JÜRGEN UDOLPH

Center for Name Research – Göttingen

Göttingen Academy of Sciences

Scientific research fields: Historical linguistics, hydronyms, toponyms, family names.

DOI: doi.org/10.35321/all86-05

NOMINA GEOGRAPHICA EUROPAEA. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTION OF EUROPEAN PLACE, FIELD, AND WATER NAMES

Nomina Geographica Europaea. A bibliographical collection of European place names, field names, and water names

ANNOTATION

This contribution concerns a file of approximately 450,000 geographical names that has been freely accessible on the Internet for several months. It can be accessed under the title Nomina Geographica Europaea. Bibliographical Collection of European Place, Field and Water Names at the following Internet address: https://adw-verwaltung.uni-goettingen.de/ortsnamen/images_lightbox.php. The text describes the file in greater detail. Its origins, principles, and structure are outlined, and it is pointed out that its use is completely free and open to all interested parties. In the second part of the contribution, an example involving the migration of Slavonic tribes to the Balkans demonstrates how the file can be used with its wealth of data: the collection of geographical names makes it possible, thanks to the information it contains, to create maps whose results are important for the question of the routes by which Slavonic tribes made their way south.

KEYWORDS: Place names, water names, field names, name collection, South Slavs.

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ANNOTATION

The article is about a file with around 450,000 geographical names that has been freely accessible on the Internet for a few months. The card index bears the title Nomina Geographica Europaea. Bibliographische Sammlung zu europäischen Orts-, Flurund Gewässernamen, reachable at the following internet address: https://adw-verwaltung.uni-Goettingen.de/ortsnames/images_lightbox.php. The text describes the file in more detail. The origin, principles and structure are outlined in more detail and it is pointed out that the use is completely free and open to all interested parties.

In the second part of the article, an example of the migration of Slavic tribes to the Balkans is shown how the file with its large amount of data can be used: the collection of geographical names allows, thanks to the information it contains, to create mappings, the results of which are important for the question of the routes by which Slavic tribes made their way south.

KEYWORDS: place names, hydronyms, toponyms, field names, collection of names, Southern Slavs.

INTRODUCTION

A convincing interpretation of a geographical name can succeed only when extensive preliminary work has been carried out. First, it is necessary to make a careful collection of the name’s historical attestations, naturally relying on reliable editions of the texts.

Second, it is essential to search for similar names, comparative names, and parallel names, whether for the basic word or the derivational base—both are of great use.

Basically, an old principle of onomastics still applies today: first collect, then interpret. Wilhelm Eilers (1982: p. 49) expressed it as follows: “First collect and classify, then analyze linguistically and historically!” All the successes and insights I have achieved in the field of name research have been gained in this way.”

Once sufficient material has been collected for a place name and its possible parallels, a third approach is also advisable: mapping the name and its parallels, by which, for example, maps of the basic word, the determinative words, and the name-formation elements are meant. Theodor Frings (1957: p. 9) emphasized this in clear words: “Maps

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we attach particular importance to. Their graphic character can say more than the verbosity of many pages.”

To meet these conditions—especially the last—years and decades of extensive collecting work are necessary. This applies to all major onomastic undertakings, for example the large collection of Polish place names in Kraków (NMPol), the Old Polish personal names (SSNO), and the place names of Lithuania (LVŽ I, II).

Decades ago, J. Zaimov was able to demonstrate the interesting results that the collection and mapping of Slavonic place and water names can produce, using a distribution map of South Slavonic tribes (Map 1).

MAP 1 (Source: J. Zaimov 1967, supplement)

This map by J. Zaimov, however, shows only the immigration of Slavonic tribes in the eastern Balkans; the west is not covered here. This gap can nevertheless be closed through further collections and mappings of other Slavonic geographical names. I will return to this point.

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1. FOUNDATIONS OF THE COLLECTION AND CREATION OF THE FILE

The main purpose of my contribution is to draw attention to a very extensive collection of geographical names that has been freely available on the Internet for several months. It was created over the course of the last 50 years. Since neither the Internet nor electronic data processing or computers were available at the beginning of the collection (1970), it was created using the only method possible at that time: on paper. There was no other possibility. This corresponded to the scholarly standard of the time and was applied, for example, in the attempt to create a “New Förstemann” in Freiburg, as well as in the collection of the NMPol in Kraków. A few years ago, the author of this contribution had the opportunity to see this collection and use it for some research.

