Namenkundliche Informationen

Einführung zum Themenschwerpunkt Namenforschung und Altertumskunde

Ludwig Rübekeil — 2024-06-07

Zur ‘alteuropäischen Hydronymie’ – bzw. dem, was von ihr übrig bleibt

Harald Bichlmeier — 2024-06-07

The article deals with two topics. First, it addresses the presumed roots uridg. *en-/*on- ‘to flow’ and uridg. *(h1)leik- ‘bend’ as pure ghost roots, and the popular root uridg. *el/*ol- as a ‘semantic ghost root’ (it never has an appellative meaning ‘to flow’). Second, it examines the names Main, Isar, Rhine, Ruhr and their relatives, questioning whether they can actually serve as arguments in favour of an ‘Old European hydronymy’, given that they can be explained (in some cases exclusively) in terms of individual languages.

Schüss und Susch – zwei keltische Segusia-Namen?

Luzius Thöny — 2024-06-07

This article discusses the etymology of two Swiss toponyms which share a similar etymology. (1) The Schüss (French La Suze) is a river in the Bernese Jura region of Switzerland. It is attested as Sushe in 1281 and perhaps even earlier as Secusiam in the Himerius-Vita from the 8th/9th c. In previous scholarship, the name of this river has been explained from Celt.*Segusiā, a derivation from the well-known base Celt. *sego-, ultimately from the root PIE *seǵh- ‘overcome, overpower’. A number of similar river names (and other
toponyms) such as La Suze < Secusia 1178, La Suize < Secucie ca. 1123 exist in France. (2) The village Susch, German (older) Süs, lies in the Canton of Grisons. Its name is first attested as Susis in 1161 and has similarly been explained from Celt. *Segusiā in previous scholarship. The morphological structure of the name is not clear. It seems likely that the form is a derivation with a complex suffix Celt. *-usiā- < PIE *-usieh-, cf. the name Celt. Bergusia (both a place name and a name of a deity). The naming of various objects (rivers, settlements, a mountain etc.) with the same name is perhaps most easily explained if we assume that *Segusiā was originally the name of a Celtic goddess (as already suggested by Hubschmied in 1938 for the Swiss river), although no decisive proof of such a goddess has been found so far.

Phantomwurzeln und irrige Segmente. Die Behauptung „uralter“ Namen im außerwissenschaftlichen Diskurs

Karl Hohensinner — 2024-06-07

Non-scholarly interpretations of names can be recognized as such by applying certain formal and content-related criteria. These structural criteria are presented here as examples in order to better categorize texts. Texts deemed to be “dubious” by scholarly standards can thus be analysed on a formal level without having to engage with what are often lengthy and convoluted arguments. The main characteristics of feigned scientific rigour are the arbitrary segmentation of names according to incomprehensible criteria and the interpretation of these segments by assigning them word roots of obscure or fanciful origin. In most cases, the author will undertake an overall interpretation of such a root cluster and establish relations between the roots. They will then seek to back up the correctness of the interpretation by embedding it in a natural or cultural context. Some recurring roots (phantom roots) in this literature are discussed in more detail. Name interpretations that are linked to a specific context and preclude alternative explanations are often found when nationalistic or religious concepts or fantastical interpretations of the world are to be substantiated. Such approaches have been in use for around 130 years in the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, in Germany and in Switzerland.

Historische Kontaktonomastik in Unterrätien und die Rekonstruktion des Alträtoromanischen

Elia Ackermann — 2024-06-07

My dissertation analyses the integration of Old Rhaeto-Romanic substrate toponyms into German. After the Roman conquest, Celtic and non-Celtic languages in Lower Rhaetia were replaced by Vulgar Latin, which was carried forward into modern Romansh. Germanic-Romance language contact began in the 5th century onwards, with only German remaining in the 15th century. Toponyms are one of the main sources for the language change. Sound changes can be determined and dated on the basis of historical evidence, which was done in an Excel matrix. Conversely, many toponyms have remained phonetically stable over the centuries despite their obscurity. By “undoing” the comparatively well-known German phonetic laws, aspects of the phonology of earlier stages of the Rhaeto-Romanic language can be reliably reconstructed using the toponyms. This article begins by outlining the historical and geographical confines of the area under investigation before presenting the research question and method. Two early Rhaeto-Romanic sound changes serve as examples of findings on Old Rhaeto-Romanic grammar. Selected examples are subsequently used to provide an overview of the integration processes that can be observed in substrate toponyms after Germanization. The article concludes by emphasizing the value of contact onomastics.

Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu meinem bairisch-slawischen Lautwandelapparat (mit einem Namensglossar) – Slavia Tirolensis IV

Emanuel Klotz — 2024-06-07

In this article, the author presents some adjustments and corrections to the apparatus of sound changes proposed in his previous papers (Slavia Tirolensis I–III). The updates have become necessary due to additional data from mediaeval toponomastic loans from Slavic into Bavarian in East Tyrol. The relevant data is also included in the article. The apparatus enables a step-by-step identification of each sound change undergone by such loans from the borrowed form until today’s local pronunciation of the names.

Das Altertum der Deutsch-Slavischen Kontaktzone. Das Hersfelder Zehntverzeichnis und seine siedlungsgeschichtliche Einordnung

Christian Zschieschang — 2024-06-07

Due to the lack of written sources, the ancient world in the German-Slavic contact zone in eastern Central Europe has been largely a matter of archaeology alone. Proper names only begin to appear on record in medieval times. As a result, it is impossible to reconstruct an earlier onymic landscape. Among the early written sources, a document from the Imperial abbey of Hersfeld (“Hersfelder Zehntverzeichnis”) is an exceptional case in terms of its extensive content. Written in the 9th century, but preserved only as a copy from the 11th century, it lists more than 200 place names. In most cases these names are localized in a certain region west of the Saale river and north of its Unstrut tributary. For the most part, the names are of German origin, although there are also some of Slavic origin. Some years ago, this source was examined by an interdisciplinary research group. The onomastic outcome of this project (Zschieschang 2017) is described briefly in the present article. Some of the results of this study recently served as an argument in mediaevalist research (Warnke 2019). This research argues that the document originates from the 11th century and that there is no older original. This assumption deserves further in-depth examination in German linguistics (this is not part of the present article) in order to determine whether the place names – which clearly refer graphemically to the 9th century - could also have been recorded for the first time two centuries later.

Keltische (und rätische?) Personennamen in der vorrömischen Epigraphik der Schweiz

Corinna Salomon — 2024-06-07

This article provides an overview of the current inventory of personal names attested to in vernacular inscriptions in Iron Age Switzerland, with a focus on the Cisalpine Celtic material. It discusses specifically the possible presence of Rhaetian linguistic elements in the Cisalpine Celtic onomastic record as well as putative differences between Lepontic and Gaulish personal name formation based on updated etymologies.

Zur Toponymie der civitas Helvetiorum. Namenarchäologische Untersuchungen

Albrecht Greule — 2024-06-07

Recent archaeological research has made it possible to map out the settlement area of the Helvetii (in western Switzerland) by marking 14 late La Tène oppida [towns]. The oppida also appear on the map with their Celtic names. The range of names extends from Geneva along the River Aare via Solothurn to Rheinau. The list of names shown on the map is historically interesting insofar as Caesar, in the “Bellum Gallicum”, mentions that the Helvetii had burnt all (twelve) oppida and around 400 rural settlements and farmsteads before leaving their ancestral settlement area (though he does not mention any names). It is known that the Helvetii were forced back into their old homeland and Romanized after the battles of Bibracte and Alesia (58 and 52 BC). The question arises as to whether the Helvetian toponyms that have been handed down or reconstructed only from Roman times are the old Celtic names, having survived the period of emigration, or whether they were newly formed under pressure from the Roman administration, i.e. are ultimately Romanized names or “mixed names”. In order to settle this question, it is necessary to examine etymologically all the oppida and their names shown on the map and relate them to the archaeological findings, the latter is achieved by Andrea Francesco Lanzicher’s additions.

