German placename etymology

German placename etymology

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

German names from prehistoric and medieval times

Suffixes

# with the suffix "-au", "-aue" (related to rivers or water), see German words Au or Aue. This meaning of "-au" (earlier spelling "ow", "owe", "ouwe") describes settlements at rivers, creeks. Example: Passau, a town Aue, rivers named Aue.
# with the suffix "-brücken" or "-brück" ("bridge"). Examples: Saarbrücken, Osnabrück, Innsbruck.
# with the suffix "-burg" ("keep", borough). Examples: Hamburg, Luxembourg, Regensburg (with the river Regen), Salzburg (with the Ancient Roman reference to salt), Straßburg (Strasbourg).
# with the suffix "-berg" ("mountain"). Examples: Heidelberg, Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Königsberg ("king's mountain", now Kaliningrad)
# with the suffix "-dorf" or "-torf" ("village"). Example: Düsseldorf.
# with the suffix "-feld" or "-felde" ("field"). Examples: Bielefeld, Mansfeld.
# with the suffix "-furt" ("ford"). Examples: Erfurt, Frankfurt.
# with the suffix "-hagen" ("hag"). Example: Hanshagen
# with the suffix "-hufe" ("hide"). Example: Grünhufe.
# with the suffix "-hausen" ("house"). Examples: Mülhausen (Mulhouse), Mühlhausen, Schaffhausen.
# with the suffix "-ing" or "-ingen, -ungen, -ung, -ens" (meaning "descendants of", used with a personal name as the first part). Examples: Göttingen, Straubing, Esens.
# with Low German suffix "-oog" (Northwest) or "-öhe", "-oie", "-ee" (Northeast) (= "small island"). Example: Dutch Schiermonnikoog, Hiddensee.
# with the suffix "-roth" or "-rath, -rode, -reuth, -rade" ("clearing"). Example: Roth, Wernigerode, Overath. It can also be used as the prefix "Rade-": Radebeul, Radevormwald.
# with the suffix "-stadt" or "-stedt" ("town"). Examples: Darmstadt, Neustadt.
# with the suffix "-um" (North Germany), "-heim" (South and Central Germany, Switzerland, Alsace), "-ham" / "-am" (Bavaria and Austria), "-hem" / "-em" (West) (all cognate to English "home" and the English place name suffix "-ham"). Examples: Alkersum, Bochum, Borkum, Pforzheim, Kirchham, Schiltigheim
# with the suffix "-wald" or "-walde" ("wood"). Examples: Greifswald, Regenwalde
# with the suffix "-werth", "-wörth", or "-ort" ("holm"). Example: Kaiserswerth, Donauwörth, Ruhrort

Prefixes

*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").

#"Alt-", "Alten-" or Low German "Olden-" ("old"). Example: Oldenburg
#"Groß-" or "Großen-" ("greater"). Example: Groß Kiesow
#"Hohen-" or "Ober-" ("upper"). Examples: Hohenschönhausen, Oberhinrichshagen
#"Klein-" or Low German "Lütten-" ("little"). Example: Klein Kiesow
#"Neu-", "Neuen-" or Low German "Nien-" ("new"). Example: Neuenkirchen
#"Nieder-" ("lower"). Example: Niederschönhausen
#"Wendisch-", "Windish-" ("Wendish"). Example: Wendisch-Baggendorf

*Prefixes can also have a descriptive character. Examples are "Lichten-" or "Lichter-" ("open range", e.g. Lichtenhagen), "Schön-" or "Schöne-" ("nice", e.g. Schönwalde), "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-Baggendorf), "Akademisch-" ("a university's possession", e.g. Akademisch-Wieck), "Königs-" ("the king's", e.g. Königswusterhausen), Rügenwalde (once belonging to the princes of Rügen).

*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

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")

Also, a river or the province can be attached to a settlement to distinguish it from a (even distant) one carrying the same name. The distinguishing word is added in parenthesis or connected to the name by "an der", "am", "ob der" ("at"), "auf" ("upon") or "in", "im" ("in"), or separated by a backslash. Examples are Frankfurt an der Oder (also written "Frankfurt (Oder)", "Frankfurt a.d. Oder", "Frankfurt/Oder", "Frankfurt/O."), Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bergen auf Rügen (also written "Bergen (Rügen)") and Lauenburg in Pommern (also "Lauenburg i.Pom.").

Others

The old Germanic "Gaue" districts were established by Charlemagne; earlier German spellings were "Gowe, 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

They usually follow the established patterns.
* Wuppertal ("Wupper valley"), Karl-Marx-Stadt ("Karl Marx city", name for Chemnitz during the DDR era), Wilhelmshaven ("William's harbour", referring to King William I of Prussia).

German placenames deriving from other languages

# 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 Latin "Rigomagus", from a Celtic name meaning "king's field"), Wien (Vienna) (from Latin "Vindobona" and Celtic "Vedunia", meaning "forest brook"), Zürich (from the Celtic word "Turus"; the antique 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"), Köln (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: München (Munich) (from "monachus", "monk"), Münster (from "monasterium", "monastery"), Neumünster, Fraumünster, Grossmünster. 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 "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. Alt Reddevitz) 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").

References

*

ee also

* Exonym and endonym
* German exonyms
* German names for Central European towns
* List of English exonyms for German toponyms
* List of European exonyms
* Toponomy

External links

* [http://www.onomastik.com/on_grundwoerter.php Grundwörter in Ortsnamen] de icon


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