The newly presented collection at issue here is now freely accessible on the Internet. It is available on the website: https://adw-verwaltung.uni-goettingen.de/ortsnamen/images_lightbox.php. When using the file, patience is required. The data volumes are very large, and their individual components could be stored only as jpg, that is, in image format. Conversion to pdf format was not possible. Below I provide a brief description of the file and notes on its use.

The collection contains a large number of geographical names, estimated at approximately 450,000. Initially, it was created only for the Slavonic area (the current and former settlement area of Slavonic tribes). Over time, names from adjoining regions were also included, primarily because it became clear in the course of the work that the Slavonic settlement area contains names whose treatment and meaningful interpretation are possible only by also including non-Slavonic toponyms and hydronymy.

The collection is primarily a reference file. At first, an attempt was made to add interpretations and notes to the individual names as well, but the abundance of material—the Slavonic settlement area extends or extended from the Elbe to Kamchatka and from the Baltic Sea to Greece—soon made this expansion impossible. In a certain sense, the collection can be compared with the Register of Contributions to Name Research, Volumes 1–16, Heidelberg 1969 edited by R. Schützeichel and prepared by his collaborators, a register that can still be used profitably today.

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2. STRUCTURE OF THE CARD FILE

The core is the alphabetical card file. It contains approximately 450,000 cards. When using it, one will see that it is a relatively simple collection; one might perhaps even call it primitive. This is partly because, at the beginning of the collection, the compiler was not aware of how the procedure should proceed in detail or what would develop from the first small beginnings.

The main card file is arranged alphabetically. Thus, the name Aa is followed by Aar, Abalon, Achalm, etc. But there are peculiarities caused to a considerable extent by the alphabets, especially those of Eastern European languages, and also by the transliteration of Cyrillic scripts. These include, for example, the placement of -я- (after -a-), -э- (after -e-), -ć- = -c-, -č- (after -c-), -в- = -w, etc. The details are listed in an introductory section under “Notes on Origins” and “Notes on Use,” which it is recommended to read before using the file.

In another section, designated “Literature,” one finds the literature used and transferred to cards. It also contains expansions of abbreviated literature references, such as ABM = Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea kościelne (Vol. 1ff., Lublin 1959/60ff.). Literature cited in abbreviated form is usually given at the lower edge of the index cards, e.g. “Cited: Adamy” (for: Heinrich Adamy, Die schlesischen Ortsnamen etc., Breslau 1888).

3. USE OF THE FILE

The process of using it can be described approximately as follows. If one is searching for a particular name, e.g. Heča, one proceeds as follows:

Step 1: In the main file, click the initial letter—in this case, “H”—in the upper row of the text field (note that loading times may be several seconds because of the large amount of material; especially for the initial letters B, K, P, and S, it may take longer than one is accustomed to on the Internet).

After opening the letter “H,” the following image appears:

FIGURE 1: Entry portal for the file

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The bottom line is important: for technical reasons, the file with names beginning with H cannot be displayed, which is somewhat unusual. At the bottom it says: “Images with the initial letters HU are displayed.” If one scrolls down, one sees the index cards “Huba, Hualimer, Huahа,” etc. To get to “Heche,” click the HE tab in the lower alphabet row (see Figure 2).

FIGURE 2: Subdivision of the entry portal

A new page opens with the names Heciul-Nou, Hechtenbach, Hechky, Héche, Hecha, etc. In the first row one sees, among others, the following index card (see Figure 3):

FIGURE 3: Index card “Héche”

It contains the additional information: “see Skutil, Reg.” The expansion must be sought in the “Literature” file. To do this, return to the file’s start page (see Figure 4).

FIGURE 4: Entry portal of the card file

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On the right-hand side there is a reference to “Literature.” Click it; the following page opens (see Figure 5).

FIGURE 5: Entry portal for the literature references

Now do not click the upper row, but the lower one, above which it says: 6773 images in total for names with Literature. Then select the subfolder. Images with the initial letter Š are displayed.

To search for “Skutil,” click the letter “S.” A new page opens with the literature stored under S. The index cards begin with Sächsischer Flurnamensammler, V. Sádlo, J. Sack, etc.

