Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 2025, vol. 92, pp. 1–10 Contents link / Turinio nuoroda ISSN 2669-218X (online / elektroninis)

NAMING AND RENAMING RIVERS AND STREAMS. THE CASE OF SCHWAPPACH. A SUPPLEMENT TO THE GERMAN WATER NAME BOOK.

Naming and Renaming of River Names. Supplementing the Data on Schwappach in the German Water Name Book

ALBRECHT GREULE University of Regensburg E-mail: [email protected] ORCID ID: – Scientific research areas: Text grammar, theolinguistics and sacred song, onomastics, historical syntax.

https://doi.org/10.35321/all92-04

ANNOTATION

When and by whom and why rivers and streams were given the names by which they are now known cannot today be reconstructed or inferred except with the help of etymological hypotheses. Why, for example, was the Rhine first called *Reinos or the Danube *Dānewjos? The problem is connected with the great age of hydronyms and depends on how long or significant a river or stream is. The situation is different when it concerns the renaming of a body of water. As the case described in this article shows, we can then precisely trace which participants in the modern era were involved in promoting or obstructing a renaming or new naming. It is symptomatic that, in the Bavarian example, the river course named Schwappach is relatively short but is a tributary of a large river, the Main. Furthermore, it is interesting and significant that the engagement of two local historians was necessary to set a renaming in motion. Their initiatives are connected with questions of geography, settlement history, and the transmission of names. The etymology of the hydronym Schwappach also plays an important role and is discussed anew.

KEYWORDS: river name, renaming/new naming, settlement history, name etymology, phantom name.

Copyright © 2025 Albrecht Greule. Published by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. // Išleido Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Šis straipsnis yra atviros prieigos, platinamas pagal „Creative Commons“ priskyrimo licencijos sąlygas, leidžiančias neribotai naudoti, platinti ir atkurti turinį bet kokioje laikmenoje, nurodant autorių ir šaltinį.

Received: / Received: 2025-01-12. Accepted: / Accepted: 2025-03-12.

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ABSTRACT

The origins of hydronyms when, by whom, and why the flowing waters were first named as they are today often remain beyond our full understanding. We can only speculate, relying on etymological hypotheses. For instance, why was the Rhine called *Reinos, or the Danube *Dānewjos? Such questions are deeply tied to the antiquity of these names and the significance or size of the waterways they denote. The situation, however, changes when it comes to renaming a body of water. As the case examined in this article demonstrates, we can precisely trace the individuals and factors involved in a modern renaming or the obstacles preventing it. A telling example from Bavaria illustrates this dynamic: Schwappach, though a relatively short tributary of the Main, became the focus of a renaming effort. Notably, it took the dedicated involvement of two local historians to initiate the process. Their efforts highlight broader issues related to geogeography, settlement history, and name transmission. Additionally, the etymology of the hydronym Schwappach plays a crucial role and is reexamined in light of these developments.

KEYWORDS: river name, renaming, settlement history, name etymology, phantom name.

1. THE WATER NAME THE SCHWAPPACH

A water name Schwappach will be sought in vain in the German Water Name Book (DGNB). The settlement name Schwappach is likewise hidden under the name compounds Unter-Schwappach and Ober-Schwappach. The two ecclesiastical settlements are parts of the municipality of Knetzgau in the district of Haßberge in Lower Franconia (Bavaria). Both lie on the Steinsfelder Mühlbach. Its headwater streams, the Löhrenbach and Eschenauer Mühlbach, rise in the Steigerwald Nature Park. The Steinsfelder Mühlbach, together with the Löhrenbach, is more than 10 km long and flows west of Wonfurt (district of Haßberge, Lower Franconia, Bavaria) from the left into the Seebach, which flows into the Main. In its lower course it is also called Schwappach^¹.

The discrepancy between the name Schwappach as a settlement name on the upper course of the Steinsfelder Mühlbach and its appearance as a name variant in the lower course leads experienced water-name researchers to conclude that originally the entire river, at least from the confluence of the headwater streams to its mouth, was called Schwappach and that the naming proceeded from the lower course.