Die Viktoriden. Onomastische und sprachhistorische Reflexionen zu einer frühmittelalterlichen genealogia der Raetia Prima

Wolfgang Haubrichs — 2024-06-07

For almost three centuries (6th–8th century), the early medieval province of Raetia Prima was ruled in both secular and ecclesiastical terms by a dynasty known as the Victorids or Zaccones, after the names of its early members. The name world of the Victorids is predominantly Romanized, butthe attavus (‘end-of-line ancestor’) Zacco of the dynasty in particular has been explained as ‘Germanic’, and from this it has been concluded that Frankish actors had already penetrated the otherwise quite closed Roman-Latin world of Raetia from outside in the early 6th century. In this work, the distinctive Romanized names of the Victorid group are first analysed according to their origin and distribution. To a very large extent, the names are centred mainly in northern Italy and in the two Raetia. In addition, there are some characteristic and rare names that clearly dominate in Raetia. This provides a clear indication of the Alpine-Romanic location of the family. In a second approach, the study shows that both the name Tello (for a bishop and a comes) and Zacco, which appears several times, can be interpreted as pre-Germanic Romance. Zacco, which developed from the apostle’s name Giacco, Jac(c)o < Jacob, was particularly influenced by a phonetic development well attested in northern Italy and Alpine Romania, which is also documented early on in the chronicle of Pseudo-Fredegar, edited around 658/961 and based on Burgundian sources pointing to western Switzerland around Avenches, by the clear form Zacob instead of Jacob.

Die Namen der Translatio s. Alexandri und Altsächsisches in Fulda

Christoph Hössel — 2024-06-07

The Translatio s. Alexandri describes the transfer of Alexander’s relics from Rome to Wildeshausen Abbey in 851. The text was written by the Fulda-based monks Rudolf and Meginhard just a few years after the events it describes and has been preserved in a contemporary manuscript, presumably Meginhard’s copy. The text is of key significance for the historiography of Saxony. However, less attention has been paid to date to the Old Saxon names. mentioned primarily in the accounts of miracles. From the perspective of Old Saxon, these are important both because they are relatively old compared to the rest of the Old Saxon tradition and because of the rare circumstance that the individuals named are often mentioned in conjunction with their village of origin. From the perspective of the Fuldian tradition, the names are of outstanding importance because they constitute authenticated Old Saxon evidence of the non Saxon monastery. Further (presumed) evidence of Old Saxon from Fulda can be compared directly with the names in the Translatio: the phonetic form of certain other names from Fulda sources (such as from necrologies and charters) also points to Old Saxon (discussed by Geuenich 1976). A single interlinear gloss from Fulda, which has so far been overlooked by Old Saxon research, can possibly be identified as Old Saxon. Last but not least, the Hildebrandslied displays conspicuous Saxonisms which, however, clearly deviate from the Old Saxon characteristics of the names (e. g. palatalization of g, disappearance of h). Both the lack of these characteristic sounds and the mechanical “undoing” of the second sound shift along with the unusual spellings for urgerm. *ē2 indicate that it was not a Saxon who was responsible for the Saxonisms in the Hildebrandslied.ⅺ.

Zum Aufwuchs des Namengutes in frühmittelalterlichen Adelsgruppen: die Merowinger

Volker Schimpff — 2024-06-07

The article discusses the names and name elements of the Merovingian dynasty. There were a number of name elements such as chlod-, child-, -mer/mer-, presumably original to the main Merovingian branch of Childeric and Clovis, but there were also the names of their deceased relatives. My focus is on the increase in names and name elements. (1) Theud-names were more than likely of Visigothic origin, presumably from a first marriage of Clovis with a daughter of the Visigothic king Theoderic. (2) An increase in Burgundian names is well-known, but (3) particularly the -oald-names must have an Agilolfing origin. (4) Sigibert and other sigi-names were conveyed to the royal house by the kings ‘of Cologne’; they are supposed to have stemmed from a Lower Rhine tradition. (5) The name Dagobert too had a non-Merovingian origin, presumably from a princely or royal family of the Chamavi, a Frankish tribe on the Lower Rhine. (6) Perhaps the -harja-names were also an increase in the name elements. Furthermore, the article deals with the names of (alleged Merovingian) pretenders. Names of the members of the royal dynasty and the increase in their names served to express claims to sovereignty over certain parts of the Frankish kingdom; therefore, there was no increase of names among the Late Merovingian ‘shadow kings’. The article shows that careful study of the changes in the names used by the Merovingian dynasty produces additional historical knowledge.