Scroll down and under the author name “J. Skutil” find several titles, beginning with “J. Skutil, Pomístní jména...”. Note the entry on the card found, “Skutil, Reg.,” and on this card find the complete title: J. Skutil, Mikrotoponymie a oronymie Drahanské vrchoviny, Blansko 1968. In the register one will then find the name “Héche” and be able to consult the corresponding page. Here is an image of the corresponding index card (see Figure 6).

FIGURE 6: Index card of the literature file

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This index card also contains information about the location of the publication, in this case: “Eig. Bes.” = personal possession. The information is tailored to the Göttingen location, especially the university library and the library of the Slavic Seminar.

It can be seen that using the file is not easy, and the question of where a sought name is located and what may be said about it at the relevant place must then be checked in the publication mentioned.

4. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION

The principal benefit of the file lies in the fact that it contains substantial material on place, water, and field names from broad areas of Europe. Large quantities of data are necessary for mapping; hardly any conclusions may be drawn from maps containing only 5–10 names. The situation is different when hundreds of names can be mapped. The same applies to other mappings, including those in other disciplines. The more extensive the material, the more reliable the results are likely to be.

5. EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF THE MAP: MIGRATION OF SLAVONIC TRIBES TO THE BALKANS

The mapping of as many place names as possible discussed here supports considerations from earlier studies. Here I return to the distribution map of South Slavonic tribes by J. Zaimov shown above (see Map 1) and wish to demonstrate that as comprehensive a mapping as possible of Slavonic place, field, and water names can decisively support, with further and more secure evidence, the immigration of Slavonic tribes recognizable in J. Zaimov. For this purpose I use the file described above (Nomina Geographica Europaea).

In the Slavonic languages there are appellatives derived in various ways from a root *mok-, including močiti ‘to make moist, wet, soak, soften (e.g. hemp),’ mostly with the help of the suffix *-dlo. There are also -l-formations, however. Alongside močiti, there is also a verbal stem močati, which can similarly serve as a base.

Of the large number of words that could be mentioned here, I cite only Russian močalo ‘shredded lime bast,’ Russian dialectal močilo, močalo ‘low, swampy place, wagon rut, pond,’ Ukrainian mocylo ‘small pond, puddle, place

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in a river where flax or linen is soaked,’ Polish moczadło ‘swampy ground overgrown with water plants, swamp,’ Polish, Old Polish (since the 13th century) moczydło ‘wet ground, swampy ground, swamp, morass, bog, puddle, pool,’ Czech, Slovak močal, močalina, močalisko, močalisko, among others, ‘swamp, morass, bog, damp place in a field or meadow.’

Corresponding forms are also attested in Slovenian, Sorbian, Croatian, and Serbian. Albanian moçali, maçal ‘morass’ and Hungarian mocsolya ‘puddle, hemp-retting pool’ are borrowed from Slavonic.

So much for a brief look at the appellatives. More important, however, is the question of where geographical names derived from them are found, how they are distributed, and where they are absent. The file discussed here makes a decisive contribution to this.

For the aforementioned word complex around *mok-, močiti, močalo, moczadło, etc., approximately 200–300 place, field, and water names can be found in the file. In detail, the following derivations are involved: Moczydło, Močidło, Močidło, Moczadło, Močil, Mociul, Močul’, Moczel, Močidła, Močidła, Modschiedl, Moczydła, Močila, Močilla, Močily, Močidły, Moczyły, Močile, Motsile, Močyla, Моцѕіла, Moczadla / Moczadła, Močedla, Močály, Moczadły, Maczuły, Mačuly, Maczule, Močuly, etc. There are still other variants, which have been phonetically reshaped, for example, through German, Romanian, and Hungarian influence.

Derivations with suffixes are likewise frequent, as is only to be expected in Slavonic. For example, the file contains the common Slavonic suffix -ica in Mötzlich, Močialice, Moczalica. Močilnica, Moczydlnica. Močidlec, Močilec, Moczulec, Mačýlca, Močidłce. Mačališče, Močalište, Mačulišče, Močylyšč­a, and many others.

Finally, I mention here formations with the suffix *–(ь)n–ica: Močilnica, Moczydlnica. Other formations are names with the suffixes *–ьc–, *–ьк–, *–ьr–, *–inьк–. I will pass over further details here.