In the series Hydronymia Germaniae, founded by Hans Krahe and edited by Wolfgang P. Schmid, a collection of nearly all German water names with their historical attestations, the place names Ober-, Unterschwappach are found under the headword Schwappacher See, which, according to the cadastral map (topographic map 1:25000, undated, no. 5934), flows on the right into the Höckerseegraben (tributary of the Pfaffbach, tributary of the Main). Historical attestations are not recorded^². The localization is incorrect according to current knowledge. Therefore, the DGNB lacks a headword Schwappach.

The brothers Heribert Muser and Ernst Muser, who grew up in Unterschwappach, set themselves the goal, as local historians in different ways—one as a historian, the other as a jurist—of restoring the old uniform naming of the Steinsfelder Mühlbach,

^¹ Schwappach-Wikipedia. Cf. the illustrated description of the river course by Muser 2024a and 2024b and differing names of the watercourse in Chap. 2.

^² Sperber 1970: 211.

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namely Schwappach, as it is called in popular usage and local literature. Which official hurdles had to be overcome, and with what success, is set out in Chapter 2, “Attempt at Renaming.”

2. ATTEMPT AT RENAMING

The topographic maps (L 6128) issued by the Bavarian State Survey Office in 1980 still show the watercourse rising in the Steigerwald and flowing into the Main at Horhausen (municipality of Theres, district of Haßberge) under the name Schwappach. In official maps published in 2020, however, the same watercourse is named Steinsfelder Mühlbach. Within 40 years, the official name was changed without the municipal administration of Knetzgau and the residents of Ober- and Unterschwappach noticing or being informed of this.

Contrary to the general assumption that local residents do not care what the body of water beside which they live is officially called and what name it bears on maps, the local historians Ernst and Heribert Muser took it upon themselves to make the connection between the name of the watercourse Schwappach and the settlement names (Ober-, Unter-)Schwappach visible cartographically and to restore it officially. In an article, Heribert Muser explored the historical depth of the name Schwappach through etymological investigations (see below, Chap. 3); as a jurist, Ernst Muser did not wish to silently accept that the watercourse in question “has for some time already borne the official name ‘Steinsfelder Mühlbach’ without any discernible justifying reason and should continue to do so in the future. Above all, the distressing thought arose that, through the name change, the two Schwappach villages had been deprived of the ‘sponsorship’ of their place name. It could not be ruled out that the thesis generally recognized in historical research—that settlements formed along bodies of water have as a rule adopted the older water name as their place name—had remained unconsidered. In addition, the local residents were given no opportunity to express their opinion. Their interests and emotional world may thereby have been substantially injured.”

With the official request to review the hydronymic matter and the “suggestion” that the original name Schwappach be restored to the watercourse, Ernst Muser set official correspondence in motion on 9 June 2023, ending with the “announcement concerning the partial renaming of the watercourse Steinsfelder Mühlbach to Schwappach” on 29 July 2024. Previously involved were the “State Office for Digitization, Broadband and Surveying,” the Bad Kissingen Water Management Office, the municipalities concerned, and the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection. After several decisions rejecting a renaming in the petitioner’s sense, the Bad Kissingen Water Management Office surprisingly announced on 29 February 2024 that

^³ Muser 2024: 1f.

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a partial renaming had meanwhile been decided and only needed to be implemented^⁴. What caused the authorities’ change of mind is unknown. The final consideration by the Haßberge District Office and the review by the legal department led to the following announcement, published in the district’s official gazette: “The section of the watercourse ‘Steinsfelder Mühlbach’ from the confluence of the ‘Löhrenbach’ with the ‘Eschenauer Mühlbach’ before Oberschwappach (municipality of Knetzgau) to the confluence of the ‘Zabelbach’ at the Hohenmühle (municipality of Knetzgau) is renamed ‘Schwappach.’”

The local historians’ efforts to have the originally presumed overall name Schwappach, based on historical evidence, officially and formally restored led only to the partial success that the hydronym Schwappach was declared the name of the section of the Steinsfelder Mühlbach flowing through Ober- and Unterschwappach. The name Steinsfelder Mühlbach remains as the section name for the lower course. – On the consequences of the official partial renaming for name lexicography, see Chap. 5.

