Loewens, too, are known for this terrible fashion faux pas.
Maybe it’s the fact the Toewses never had a window factory that put their surname into the spotlight. Or maybe it can be blamed on the rival Barkman family who spread the Low-en mispronunciation in a feeble attempt to suggest the “Layvens” were “low.”
The Toewes, of course, dislike be compared to toes, the lowliest of all body parts, and thus have insisted on maintaining the more archaic pronunciation. However, Rev. Doerksen has already preached a 5-part sermon series on this very topic, where he pointed out that the Toewes’ unwillingness to adopt the lowly “toes” pronunciation suggests a level of pride unbefitting of a good humble Mennonite.
Some have even gone so far as to change the spelling to Taves, but we can enact a collective punishment for this sin if we all agree to pronounce it “tav-ess,” like we’re trying to say the name Travis, but can’t quite get out the R sound.
In the end we may never know why the Loewens and Toewses do what they do, but both families can find some solace in the fact they’re at least doing a better job than all the modern city Duecks who consistently butcher the true pronunciation of their name.
