Das Vor-Heilige und das Anti-Heilige in Großpolen am Beispiel des Toponyms Łysa Góra [Kahlberg] und seinesgleichen

Abstract

The paper deals with the techniques of sanctifying space through the toponym Łysa Góra [Kahlberg] and similar names. Originally, these forms illustrated the mythology of former residents living in a territory and their system of beliefs. According to these beliefs, hilltops and peaks of mountains represent the cosmological heaven, the centre of the local space (the pre-sacred). In the secondary way, the considered proper names are an example of the influence that new Christian religion exerted upon the inhabitants of the given space. During the Counter-Reformation this religion consolidated the awareness of the force of the infernal power (the anti-sacred).