3. NAME HISTORY / ETYMOLOGY

The desired, only partially successful renaming of the Steinsfelder Mühlbach was substantially advanced scientifically by Heribert Muser’s research into the etymology and age of the name Schwappach, published in 2024 in Der Steigerwald. Journal of a Franconian Landscape^⁵. The impetus was provided by engagement with the etymology presented in the Heimatbuch für das Tal der Schwappach^⁶, which is based on what is presumably the oldest documentary mention of the name Schwappach. It reads Suabaha, is found in the Codex Eberhardi, a cartulary of Fulda Monastery composed in the 12th century, and is dated to “around the year 800” (for more precise information on Suabaha, see Chap. 4). The secure mentions of the name refer to the Schwappach settlements: 1285 (?) Swapach, 1303 Swopach; in the dialect the name is Schwabb^⁷. The later historical attestations can be readily derived from the oldest form Suabaha (read Swab-aha), whereby the change in the spelling of /-b-/ in Suabaha to /-p-/ in the later attestations can be attributed to the Bavarian writing practice of using <p> instead of <b>. The second element of the compound Suab-aha, which meant “flowing water” in Old High German, likewise regularly appears in southern German water names in weakened form as -ach (as an independent appellative Ach, Ache and the like).

^⁴ Muser 2024: 4. ^⁵ Muser 2024a; 2024b. ^⁶ Wailersbacher 1986: 12–19. ^⁷ Attestations after Muser 2024a: 4; Muser 2024b: 8. The two Schwappach settlements are located in Codex Eberhardi I, 177va, as “Esh inowe ubi est curia sicut Hamelenburg. In quam curiam pertinent, Swapach, Swapach”; Oberschwappach as “sita iuxta ecclesiam Gangolfi.”

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Muser’s argument is directed not against the phonetic development of the name, but against its interpretation as “Swabian stream.” Just as Wolf-Armin v. Reitzenstein, with reference to the city of Schwabach in Middle Franconia at the mouth of the Schwabach River into the Main (called Suabach in 12th-century annals), relates the determining element Suab-(ach) to the Alemanni⁸, the Heimatbuch für das Tal der Schwappach likewise explains that the name Schwappach (< Suabaha) is attributable to the presence of “Main Suebi” at the turn of the 2nd/1st century BC⁹. Around 60 BC, the Suebi and other Germanic peoples penetrated the area between the Main and the Alps; according to the archaeological sources, there were indeed permanent settlements on and north of the Main. These so-called “Main Suebi” were subjugated by Drusus in 10/9 BC¹⁰. However, that Suebi really settled permanently on the Main and at the edge of the Steigerwald would have to be demonstrated by archaeological finds. It is also questionable whether their name became established in a hydronym and could have been transmitted into the Middle Ages¹².

Heribert Muser counters the uncertain etymology of the name Schwappach as “Swabian stream” with an alternative based on the “geographical-hydrological investigation of the body of water, its source, and its course in the landscape that shapes it and is also shaped by it”¹³. It is striking that the water level of the Schwappach depends on the climatic conditions in its source area, the Steigerwald, whose heights intercept the rain-bearing clouds coming from the west, and that prolonged precipitation produces corresponding masses of water, which in the only slightly sloping fields and meadows led to considerable flooding and inundation of properties located along the bank. In Unterschwappach and in Steinsfeld, situated downstream, farmers settled near the watercourse and suffered from the flooding. “The stream’s tendency to overflow can still be observed in recent times.”¹⁴

Normally, a name etymology seeks the appropriate naming motive for a given name. In the present case, the reverse applies: for the referent, the Schwappach, there is a plausible naming motive, but an appellative corresponding to it is sought. The appellative that best characterized the river coming from the Steigerwald and tending in its lower course toward flooding, which led to waterlogging, was the German word schwappen. The DWB, vol. 15 (DWB XV), col. 2281, gives the following description as the meaning of schwappen: “properly of liquids,”

⁸ Presupposes the factual identification of (Old High German) Suāba ‘the Swabians’ with the Alemanni and that the “Main Suebi” called themselves or were called Suāba. 9 Reitzenstein 2009: 203. 10 Wailersbacher 1986: 18f. 11 Suebi: Wikipedia. 12 On the age of bodies of water named with Schwab, cf. also Fastnacht 2002: 13–18. 13 Muser 2024b: 4–7. 14 Muser 2024b: 6.

