We can thus discover much about oldenday words for hills, lakes, and forests by studying the names of presentday villages and towns. They are generally classified into four groups, based on the origin of a nickname. So the word for german possibly comes from a name originally given by west baltic tribes to the vikings. Youve encountered a latin place name and cant find the meaning. On the etymology of the estonian place names kirna and kernu. In etymology, german family names were introduced during the late middle ages in the german language area. But if desired, it can take many other aspects into consideration, such as the entry of synonyms, the specification of the part of speech, the possibility of referencing its etymology, the name of the terminologist and the date of the change to the existing terminology or the. German names are used in germany and other german speaking areas such as austria and switzerland. The name germany and the other similarsounding names above are derived from the latin germania, of the 3rd century bc, a word of uncertain origin. It is, however, not suited for learners of the language, and is sometimes even hard to understand for natives. German names follow the same system as most western countries, which is the use of a first name followed by a surname that is passed down from generation to generation, and, in many cases, through marriage.
They are often very easy to identify if you either know a little german or know which clues to look for. Derived from old high german holz wood and man man, a name for someone who lived close to a wood or worked with wood. Over 100,000 german translations of english words and phrases. Find the meaning, history and popularity of given names from around the world. Social security administration data, the first name german is not a popular baby boys name in colorado. The meaning and history of first names behind the name. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. In germany, the official in charge of the church sacristy was the kuester the english equivalent was sexton and kester and koester are variations of that occupational name. Aharon, which is most likely of unknown egyptian origin. Two absolutely correct answers were collapsed, and i dont know why. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. The landscape of placenames by margaret gelling and ann cole. Join us on an excursion into the world of eight common words delightfully convoluted backstories.
This book, however, differs from orbis latinus in that it not only contains. German placenames are very commonly a compound of a determinant word bestimmungswort and a common root grundwort, usually in that order. From the name of various places in the netherlands and germany, for example the village of achterberg in utrecht. Imagine that, only 5 babies in colorado have the same name as you in 1989. German language stack exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the german language. Kallasmaa, marja 1998 on the role of folk etymology in the development of place names. Available resources include german birth, death and marriage records, as well as census, immigration, military, and other genealogy records. In this post youll find a selection of funny german town names and their historic and linguistic origins, which often feature a surprising mix of. The name was eventually applied by the romans to all germans, and the name germania was given to the land of the germans. Any discussion of the meaning of the name mormon, must start by dealing with a letter published in the times and seasons 4 15 may 1843. Usually, such family names are derived from nicknames. This rich lode of indian and ethnic english, french, scottish, irish, german etc tradition and lore is a browsers paradise. If youre just looking for a quick explanation of the origin of a word, its also not the. An essential grammar but for the origin and relationship between german words i find etymology very useful for learning, but havent found a guidebook.
This book updates his earlier placenames of the world. If it helps, lets forget the introductory aspect, and think of what is his name. Meanings of common elements in germanic place names. Monica cellio says that modern hebrew has this what is your name construction as well. So far it looks like old and middle english used a phrase similar to german and scandinavian countries. Many placenames derive from prominent features of the local landscape.
The english word german comes from latin germanus, germani german, originally the name of a specific tribe. Places are sorted alphabetically according to their german names. Etymology of place the word place open space in a city, square, area, location comes from the old french place from the late latin placea place, spot from the latin platea courtyard, open space, broad street, which is a transliteration of the greek plateia open space in a city, square from the greek adjective plateia. Karlstadt, for example, derives from the root stadt, meaning city, and a personal name, karl. Wuppertal wupper dalevalley, karlmarxstadt karl marx city, name for chemnitz during the ddr era, wilhelmshaven williams havenharbor, referring to king william i of prussia. Etymology meaning in the cambridge english dictionary.
Identifying place names in german documents genealogy. However, the name of the westvirginian place may have inspired the naming of a place in washington. Is there a good online resource to look up the etymology. A guide to latin place names and their meanings latinitium. Do the germans ever refer to themselves as from germany or just simply the deutschland.
Talking to a used book dealer, i couldnt even recall the title. An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. An etymological dictionary of the german language and dwds are great, but they are really references it seems a little strange that i cant find such a book. Celtic names, used in prehistoric times in the southern and western parts of the german language area. A concise german etymological dictionary book, 1951. Latvian linguist konstantinos karulis proposes that the word may be based on the indoeuropean word wek speak, from which derive old prussian wackis war cry or latvian vekskis. The article concerns primarily the towns and villages, but bilingual names for mountains, rivers etc. Caution should always be taken when interpreting placenames. Topographical names were held in low esteem by early place name scholars but their importance was raised in a book by margaret gelling, first published in 1978.
The name appears to be a gaulish term, and there is no evidence that it was ever used by the germanic tribes themselves. Besides areas with current speakers of germanic languages, many regions with previous germanic speakers or germanic influence had or still have germanic toponymic elements, such as places in northern france, wallonia, poland and northern italy comparative table. Popular german books showing 150 of 39,670 siddhartha mass market paperback by. The river has lent its name to the country to the east in german, swedish, finnish, estonian, polish and slovene this is only the name of the river, with the name of the country taking a different form. In round brackets, the contemporary cognate for the. The etymology is uncertain, but it could be derived from arabic.
Such names could have been used to describe neighbouring people whose language was incomprehensible to baltic peoples. Etymology of place english words of unexpected greek. Old english bocian to grant or assign by charter, from book n. Translations of many of the abbreviations and german words found in.
Its a german patronymic name when not from the town, and a german place name in that case. List of german exonyms for places in the czech republic. Get ideas for baby names or discover your own names history. In proceedings of the xixth international congress of onomastic sciences. Germanic toponyms are the names given to places by germanic peoples and tribes. Minimally, these can consist of the definition of a term and the corresponding translation in the target language. A boon for genealogical research and an interesting browse for the merely curious, this detailed dictionary is an englishlanguage reference for more than 15,000 german family names, including variant spellings as well as the meaning and origin of each name. While many german records are not available online, these german genealogy databases are a good place to begin researching your german family tree. This discusses the many elements of topographical place names, with updates in 1988 and 1997. In a more restricted sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to as toponomastics. Browse other questions tagged etymology dictionary placenames or. This meaning of au earlier spelling ow, owe, ouwe describes settlements. German placenames are very commonly a compound of a determinant word. To start, simply click on the button to generate 10 random names.
Place names as they occur in german documents are not really misspelled. German translation of place the official collins englishgerman dictionary online. With the help of chirlus answer telling me that ortsnamenbuch is the german name for this type of. Denoted a person who lived near a field, derived from middle english aker or middle high german acker meaning field. The names of many places in the czech lands bohemia, moravia, austrian silesia have evolved during their history.
Yarden, and it is derived from yarad meaning descend or flow down. Toponymy itself is a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. Etymology of the place name chattaroy linguistics stack. Brewers suggests it is from an opinion of early settlers that the place was idyllic in the wilds. Biblical place name, both the mountain upon which moses receives the ten commandments from god and the desert where it.
664 723 1483 413 781 766 628 187 923 45 82 1077 1171 721 79 963 1156 1205 1564 70 1070 901 609 537 260 821 1519 1137 124 321 208 604 1347 1448 1409 147 1016 502 107 1272 1244 285 84 252