This stereotyped collection, perhaps perceived as monotonous, gains its value through its mapping (see Map 2).

The center of gravity of these geographical names lies in the West Slavonic area; Poland in particular accounts for a large share. Concentrations in the Slovak-Ukrainian border area and in Slovenia are also noticeable. Above all, however, it is striking that East Slavonic has only a small share in the distribution. The eastern Balkans likewise account for only a small share.

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MAP 2: Distribution of močylo, močydlo in Slavonic place names

I see here the possibility of the following interpretation: we know that, from approximately the 5th/6th century onward, Slavonic tribes must have come from an area north of the Carpathians in their expansion southward. I do not think it too bold to interpret the spread in Hungary and Slovenia as an indication of the settlement movement from the area north of the Carpathians to the Balkans. Incidentally, an immigration route emerges here that does not appear on J. Zaimov’s map (cf. Map 1). The distribution of the names provides evidence of an immigration route that had already been used at least since the Bronze Age, namely a route through the Moravian Gate. At least one branch of the Amber Road is also presumed to have run here; it was already described in the Tabula Peutingeriana.

The distribution of the names then shows that, starting from Slovenia, individual traces of Slavonic names can be observed via Croatia to Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia. The place names end there.

It is striking that Romania and Bulgaria have few or no such place names.

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FIGURE 7: Amber Road

Before drawing further conclusions, it is advisable to examine another appellative in the same way using the file.

For this purpose I selected Slavonic luža. It is found as a word still known today in Ukrainian (lǔža, lužok), Belarusian (lužа, also as lúžyna, etc.), already in Old Russian (luža), in Polish dialects (luža, also as lužyna), in Sorbian (luža), in Czech and Slovak (louže, louž, luža), already Old Czech lúže, furthermore in Slovenian (luža, also as lúžica), and in Croatian and Serbian as luža. It means, among other things, ‘puddle, pool, depression filled with water, swamp, pond, morass,’ etc.

It is uniformly traced back to Indo-European foundations and was borrowed into German as Lusche ‘unclean liquid, pond, accumulation of liquid.’

It can be identified with considerable certainty in geographical names; in this case too, the file contains approximately one hundred names. I have selected: Luž, also Lausche, Luža, Louž, Louže, Luže, Luže, and furthermore attested, mostly in Germanized form, as Laus, Laussa, Lausche, Lause, Lauße, Luscha, Lusche, Lauz and Lusua. Forms with suffixes include Lužac, Luzec, Lužec. In names such as Lužná,

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Loužná and similar names, it is uncertain whether they are derived from *luža or from *log-. In formations with *-ъk-/*-ьk, the base is generally luža with its corresponding forms: Loužek, Luzek, but complete certainty cannot be achieved. I will not discuss further, mostly uncertain names here.

The mapping is important here (Map 3).

MAP 3: Distribution of *luža in Slavonic place names

The distribution reveals concentrations in the Russian and Belarusian, Bohemian-Old Sorbian, and Slovenian language areas. There are overlaps with the distribution of names derived from močyło and moczydło, respectively, and it clearly emerges that toward the Balkans the names reach the west in Slovenia and, to a small extent, Croatia, but do not extend eastward as far as Bulgaria. We will see from other distributions of Slavonic names shortly that there are also completely different distributions, which entirely omit the west (Slovenia, Croatia, Albania) and instead have their distribution area in the east (Moldavia, Dobruja, Bulgaria).

These are Slavonic water words whose occurrence in geographical names clearly traces the immigration of Slavonic tribes southward, including into the eastern Balkans. This concerns a movement that follows the mountain chain from the old settlement areas north of the Carpathians and reaches Bulgaria via Moldavia and Dobruja, advancing partly still farther south. J. Zaimov had already clearly marked this settlement movement (cf. Map 1).

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I offer two examples below.

1) Slav. *močęrъ is the base form of a series of appellatives which, like močýdlo, among others (see above), are derived from Slav. mok-, moč-, e.g. in Old Church Slavonic močǫ, močiti, Russian moknutʹ ‘to make wet, soak, ret flax or hemp,’ Russian moča ‘urine,’ Ukrainian ‘urine, rainy weather,’ Serbian, Croatian moča ‘a soaked piece of bread,’ Russian mokva ‘moisture, rain, dirt,’ and many others.

