Zur Frage der Slawizität einiger oberfränkischer Ortsnamen (Würgau, Gleußen, Feuln, Marktzeuln, Wirbenz) und Flurnamen (Külmnitz, Külmitz, Leubnitz)

Abstract

The article is concerned with the etymologies of northeast Bavarian,
i.e. Upper Franconian, settlement names Würgau, Gleußen, Feuln, Marktzeuln
and Wirbenz and the microtoponyms Külmnitz, Külmitz and Leubnitz. While
tradition had it that the settlement names are of Slavic origin, a PhD thesis
published in 2016 claimed them to be of West Germanic origin. In the case of
the microtoponyms Külmnitz and Külmitz only a West Germanic etymology
had hitherto been presented, while in the case of the microtoponym Leubnitz
both a Germanic and a Slavic one had been proposed, with no final conclusion
reached. The article compares the Slavic etymologies with the West Germanic
ones and reaches the conclusion that neither of the West Germanic etymologies
proposed is more convincing than any of the Slavic ones. In the case of the settlement
names Feuln and Marktzeuln, however, each proposed etymology is
roughly as convincing as the other (though the author ultimately still sides with
the Slavic etymologies). In the case of the other names, the Slavic etymologies
are (clearly) more convincing than the West Germanic ones.