Hell (field name)

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Hell is a common field name for narrow or wild areas, such as gorges or steep slopes . Common variants are light to hollow or halo .

Word origin

On the one hand, the word is associated with a general Germanic root * hel, * hal ' to hide', as it still lives hidden in the word hide . For narrow valleys in particular , a related meaning is hell , 'the narrow space between stove and wall' in the sense of 'gap, incised opening'. The distribution area is from Upper German to Old English . This root 'hidden' also includes the terms hell in the Christian sense and Hel , the Germanic underworld, but a reinterpretation in the mythological sense is just as secondary in the toponymics as it is in the rarer heaven 'high, open corridor'.

A second derivation presumably comes from Middle High German  helde ' Halde , Hang ', Dutch light 'tend', i.e. more open terrain forms.

Another possible derivation is in connection with bright , light, clear; to see resounding ', and then even contrary to the first interpretation. In addition, locally, especially for Hel- / Hol-, many more difficult-to-derive transformations to other word roots are possible.

Examples

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b hell, f. . In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : German Dictionary . Hirzel, Leipzig 1854–1961 ( woerterbuchnetz.de , University of Trier). - esp. 5) the word often appears as a place name for a narrow, wild area .
  2. ↑ hell 6) . In: Grimm: German dictionary.
  3. ↑ a b c Albrecht Greule: Deutsches Gewässernamenbuch: Etymology of the names of waters and the associated area, settlement and field names. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 2014, ISBN 9783110338591 , entry Hell - / - e - / - n- , p. 216, p. 2 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  4. ↑ Old English field names based on old English documents from the 7th to the 11th century. 1st chapter. Scientific addition to the annual report of the K. Realgymnasium Würzburg , 1899/1900, Verlag H.Stürtz, 1900, hele , p. 67 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  5. ↑ cf. Josef Karlmann Brechenmacher: Teufel Hölle Himmel in German family names. Publishing house for kin research and heraldry CA Starke, Görlitz. 1936, p. 20; and the same. Etymological dictionary of German family names. 2, edition, Limburg ad Lahn 1957–1963, Helle (e), on Flurn. H. (Hell) , p. 690.
  6. ↑ a b Jan De Vries; Felicien de Tollenaere (ed.): Nederlands Etymologische Woordenboek. New edition Verlag Brill, 1987, ISBN 9789004083929 , entry hel , p. 248, column 1 f ( limited preview in the Google book search).