Lanke (toponym)

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Lanke (Femininum, die ) is a Slavic relic word in German that, as a toponym, delimits regionally v. a. is used for standing water or parts of water such as bays, but also for running water, towns and parcels.

The homonym , which is or was used in some German dialects to mean ' loin ', 'side of the human body' or 'thigh', is related via the Indo-European root, but is not directly related to the Slavic toponym.

Origin and meaning

According to predominant research opinion, the word comes from Old Slavic * lǫka or * ląka (= 'moist meadow', 'swamp' but also 'bay', 'bend'; cf. Polish łąka , Sorbian łuka ), whereby the Slavic nasal vowel ǫ / ą to on was denasalized: lanka . This de-nasalization also took place in Sorbian, but here the nasal was usually replaced by u , as was the case in Serbo-Croatian (cf. luka for 'harbor', i.e. waters surrounded by land). Etymologically, it is a further development of łǫkъ ('arch', 'curvature'), which can be explained by the fact that swampy, damp meadows are often found in the curves and bends of water.

In the main distribution area it is a word from the Polish of the West Slavic language group.

Various attempts have been made to use the word as a derivation of the above. to interpret the German dialect term, which, however, cannot explain the spatial limitation of the use to the Polish language area. In addition, the word is also attested in a similar form and meaning for the South and East Slavic languages as well as the Baltic languages closely related to Slavonic , which does not indicate a German origin.

As a widespread toponym, Lanke found its way into German usage in the regions concerned and for this reason was still used to name similar bodies of water in the post-Slavic period.

Johann Leonhard Frisch names Lanke for the first half of the 18th century as an expression used by Brandenburg fishermen for a 'side of the water where you can fish', i.e. a shallow body of water or stretch of water.

distribution

As a water body and place name, the distribution of Lanke is essentially limited to today's Brandenburg (without Niederlausitz and Fläming ) as well as some neighboring areas ( Wendland , along the Oder near Stettin , West Pomerania), all of which were populated by Slavic-speaking groups. In the former (and present-day) Sorbian language area, however, where there was de-nasalization from ǫ / ą to u , it does not occur. Regional clusters can be found v. a. on the lower reaches of the Havel , Dahme and Spree west and south of Berlin , in the Prignitz and the opposite Wendland as well as around Oderberg .

In Mecklenburg the word appears as Lank ('body of water' or 'part of a body of water'), in the area of ​​the Stettiner Haff as Lanke ('long and flat bank indentation'), in Brandenburg as Lanke ('bulge in the river bank') in the Westprignitz as well as elsewhere in the meanings 'quiet side water', 'swamp' or 'moor'. In the Altmark , Lanke mostly refers to oxbow lakes of the Elbe , which are also silent side waters.

The word is also found sporadically in the former Slavic areas in Austria and Bavaria.

Oldest mentions

Further examples

Witkowski lists a total of 327 localizable toponyms that are derived from Lanke .

The better known include:

Sources and individual references

  • Teodolius Witkowski: Lanke as a relic word and as a name . In: Teodolius Witkowski (Hrsg.): Research on Slavic and German naming . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1971, p. 88-120 .
  1. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p. 92.
  2. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p. 92.
  3. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p. 95.
  4. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p. 94.
  5. ^ Witkowski 1971, map on p. 120.
  6. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p. 90.
  7. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p. 91.
  8. ↑ Witkowski 1971, p 96-116.