Der Abschluss des Jahrhundertprojekts „St. Galler Namenbuch“: Rückblick auf die letzten Projektjahre

Elia Ackermann — 2024-06-07

This article is intended as an overview of the latter years of the now completed project “Die Flurnamen des Kantons St. Gallen (TopSG)” [The rural names of the Canton of St. Gallen]. This project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Canton of St. Gallen, was housed at the University of Zurich. It marked the final stage of the “St. Galler Namenbuch (SGNB)” [Book of names of St. Gallen]. After presenting the long and turbulent history of the SGNB, this article focuses mainly on the results achieved between 2019 and 2022. Extensive phonetic recordings made from the Summer of 2020 onwards are of special interest. The paper discusses both the opportunities and the difficulties encountered during the project. A further goal is to provide a kind of Vademecum for similar projects concerned with toponomastics.

Namenkundliche Besiedlungsgeschichte des Landes Salzburg

Julian Blaßnigg — 2024-06-07

This paper provides an overview of the settlement history of the state of Salzburg (Austria). The region of Salzburg has been shaped by various peoples over millennia, evidenced by the presence of Indo-European names associated with ancient European hydronymy, as well as Celtic, Romance, Slavic, and Bavarian names. The specific distribution of these names across different districts of Salzburg, the era of Germanization of foreign names, and notably the characteristic Bavarian linguistic patterns in various regions, afford concrete insights into the diverse settlement history of Salzburg. This history is influenced not only by the topographical context as an Alpin region but also by its role as a significant transportation hub for north-south routes across the main Alpine ridge. The ability to conduct a comprehensive historical analysis of settlement based on toponyms is primarily attributed to the HELSON project (Historical Etymological Lexicon of Salzburg Place Names), which now covers a substantial portion of the state. After Hörburger’s Salzburg Place Names Book, HELSON represents the first systematic endeavour, now organized alphabetically, to document all settlement names as well as numerous other names within the state in a comprehensive manner. Five out of the six Salzburg districts have already been investigated as part of the HELSON project, with only the district of Pongau still to undergo systematic onomastic analysis. This historical overview of settlement facilitates not only a general understanding of the distribution of various layers of names within the state but also predictions regarding the name materials to be expected in the Pongau region.

Die älteste Urkunde zum sächsischen Vogtland als Sprachdenkmal zum frühen deutsch-slawischen Sprachkontakt im Mittelalter. Linguistisch zuverlässige Namenformen aus dem Dobna-Gau

Karlheinz Hengst — 2024-06-07

This article looks at the oldest document relating to the Vogtland in south-west Saxony as a historical and, above all, linguistically valuable document. The subject is the Dobna-Gau, which has been inhabited by Slavs since the 8th century. In 1122, the bishop of Naumburg consecrated the Gau church in Plauen. The extent of the area of the original parish was precisely delineated. All geographical names and persons mentioned in the original document are analysed linguistically here for the first time. The Vogtland was incorporated into the East Frankish Empire from 930 AD onwards. The Latin document text is therefore a source for German-Slavic language contact from the 10th to 12th centuries. It is revealing that for some onyms a linguistically plausible differentiation of borrowing becomes apparent. This applies in five instances to the 10th century, but otherwise mainly to the 11th century. All names were recorded in the correct orthography of the time. The notary must have understood the spoken Slavic idiom well. There are no writing errors. A list of phoneme-graphemerelations based on the evidence of Slavic names shows, for the first time, the particular significance of the document for language history in the 10th and 11th centuries. Also new is the proof that German clergymen or perhaps lay people as well must have lived in the Dobna district from the 10th century onwards. This is the only way to explain the 9th/10th century pronunciation of names by German speakers at the beginning of the 12th century. The document is thus analysed for the first time in this article as a source for the history, language and culture of the Vogtland from the 8th to the 12th century

Laubach und Lautitz. Mit Verbeugung vor dem Altmeister der sächsisch-sorbischen Oikonomastik Laubach and Lautitz