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splashing, smacking against something, overflowing (alongside schwippen, schwuppen), causing to overflow, pouring over, inundating; of loose, spongy, soft, fatty masses, to tremble, sway, and the like.” It gives as its oldest attestation: Joh. Barth, weiberspiegel, 1565: “mit dem wasser etc. im tragen schwappen” [“to splash with the water, etc., while carrying it”].

Against this etymological background, the Schwappach joins a group of rivers and streams in the drainage basins of the Main and Neckar, such as Schwabbach and Schwabach¹⁵, for which geological-hydrographic conditions similar to those described above for the Schwappach presumably applied. The historical attestations for all the names produce, in summary, the following picture: 8th c. Suabaha, 9th c. Suabah, 11th c. Suapaha, Svaba, 12th c. Suaba, 13th c. Swapah, Swapach, 14th c. Swabach, 15th c. Swapach, Schwabach. The changes in the name observable in the spellings over the course of history can all be explained by known sound changes. OHG *Swab-aha, with the sound shift *Swap-aha, can be regarded as the original form for all the names.

The first component of the river name *Swab-aha can etymologically be connected with the verb stem of New High German schwabb-en, (with sound shift) schwapp-en (see above)—with the difference that, compared with the nominal stem *swab, the verb stem is doubled in the final position, which served to intensify the designation of the (iterative) process of overflowing and is onomatopoeic in origin (cf. the interjection schwapp!). The further etymology of Germanic *swab is unclear; it is probably a West Germanic sound-symbolic coinage. Semantically and morphologically close is the English word swamp, to inundate, flood; marsh¹⁶, if, alongside Germanic *swab, one assumes a final variant Germanic *swap, expanded by a nasal infix (–m–)¹⁷.

4. SUABAHA (KNETZGAU)—A PHANTOM NAME?

Does the attestation Suabaha from the Codex Eberhardi really refer to the ON Schwappach (municipality of Knetzgau)? A look at the digitized manuscript of Codex Eberhardi I, 152rb (digitization no. 304) shows that Suabaha (without a separation point) is written before Suabheim in the group of places including Biergila (= Marktbergel, Middle Franconia) and Vrbareshei(m) (= Urfersheim, Middle Franconia) “in pago R angewe” (= Rangau, Middle Franconia), which “the comitissa Reginsuinit” donated to Fulda Monastery. The text is a copied excerpt from a charter of donation dated to the 9th century, bearing number 93 in the edition of the Codex Eberhardi¹⁸.

15 Cf. DGNB 484; DONB 573. 16 The DWB XV, col. 2198, under the headword Schwamm (OHG swamp), relates English swamp to German schwappen. According to the DWB, the original meaning of Schwamm was ‘the yielding, swaying mass’. 17 Cf. IEW I 1052. 18 Meyer zu Ermgassen 1995: 259.

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The question arises whether the syntagma Suabaha Suabheim refers to two places or only one. The 9th-century attestation Suabheim is rightly associated in Wikipedia–Schwebheim (Burgbernheim) with present-day Schwebheim (town of Burgbernheim, district of Neustadt an der Aisch–Bad Windsheim, Mittelfranken)—and not, as in Reitzenstein (2009: 205), with Schwebheim (district of Schweinfurt, Unterfranken). At Schwebheim (Mittelfranken), the fish-rich Aisch rises. It is conceivable that the source documents for the Codex Eberhardi contained <suabah heim> written as the name of a settlement, present-day Swebheim (Mittelfranken), and that the copyist accidentally or deliberately turned it into two names: Suabaha and Suabheim. I do not consider <suabah> a river name, but rather a region name referring to the Aisch’s source area approximately one and a quarter kilometers south of the center of Schwebheim. The original form of the region name (Old High German) *Suab-ahi n., later *Swebech, *Swebich, is derived from Germanic *swab- (see section 3) with the collective suffix Old High German -ahi^¹⁹. Once *Suabahi was compounded with the base word -heim, *Suabah(i)heim was shortened haplologically to Suabheim, and later likewise *Suebichheim to Swebheim, etc., dialectally šwēbb.

