fbpx
Wikipedia

German toponymy

January 19, 2024

Not to be confused with Germanic toponymy.

Placenames in the German language area can be classified by the language from which they originate, and by era.

German names from prehistoric and medieval times edit

Suffixes edit

Prefixes edit

Prefixes can be used to distinguish nearby settlements with an otherwise same name. They can be attached or stand alone. Both settlements that are to be distinguished can have opposing prefixes (e.g. Niederschönhausen and Hohenschönhausen), but it is also common to attach the prefix only to one of them (e.g. Stettin and Neustettin).

Prefixes can also have a descriptive character. Examples are Lichten- or Lichter- ("open range", e.g. Lichtenhagen), Schön- or Schöne- ("nice", e.g. Schönwalde), Grün- or Grüne- ("green", e.g. Grunwald).

Prefixes can also be used to indicate an (earlier) possession of the site. Examples are Kirch- ("ecclesial possession", e.g. Kirch Jesar), Bischofs- ("a bishop's possession", e.g. Bischofswerda), Grafen- ("a count's possession", e.g. Grafenwöhr), Königs- ("the king's", e.g. Königs Wusterhausen, Königsberg), Kron- (possession of the crown, e.g. Kronstadt, Rügenwalde (once belonging to the princes of Rügen).

The prefix Bad ("bath") indicates the place is an officially acknowledged spa. See Bad Kissingen, Bad Pyrmont, etc. Some places, like Aachen, do not use it although they could.

Often the name of the village founder or of the first settler constitute the first part of the place name (e.g. Oettingen, the founder was Otto; Gerolfingen, the founder was Gerolf, Rappoltsweiler, the founder was Ratbald or Ratbert). Mostly in the former Ostsiedlung area, the locator's name was sometimes included as the first part of the name (e.g. Hanshagen, the locator was Hans).

Attachments edit

Some settlements have the name of a river or the province attached to their name to distinguish it from an (even distant) one carrying the same name. The distinguishing word can be added in parentheses, or connected to the name with prepositions an der/am ("at"), ob der ("upon"), auf ("on") or in/im ("in"), or separated by a slash. Examples are:

Often, attachments or prepositions are abbreviated in the official names, e.g. Berg b.Neumarkt i.d.OPf. ("Berg bei Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz"), or compare Landau in der Pfalz and Landau a.d.Isar, or Langenfeld (Rheinland) and Stolberg (Rhld.)

Sometimes, a descriptive word is attached to a new settlement, that was once budding of another one and except for the attached word has the same name.

  • (...)-Siedlung ("settlement")
  • (...)-Hof ("farm"), sometimes carrying an additional Roman number (e.g. Sanz Hof IV)
  • (...)-Ausbau ("expansion")

Others edit

The old Germanic Gaue districts were established by Charlemagne; earlier derivations were Gowe" and "Gouwe. One can still find the old Gouwe (Gau) for example in Haspengouw (Dutch name of Hesbaye) or Gäu as in Allgäu.

German names from modern times edit

They usually follow the established patterns.

German place names derived from other languages edit

  • Celtic names, used in prehistoric times in the southern and western parts of the German language area. Examples: Mainz (from Latin Moguntiacum, derived from a Celtic name), Remagen (from Celtic Rigomagos ("king's field"), Latinized as Rigomagus), Wien (Vienna) (from Celtic Windobona ("fair bottom country") [Latinized as Vindobona] or Celtic Wedunia ("forest brook") [Latinized as Vedunia]), Zürich (Zurich) (from the Celtic word turicon, derived from turus; the old name of the town in its Romanized form was Turicum.)
  • Latin names:
  • Slavic names: Prior to the medieval Ostsiedlung, Slavic languages like Polabian, Sorbian, Pomeranian, and Slovenian were spoken in the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The German settlers and administration in many cases adopted existing Wendish placenames, for example Rostock (from Old Polabian rostok, "river fork"), Dresden (from Sorbian Drežďany), and Berlin (possibly from a Polabian word meaning "Swamp"). For the same reason, many German placenames ending in -anz (e.g. Ummanz), -gard (e.g. Burg Stargard), -gast (e.g. Wolgast), -itz (e.g. Lancken-Granitz), -ow (e.g. Gützkow), and -vitz or -witz (e.g. Malschwitz) have Slavic roots. Due to spelling and pronunciation changes over the centuries, the original Wendish term in most cases is not preserved. Also, some placenames combine a German with a Wendish term (e.g. Altentreptow). The German suffix -au can be related to the Slavic -ow and -ov when derived from the Old German spelling (u= w =double u; e.g. Prenzlau was earlier spelled Prenzlow).
  • Scandinavian names: The region of Southern Schleswig was part of Duchy of Schleswig on the Jutland peninsula, which belonged to the Crown of Denmark until Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark in 1864, leading to dozens of placenames of Danish origin, except in North Frisia and the southernmost area. Typical Scandinavian endings include -by, -bøl, -trup, -lund, -ved, -toft (in German form: -by, -büll, -trup, -lund, -witt, -toft). In some cases the South Jutlandic form has been eradicated from the Standard Danish variety of the name, but is still visible in the Germanised version:[3]
Standard Danish South Jutlandic German
Meden Mejn Meyn
Bilskov Bilskau Billschau
Agtrup Achtrup Achtrup
Jydbæk Jybæk Jübek
Sønderup Synnerup Sünderup

