-itz

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-itz is a place name ending with Slavic origin.

origin

Distribution in Germany

The place names on - (i) (t) z are derived from different Slavic place name types.

  • Slavic resident names with -ici as the ending (cf. Sorbian -icy or -ecy )
    • Putdargoniz (mentioned in Mecklenburg in 1198), originated from a reconstructed place name * Poddargonici
    • Biskupitz (in West Prussia and Posen), arose from a reconstructed place name * Biskupici
  • Slavic patronyms with the suffix -ovici; see -witz
    • Katowice (in Upper Silesia), composed of the personal name Kat and the suffix -ovici and thus meaning "among the people of Kato"
  • originally appellative place names with the suffix -ica, -ec (e) ( -ьcь, -ьce etc.)
    • Kamenz (Lausitz), from Old Sorbian kameń "stone" plus the suffix -ece and thus meaning "the stony one (meaning: place)"
    • Chemnitz (Saxony), first a river name and only later transferred to the place, also from Old Sorbian kameń "stone", but plus the suffix -ice (which is why with i-umlaut ) and thus meaning "the stony one (meant: stream)"
    • other river names formed in this way are for example Lafnitz , Fladnitz , Rechnitz ; but different: Retz from rece Kleiner Bach, Germanized 1180 rezze
    • Dölitz (Mecklenburg and Leipzig), arose from a reconstructed place name * Dolbьcь
    • Görnitz (Mecklenburg, Holstein, Saxony), emerged from a reconstructed place name Gornica
    • Gradec 'small castle', ancestral form of numerous German names on vowel +  (t) z
  • the ancient Slavic suffix -ika occurs in place names that were translated very early on and in Austria was adapted to the German suffix -ing
    • Mödling (Lower Austria), named after the body of the same name, earliest mentions as ad Medilihha (903, copy of the 13th century), de Medlik (after 1190), first mentioned in 1491 Mödling

In Wendland , the -itz ending is sometimes diphthongized and then reads -eitz . Examples:

  • Reddebeitz
  • Waddeweitz

The ending of the place name Bomlitz (first documented in 1681), on the other hand, is not of Slavic origin and is associated with the talknick of the stream called Bommelse at that time (Bommel-Etz) or a weir (Bommel-Letzel) .

distribution

The suffix - (i) (t) z and its relatives are widespread in the German place name treasure in regions (eastern Germany , Austrian Waldviertel and Mühlviertel ) that were formerly inhabited by West and South Slavs or are still partially populated today were largely Germanized as part of the German Ostsiedlung . The western border of their occurrence thus largely marks the border between the Germanic and Slavic language areas that existed until the 12th century . In Eastern Franconia and Austria, however , some -itz names go back to the first Germanizations from the 8th century.

In addition, the suffix was also productive for the German designations ( exonyms ) of many Slavic names in areas that were never German-speaking, for example Tschernowitz (Bukowina), Windischgrätz for Slovenj Gradec (northern Slovenia).

literature

  • German book of place names. Edited by Manfred Niemeyer. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-018908-7 . - See here besides the respective place names also the article -itz (p. 293).
  • Walter Kaestner: Low German-Slavic interference. In: Gerhard Cordes, Dieter Möhn (Hrsg.): Handbook for Low German Linguistics and Literature Studies. Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-503-01645-7 , pp. 678-729.

swell

  1. ^ A b c Walter Kaestner: Low German-Slavic interference . In: Gerhard Cordes , Dieter Möhn (Hrsg.): Handbook for Low German Linguistics and Literature Studies . Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-503-01645-7 , pp. 678-729, section 3.1.2.2 707-708 .
  2. ↑ a b c German book of place names. Edited by Manfred Niemeyer. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, s. v.
  3. ^ Olaf Mußmann: Self-organization and chaos theory in historical science. The example of the commercial and armaments village Bomlitz 1680–1930. Leipziger Univ.-Verlag, Leipzig 1998; ISBN 3-933240-10-7

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