Bernd Koenitz — 2024-06-07

Laubach and Lautitz/Łuwoćicy are the names of two places in Saxonywhich, at first glance, suggest no relevant common features apart from being of Slavic origin. Taking a fresh look at them, however, it becomes clear that the oldest evidence for each of them conceals earlier development and that, moreover, one disruptive element in the evidential series (<Glaugkß> and <Lubossicz> respectively) contains a certain relationship to the oikonym Glaubitz that requires further specification in each case. It turns out, however, that – contrary to assumptions in recent research – a name form corresponding to this one is not the basic form of the oikonyms mentioned in the title of this paper. Indeed, the basic name form of Glaubitz has itself been subject to reconsideration. It has been necessary to clear up the fatal misunderstanding in an earlier attempt to interpret the origin of Laubach, which had prevented scholars from recognizing that the Old Sorbian Laubach is almost identical etymologically to the interesting Czech geonym Libouchec. The Upper Lusatian pair of names Lautitz (in German)/Łuwoćicy (in Upper Sorbian) is an example of the fact that the living New Sorbian name form may have preserved the fundamental features of the oldest form better than the German tradition does – provided the linguistic situation in the Sorbian village community had remained stable over the centuries. Reinterpreting the two names mentioned in the title, the author draws, rather than on more recent research, on the more convincing approaches of Gustav Hey (1893).

Agricultural Production in Luxembourg in the light of its Micro-Toponymy (Part One)

Sam Mersch — 2024-06-07

The following article offers insights into Luxembourg’s microtoponomastics and its value for local rural agricultural history. The focus is mainly on livestock farming and the production of cereals and other staple foods as attested by field names. Each section is accompanied by choropleth maps, the most relevant names being discussed in order to illustrate the distribution of the name type and the section for the whole Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

On the Determination of the Source Value of Forged Charters in Historical Toponomastics

Melinda Szőke — 2024-06-07

From the perspective of historical toponomastics and linguistics, there are multiple chronological layers in charters whose status is uncertain. Due to the circumstances of their origin and survival, however, the historical linguistic and onomastic source value of the names they contain do not necessarily correspond. We may determine the historical toponomastic source valueof charters most reliably on the basis of principles derived from historical studies and diplomatics. This includes, for example, the consideration of litigations of abbeys or the study of the formulas contained in charters. With the growing number of linguistics studies conducted on charters of uncertain status, it has become clear that we need to further specify how such charters are to be assessed from an historical toponomastics perspective. In this paper, I explore how we may establish the source value of particular toponyms from the perspective of historical onomastics using two forged charters of Saint Stephen (the charters of Pécsvárad and Bakonybél). The first part of this paper shows that, irrespective of a certain name having not been included in the original source of the forged charter, th places and names in question could otherwise already have existed as early as the 11th century. The second part of the paper demonstrates that the parts of charters whose chronological status is uncertain but have been deemed to originate in the 11th century (based largely on the principles of diplomatics and history), may also include names whose use is not proven for the founding period (the early 11th century).

Geschlechtsneutrale Namen im Tschechischen

Jana Valdrová — 2024-06-07

Gender-neutral names fulfill two basic functions: on the one hand, they are used either by individuals who take a critical view of gender stereotypes or else by parents who want to give their children the ‘space’ to form their own gender identity. On the other hand, gender-neutral names play an important role for non-binary people in that they signal a positioning outside the taken-for-granted understandings of femininity and/or masculinity in society. Gender-neutral names are an integral part of many name lexicons (DUDEN, Lansky, Internationales Handbuch für Vornamen etc.), in which they are included among other names. Compared to their use and registration rules abroad, the treatment of gender-neutral names in the Czech Republic appears to be very specific. Between 2006-2022 all civil registry offices in the Czech Republic used a single manual written by one author who interprets gender-neutral names as being applicable only to “transsexual” people. The manual offered lists of specific names and surnames for trans people - without definition, without explanation of the method, without justification for limiting their use to the trans population. Since July 2023, after criticism of the previous approaches to unisex names, the situation has improved to a certain extent. Registry Offices have been given a comprehensive list of unisex names with the note that these names are for the general public. Surname forms that do not signal the female gender have been recognized as gender neutral. This is a prerequisite for further work in favour of the rehabilitation of unisex names.