In many other cases the Germanised versions are out of etymological context. Examples include the Danish ending -næs (peninsula) being replaced by -nitz, an unrelated Slavic ending which is common in eastern Germany. Such arbitrary translations were often made by the central Prussian government after the whole of Slesvig was ceded to Prussia after the war of 1864.

The South Jutlandic name of the town of Schleswig (Slesvig), from which the region derives its name, was Sljasvig with the stress on the second syllable.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Danzig-Putzig. Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme. 1943.
  2. ^ "Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!".
  3. ^ Stednavne 2006-11-17 at the Wayback Machine
  • Berger, Dieter (1999). Geographische Namen in Deutschland. Mannheim: Duden. ISBN 3-411-06252-5.

External links edit

January 19, 2024
german, toponymy, confused, with, germanic, toponymy, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, need, rewritten, comply, with, wikipedia, quality, . Not to be confused with Germanic toponymy This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia s quality standards You can help The talk page may contain suggestions July 2011 This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources German toponymy news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Placenames in the German language area can be classified by the language from which they originate and by era Contents 1 German names from prehistoric and medieval times 1 1 Suffixes 1 2 Prefixes 1 3 Attachments 1 4 Others 2 German names from modern times 3 German place names derived from other languages 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksGerman names from prehistoric and medieval times editSuffixes edit ach river Examples Echternach Salzach au from Slavic suffix ov ow Examples village and town names suffixes on former Polabian Slavs territories Lubbenau Plau See also German naming convention of Polish town names during World War II as an analogy 1 au aue related to rivers or water see German words Au or Aue This meaning of au earlier spelling ow owe ouwe describes settlements by streams and rivers Examples Passau the town Aue rivers named Aue bach or Low German bek stream cf English beck bach batch Examples Amorbach Ansbach Reinbek Wandsbek baum tree Examples Oranienbaum berg bergen mountain Examples Bamberg Heidelberg Nurnberg Nuremberg Konigsberg king s mountain now Kaliningrad Landesbergen Also reduced burg e g in Bromberg Brahenburg brucken or bruck bridge Examples Saarbrucken Osnabruck Innsbruck buhl or buhel hill Examples Dinkelsbuhl Kitzbuhel burg keep cf English bury borough burgh Examples Hamburg Augsburg Luxembourg Regensburg on the river Regen Salzburg Salt City a Medieval name Strassburg Strasbourg dorf or torf Low German dorp torp village cf English Thorpe Examples Dusseldorf Reinickendorf Kleinblittersdorf ey island cf English ey ea Low German oog Examples Norderney Hacheney egg ridge Switzerland and western Austria Examples Scheidegg Schonegg Felsenegg Oberlangenegg feld or felde field Examples Bielefeld Mansfeld Saalfeld fels rock Examples Rothenfels Lichtenfels furt ford Examples Erfurt Frankfurt Klagenfurt gard gart or garten castle farm Examples Stuttgart Stargard Leingarten hagen hedged field or wood Examples Hanshagen hain grove Examples Blankenhain Grossenhain halde oder halden hillside slope cf Norwegian Halden Examples Haldensee Osshalden near Crailsheim hausen houses Examples Mulhausen Mulhouse Muhlhausen Recklinghausen Schaffhausen haven or hafen haven harbor port Examples Wilhelmshaven Bremerhaven Friedrichshafen heim South and Central Germany Switzerland Alsace ham or am Bavaria and Austria hem or em West um North Germany home settlement cf English ham and Hamlet place Examples Alkersum Bochum Borkum Pforzheim Kirchham Schiltigheim Mannheim Mulheim Hildesheim Bad Windsheim hof hoff or hofen farmhouse s cf English hope Examples Hof Bechhofen Diedenhofen Thionville hufe hide Example Grunhufe hut guard Examples Landshut Waldshut ing or ingen ungen ung ens meaning descendants of used with a personal name as the first part cf English ing as in Reading Examples Gottingen Esslingen Straubing Esens kirchen or kirch church cf English kirk church Dutch kerk Examples Feldkirch Gelsenkirchen Neunkirchen munde river mouth Examples Angermunde Ueckermunde munden confluence Example Hannoversch Munden Low German oog Northwestern or ohe oie ee Northeastern small island cf English ey ea Examples Dutch Schiermonnikoog Hiddensee ow from Slavic suffix ov ow