Racing field
Rennwiese , derived from [a horse] race in the sense of fast riding (cf. Rennweg for military bridle path, or racing flag for equestrian standard ), is a medieval name for a tournament site, which was later used as a synonym for horse racing tracks.
Functional change
At the time of the knight tournaments , racing fields were laid out near many castles and towns. After lancing with the racing spear went out of fashion, the racing meadows were often used for horse races. Some horse racing tracks, such as the one in the Magdeburg district of Herrenkrug or the one at the Zweibrücken State Stud, are still called Rennwiese today. Sometimes, as in Reutlingen or Oberstimm, they were also converted into sports or festival grounds.
Name relics
Racing fields can still be found in some cities, in many places hallway or street names remind of this:
- Achern , Dettingen an der Erms , Karlsruhe , Löwenstein , Mannheim , Markgröningen or Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg,
- Oberstimm in Bavaria,
- Kaufungen in Hessen,
- Castrop-Rauxel and Kreuztal in North Rhine-Westphalia,
- Zweibrücken in Rhineland-Palatinate,
- Lebach in Saarland,
- Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt,
- Neukirch im Thurgau, Switzerland.
See also
literature
- Friedrich Kluge : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 18th edition, de Gruyter, Berlin 1960, p. 596.