2) Slav. *močęrъ can be documented in many Slavonic languages: Ukrainian močár, -a ‘morass, bog, swamp, marsh, swampy place,’ močęr ‘small ponds for retting hemp,’ Polish moczar, moczara and similar forms ‘swampy ground overgrown with water plants; swamp,’ Old Polish moczar ‘wet ground, marsh, fen, swampy ground,’ Czech, Slovak močár, močiar, močarka, močarina and many others ‘swampy, boggy, grass-covered place, swamp, wet place, puddle,’ Bulgarian močúr, močar ‘swamp, swampy or boggy place, morass,’ Serbian, Croatian močar ‘swamp, morass.’

The word was borrowed into Hungarian as mocsár, mocsér ‘swamp’ and into Romanian as mocírlə (probably a contamination of *močęr and *moči(d)l-.

The word can be documented in approximately 200 place, water, and field names; below I offer only a selection of the numerous Slavonic names: Močar, Močár, Močiar, Močar̄, Mačur, Močur, Mocsur, also in Greece as Μοτσάρα, Μουτσιάρα and many others, partly—with articles, especially in Bulgaria—such as Močurjeto, Močurito.

Plural formations are also found: Moczary, Močary, Mutšari, Močare, Močury and many others. Nor are suffixal formations absent, such as Močarka, Močiārka, Močorek, Moczarki, Močarki, Močarni, Močarnyj, Mocz arne, Močarna, Močarno, Močirica, Močarec and many others.

The stereotyped and monotonous-looking collection leads to an interesting result when mapped (Map 4).

In contrast to the distribution of names derived from Slav. lužа and močid(l)o, whose traces are found mainly in Slovenia and Croatia, toponyms based on *močęrъ are clearly distributed in the eastern Balkans, that is, in Romania and especially Bulgaria. This “second route” can be supported by further name distributions.

The Slavonic word bagno, also bahno, dialectally also behno, is particularly typical of this rather eastern distribution.

This word is attested in numerous Slavonic languages, but is almost entirely absent from Russian (here it is attested only in the areas bordering Ukraine and Belarus): Ukrainian báhno ‘swamp, morass’ (with derivations such as bahnýsko, bahnýšče, bahnovyśk’o with similar meanings), Belarusian báhna ‘inaccessible peat bog, swamp, morass,’ Polish bagno ‘swamp, bog’ (with

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derivations such as baġnowisko), already Old Polish bagno ‘palus, stagnum, limus,’ also ‘ledum palustre,’ Sorbian bahno, bagno ‘swamp, morass, marsh; bog rosemary’ (with derivations such as bahniško, bahniščo, bahnowizna, among others), Polabian bóġnö ‘swamp,’ Czech bahno ‘swamp, mud, morass,’ dialectally also behno (with derivations such as bahnisko, bahniště, bahnovina, among others), Slovak bahno ‘swamp, morass.’ Corresponding forms are not attested in South Slavonic, but the word was borrowed into Romanian as bahnă.

MAP 4: Distribution of *močerь in Slavonic place names

In the file Nomina Geographica Europaea, approximately 300 names are documented. They are found primarily in Lusatia, in northern, western and southern Poland, and in the Ukrainian foothills of the Carpathians. The following names can be documented and mapped with the help of the large name file referred to here: Bagno (very frequent), Bahno, Bahne, Begno, plural formations such as Bagna, Bähna, Bahna, Behna, Bahnă, suffix formations such as Bahneć, Bahenec, Bagenz, Bagnowce, Bagieniec, Bahn ica, Bahnita, Bagn ica, Bagienica, Bagienice, Bagiennica, Bagienek, Bagienka, Bagienko, Bagienki, Bagieneczko, Bagnówka, Bahn iúka, Bagniewko, Bagniewka, Bagniska, and many others.

The distribution of the names offers an impressive picture (Map 5).

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MAP 5: Distribution of *bagbno in Slavonic place names

Although the appellative is very well and widely distributed, especially in the West Slavonic area, the names do not spread in the direction of Austria and Slovenia, nor farther south toward Croatia. An entirely different route can be discerned, which becomes especially clear when the course of the Carpathians is added for comparison (Map 6).

MAP 6: Course of the Carpathians

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It is quite clear that the distribution of the names derived from bagno traces a southward expansion along the Carpathian arc. Since this is a Slavonic word, it is not too bold to assume that this represents a settlement movement undertaken by speakers of Slavonic dialects.