Examples village and town names suffixes on former Polabian Slavs territories Butzow Neubukow Stabelow Malchow Teterow Gustrow 2 roth rath rode reuth or rade clearing cf English rod rode royde Examples Roth Bayreuth Overath Wernigerode It can also be used as the prefix Rade Radebeul Radevormwald scheid ridge watershed Examples Burscheid Remscheid see lake Examples Falkensee stadt stedt statt or stetten settlement town place cf English stead Examples Darmstadt Eichstatt Ingolstadt Neustadt stein stone rock castle Examples Allenstein Bartenstein Konigstein tal or thal valley dale Examples Wuppertal Rosstal St Joachimsthal thurm or turm tower Example Weissenthurm wald or walde forest cf English weald wold Examples Greifswald Creutzwald Regenwalde wang wangen or wangle meadow cf Norwegian vang English wang Examples Feuchtwangen Ellwangen Nesselwangle weil weiler or willer hamlet Examples Annweiler Eschweiler wend or winden meaning small Slavic settlements in Germanic surroundings Examples Bernhardwinden near Ansbach Wenden near Ebhausen werder werth worth or ort island holm Examples Donauworth Finkenwerder Kaiserswerth Ruhrort wiese wiesen meadow Example ScharfenwiesePrefixes edit Prefixes can be used to distinguish nearby settlements with an otherwise same name They can be attached or stand alone Both settlements that are to be distinguished can have opposing prefixes e g Niederschonhausen and Hohenschonhausen but it is also common to attach the prefix only to one of them e g Stettin and Neustettin Alt Alten or Low German Olden old Examples Alt Eberstein Altenberg Oldenburg Gross or Grossen greater Examples Gross Kiesow Grossenhain Hoh Hohen Hoch or Hoch high er upper Examples Hohenschonhausen Hohkonigsburg Hochstadt Klein or Low German Lutten little Examples Klein Kiesow Neu Neuen or Low German Nien new Examples Neuburg am Inn Neuenkirchen Nienburg Nieder lower cf English nether Examples Niederschonhausen Ober upper higher or Oberst uppermost highest Examples Oberhausen Oberwesel Oberstdorf Wendisch Windisch Slovene Wendish Examples Wendisch Baggendorf Windischgarsten This sometimes refers particularly in present and former Austrian territories to the original language of the inhabitants Other examples Bohmisch Krummau Cesky Krumlov Unter Deutschau Nemska Loka Unter lower literally under Examples Unterliederbach Prefixes can also have a descriptive character Examples are Lichten or Lichter open range e g Lichtenhagen Schon or Schone nice e g Schonwalde Grun or Grune green e g Grunwald Prefixes can also be used to indicate an earlier possession of the site Examples are Kirch ecclesial possession e g Kirch Jesar Bischofs a bishop s possession e g Bischofswerda Grafen a count s possession e g Grafenwohr Konigs the king s e g Konigs Wusterhausen Konigsberg Kron possession of the crown e g Kronstadt Rugenwalde once belonging to the princes of Rugen The prefix Bad bath indicates the place is an officially acknowledged spa See Bad Kissingen Bad Pyrmont etc Some places like Aachen do not use it although they could Often the name of the village founder or of the first settler constitute the first part of the place name e g Oettingen the founder was Otto Gerolfingen the founder was Gerolf Rappoltsweiler the founder was Ratbald or Ratbert Mostly in the former Ostsiedlung area the locator s name was sometimes included as the first part of the name e g Hanshagen the locator was Hans Attachments edit Some settlements have the name of a river or the province attached to their name to distinguish it from an even distant one carrying the same name The distinguishing word can be added in parentheses or connected to the name with prepositions an der am at ob der upon auf on or in im in or separated by a slash Examples are Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt Oder also written Frankfurt an der Oder or Frankfurt Oder Freiburg im Breisgau Rothenburg ob der Tauber Bergen auf Rugen Lauenburg in Pommern former German name of the Polish town Kochel am See at the lake without the specific name of the lake Kirchheim unter Teck under the castle Teck Lahr Schwarzwald etc Often attachments or prepositions are abbreviated in the official names e g Berg b Neumarkt i d OPf Berg bei Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz or compare Landau in der Pfalz and Landau a d Isar or Langenfeld Rheinland and Stolberg Rhld Sometimes a descriptive word is attached to a new settlement that was once budding of another one and except for the attached word has the same name Siedlung settlement Hof farm sometimes carrying an additional Roman number e g Sanz Hof IV