For comparison, the ON Schwebda (municipality of Meinhard in the Werra-Meißner district of northern Hesse), situated on the eastern slope of the Meinhard on the Werra, may be cited: 9th c. Suebada (charter of Fulda Imperial Abbey), 1243 Suevede, 1269 in Swebede, originally a designation of a location *Swab-idi, derived from Germanic *swab- (see above) with the collective suffix Old Saxon -ithi n.^²⁰. Thus we have a synonymous pair of area names *Swab-ahi (in Middle Franconia) alongside *Swab-idi (in northern Hesse); both names are derived from the same Germanic stem *swab- ‘overflowing’ with different suffixes. On the other hand, it is certain that the mention of Suabaha is not a phantom name, although it does not refer to Schwappach (Lower Franconia), but to Schwebheim (Middle Franconia).

5. SCHWAPPACH: SUPPLEMENT TO THE DGNB

Even without the attestation Suabaha in the Codex Eberhardi, the Schwappach can be classified among the Schwabach water names and must be added to the DGNB by a supplement. The river name die Schwappach fits well into the geographical name landscape around Knetzgau. The counterpart to Schwappach is the Nassach, coming from the Haßberge on the other side of the Main and flowing into the Main at Haßfurt (at Haßfurt into the Main)^²¹. Both names are compounds with the basic word OHG aha ‘flowing water’, and the determining word refers to hydrological peculiarities (tendency to flood, surrounding flora). On the basis of this formation, they can be assigned to a

¹⁹ Bach 1953: § 193–195, 160–162.

²⁰ Generally associated by research with OHG swebēn ‘to surge, billow, move, swim’, cf. Udolph 2023: 148.

²¹ On Nassach cf. DGNB 370.

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water-name layer whose names were given by settlers in the early Middle Ages. Older name layers include only the pre-Germanic name of the Main (Latin Moenus) and the water name Germanic *Hasa, the old name of the Nassach, incorporated into the names Habfurt, Hassgau and Hassberge²². The name Löhrenbach, one of the headwater streams of the Schwappach, belongs to the most recent water-name layer; it is named after the presence of larches (in the Steigerwald)²³.

REFERENCES

Bach Adolf 1953: German Onomastics II: German Place Names [German Onomastics II: German Place Names] 1, Heidelberg, Winter.

Codex Eberhardi: Digitalisate des Codex Eberhardi [Digital copies of the Codex Eberhardi]: HStAM K 425 und HStAM K 426. Zugang: https://arcinsys.hessen.de>arcinsys>list.action [Zugriff 20.01.2025].

DGNB: German Water Name Book: Etymology of Water Names and the Associated Area, Settlement and Field Names [German Water Name Book: Etymology of Water Names and the Associated Area, Settlement and Field Names], by A. Greule, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014.

DONB: German Place Name Book [German Place Name Book], ed. by M. Niemeyer, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2012.

Fastnacht Dorothea 2002: The Place Name Erlangen. Settlement History of Alterlangen and Erlangen from an Onomastic Perspective [The Place Name Erlangen. Settlement History of Alterlangen and Erlangen from an Onomastic Perspective]. – Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung 62, [1–20]. Access: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00048855/image_15 [accessed 03.02.2025].

Greule Albrecht 2016: Water-Name Layers in the Main-Danube Region [Water Name Layers in the Main-Danube Region]. – Romans – Bavarians – Franks. Archaeology, Onomastics, Language History in the Main-Danube Region [Romans – Bavarians – Franks. Archaeology, Onomastics, Language History in the Main-Danube Region] 7, ed. by R. Bergmann, S. Stricker, Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, 9–23.

