Orts- und Familiennamen an der deutsch/französischen Sprachgrenze

Der Fall Freiburg im Üchtland (Stadt und Kanton)

Abstract

The city of Freiburg/Fribourg in western Switzerland has since its foundation in 1157 always been situated on the limit between the french and the german language. This fits also the canton of Fribourg, which counts one third german and two thirds french speaking inhabitants. The street and familynames as well as the geographical names are therefore mostly bilingual. Nevertheless the officially leading language could change during the centuries. The origin of the names went according to different scenarios: Immediate or later translation, borrowing and adaptation or sometimes one single name für both communities. Political motives made noble families translate their names whereas the generalisation of exonyms was due to the sens of order of ancient administration.