Ausbau expansion Others edit The old Germanic Gaue districts were established by Charlemagne earlier derivations were Gowe and Gouwe One can still find the old Gouwe Gau for example in Haspengouw Dutch name of Hesbaye or Gau as in Allgau German names from modern times editThey usually follow the established patterns Wuppertal Wupper dale valley Karl Marx Stadt Karl Marx city name for Chemnitz during the DDR era Wilhelmshaven William s haven harbor referring to King William I of Prussia German place names derived from other languages editCeltic names used in prehistoric times in the southern and western parts of the German language area Examples Mainz from Latin Moguntiacum derived from a Celtic name Remagen from Celtic Rigomagos king s field Latinized as Rigomagus Wien Vienna from Celtic Windobona fair bottom country Latinized as Vindobona or Celtic Wedunia forest brook Latinized as Vedunia Zurich Zurich from the Celtic word turicon derived from turus the old name of the town in its Romanized form was Turicum Latin names from classical times when the southern and western parts of the German language area belonged to the Roman Empire Examples Koblenz from Confluentes joining rivers Koln Cologne from Colonia colony Aachen from Aquae springs Augsburg and Augst from Augusta city of Augustus and the Germanic suffix burg from medieval times when Latin was the language of church and administration Examples Munchen Munich from monachus monk ultimately from Greek monaxos monachos Munster from monasterium monastery ultimately from Greek monasthrion monasterion Neumunster Fraumunster Grossmunster See also minster Slavic names Prior to the medieval Ostsiedlung Slavic languages like Polabian Sorbian Pomeranian and Slovenian were spoken in the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire The German settlers and administration in many cases adopted existing Wendish placenames for example Rostock from Old Polabian rostok river fork Dresden from Sorbian Drezdany and Berlin possibly from a Polabian word meaning Swamp For the same reason many German placenames ending in anz e g Ummanz gard e g Burg Stargard gast e g Wolgast itz e g Lancken Granitz ow e g Gutzkow and vitz or witz e g Malschwitz have Slavic roots Due to spelling and pronunciation changes over the centuries the original Wendish term in most cases is not preserved Also some placenames combine a German with a Wendish term e g Altentreptow The German suffix au can be related to the Slavic ow and ov when derived from the Old German spelling u w double u e g Prenzlau was earlier spelled Prenzlow Scandinavian names The region of Southern Schleswig was part of Duchy of Schleswig on the Jutland peninsula which belonged to the Crown of Denmark until Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark in 1864 leading to dozens of placenames of Danish origin except in North Frisia and the southernmost area Typical Scandinavian endings include by bol trup lund ved toft in German form by bull trup lund witt toft In some cases the South Jutlandic form has been eradicated from the Standard Danish variety of the name but is still visible in the Germanised version 3 Standard Danish South Jutlandic GermanMeden Mejn MeynBilskov Bilskau BillschauAgtrup Achtrup AchtrupJydbaek Jybaek JubekSonderup Synnerup SunderupIn many other cases the Germanised versions are out of etymological context Examples include the Danish ending naes peninsula being replaced by nitz an unrelated Slavic ending which is common in eastern Germany Such arbitrary translations were often made by the central Prussian government after the whole of Slesvig was ceded to Prussia after the war of 1864 The South Jutlandic name of the town of Schleswig Slesvig from which the region derives its name was Sljasvig with the stress on the second syllable See also editGermanic toponymy Celtic toponymy German exonyms German names for Central European towns List of English exonyms for German toponyms List of European exonymsReferences edit Danzig Putzig Reichsamt fur Landesaufnahme 1943 Wikimapia Let s describe the whole world Stednavne Archived 2006 11 17 at the Wayback Machine Berger Dieter 1999 Geographische Namen in Deutschland Mannheim Duden ISBN 3 411 06252 5 External links editGrundworter in Ortsnamen in German http www isoglosse de 2015 07 cluster von toponymsuffixen in deutschland clusters of toponym suffixes in Germany https ssz fr places Placename pattern visualization using regular expressions Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title German toponymy amp oldid 1196610923, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.