IEW I: Indo-European Etymological Dictionary [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] 1, by J. Pokorny, Bern, Munich: Francke Verlag, 1959.

Meyer zu Ermgassen Heinrich, ed., 1995: The Codex Eberhardi of Fulda Monastery [The Codex Eberhardi of the Fulda Monastery] 1, Marburg: Elwert.

Muser Ernst 2024: Partial Renaming of the Watercourse “Steinsfelder Mühlbach” to the Former Official Name “Schwappach.” Course of the Official Procedure. Summary [Partial Renaming of the River “Steinsfelder Mühlbach” to Its

²² On Germanic *Hasa cf. DGNB 210. ²³ On the chronological layering of water names in Franconia, cf. Greule 2016.

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Former Official Name “Schwappach”. Course of the Administrative Procedure. Summary] (persönliche Mitteilung an A. Greule vom 21.10.2024).

Muser Heribert 2024a: The Meaning of the Place and Water Name “Schwappach” [The Meaning of the Place and Water Name “Schwappach”], Part 1. – Der Steigerwald 44(1), 3–7.

Muser Heribert 2024b: The Meaning of the Place and Water Name “Schwappach” [The Meaning of the Place and Water Name “Schwappach”], Part 2. – Der Steigerwald 44(2), 4–11.

Reitzenstein Wolf-Armin Frhr. v. 2009: Lexicon of Franconian Place Names: Origin and Meaning. Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia [Lexicon of Franconian Place Names: Origin and Meaning. Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia], Munich: C. H. Beck.

Sperber Rüdiger, comp., 1970: The River Basin of the Main: Hydronymia Germaniae [The River Basin of the Main: Hydronymia Germaniae], Series A, issue 7, founded by H. Krahe, ed. by W. P. Schmid, Wiesbaden: Steiner.

Udolph Jürgen 2023: Names—Witnesses of History [Names—Witnesses of History], ed. by K. Casemir, U. Ohainski, Heidelberg: Winter.

Wailersbacher Rainer 1986: 700 Years of Swapach – Eschenawe – Wunnawe, Ober-, Unterschwappach, Eschenau, Wohnau, ed. by G. Knetz gau, Haßfurt: Tagblatt-Druckerei.

ONLINE TEXTS

DWB XV: German Dictionary by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm 15, digital version. Access: https://Wörterbuchnetz.de [accessed 28.1.2025].

Schwappach: Wikipedia. Access: https://de.wikipedia.org>wiki>Schwappach [accessed 10.1.2025].

Schwebheim (Burgbernheim): Wikipedia. Access: https://de.wikipedia.org>wiki>Schwebheim_(Burgbernheim) [accessed 25.1.2025].

Suebi: Wikipedia. Access: https://de.wikipedia.org>wiki>Sueben [accessed 18.1.2025].

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Naming and renaming hydronyms. Supplement to the data on Schwappach in the Dictionary of German hydronyms

ABSTRACT

Schwappach is the name of a section of the Mühlbach River at Steinsfeld (a left-bank tributary of the Ehebach, which flows into the Main). In the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria, in the Haßberge district and the municipality of Knetzgau, there are the place names Oberschwappach and Unterschwappach. The place name Schwappach, i.e. Oberschwappach, is mentioned in the second half of the 13th century (copy of a supplementary entry) as Swapach sita iuxta ecclesiam sancti Gangolfi (modern German Gangolfsberg (Steigerwald)), and the place name Nidenswopach, in inferiori Swopach is also mentioned in 1303/13 (in a copy from 1358), dialectally Schwabbi. Its basic form, Old High German *Swab-aha, indicates a compound name consisting of the Old High German base aha ‘running water’ and the West Germanic *swab- ‘the sound produced when water falls, a splashing rise’. Also compare Early Middle Low German schwappen → Schwabach, German (Middle High German) Swapach > Schwappach, with gemination of /-pp-/, cf. the interjection schwapp!, used to describe the sound produced by splashing (Muser 2024a; 2024b). The factual accuracy was kindly confirmed by Dr Wolfgang Janka of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich.

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