On the basis of these four Slavonic appellatives discussed here, which can be supplemented by further examples, it can be shown that the Balkans were reached by Slavs along different routes: on the one hand, by an influx from the Moravian Gate through eastern Austria and across Hungary to Slovenia and Croatia, and onward to Albania and western Serbia as far as western Greece. The other influx proceeded along the Carpathian arc through Bukovina, Moldavia, the Dobrudja (partly through Romania / Transylvania) and the lower Danube as far as Bulgaria and eastern Greece. The two streams can be represented cartographically approximately as in Map 7.

MAP 7: Place names and the expansion of Slavonic tribes

It is clearly recognizable that the Slavonic settlement movements southward took place along different routes. It can now be shown, on the basis of the vocabulary of Romanian, that this supposition can be confirmed:

1. If the names mark a rather western route through Slovenia and Croatia, then there is no borrowing into Romanian.

2. If the geographical names instead indicate a migration along the Carpathians toward the southeast, that is, through Moldavia and the Dobrudja to

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Romania and Bulgaria, then the Slavonic words that form the basis of the corresponding place names have been borrowed into Romanian:

Slavonic Romanian *jьzvorъ izvór bagno bahnă sigla sihlă, sîhla stubel ştiubeĭŭ

FIGURE 8: Borrowings of Slavonic words into Romanian

There is another argument for assuming different migration routes of the Slavonic tribes. The different routes have also left traces in the vocabulary of the South Slavonic languages. Popović (1960: 438–444) dealt with this in detail. From his mappings of the vocabulary of South Slavonic, I have selected three maps. First, a word for “rain” (Map 8):

MAP 8: “Rain” in the South Slavonic languages (Source: Popović 1960: p. 441)

Serbian and Croatian kiša is undoubtedly the more recent word in comparison with continuants of *dъždъ “rain,” cf. Polish deszcz, Russian dožd’, etc. The distribution is very similar for the word for “iron” (Map 9):

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MAP 9: “Iron” in the South Slavonic languages (Source: Popović 1960: p. 442)

The more recent word is Serbian and Croatian gvožđe, gožđe; the older one is the undoubtedly pre-Slavonic, Indo-European *želežo, think of Russian železo, Polish żelazo. And one final example: the Slavonic word for “soot” (Map 10):

MAP 10: “Soot” in the Slavonic languages (Source: Popović 1960: p. 443)

The older word is undoubtedly the “soot” word *sad’a. related to Lithuanian šuodžiai and Old English or Old Norse sót.

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It may be inferred from this that the preservation of archaisms at the periphery of the South Slavonic linguistic area is connected with immigration from the Slavs’ former settlements north of the Carpathians. In the centre, where the two settlement streams subsequently met again, innovations arose or other Slavonic words, such as *sad’a, became established.

All three complexes—the different migration routes indicated by the differing distribution of Slavonic names; secondly, the borrowing of certain Slavonic hydronymic words into Romanian; and thirdly, the archaisms of the Slavonic vocabulary at the periphery of the South Slavonic linguistic area as opposed to the innovations in the centre—argue that the later South Slavs migrated to the Balkans along different routes.

At this point I recall Map 1 by J. Zaimov (1967), reproduced above, which outlines the immigration of Slavonic tribes into the southern Balkans. The mappings of selected Slavonic “water words” made possible by the collection of Slavonic names in the Internet file in question depict, so to speak, the northern part of the Balkans and outline the two major migration routes of Slavonic tribes: Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia on the one hand; Bukovina, Moldavia, the Dobrudja, the lower Danube region and Bulgaria on the other.

The purpose of this contribution was to point out, on the basis of selected collections and mappings, the possibilities offered by the large number of names collected in the file in question, Nomina Geographica Europaea (https://adw-verwaltung.uni-goettingen.de/ortsnamen/images_lightbox.php.), for the study of Slavonic names.

LITERATURE

Eilers Wilhelm 1982: Geographical Naming in and around Iran. An Overview through Examples, Munich: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Frings Theodor 1957: Foundations of a History of the German Language, 3rd edition, Halle (Saale): Niemeyer.

LVŽ I – Dictionary of Lithuanian Place Names [The Dictionary of Lithuanian Place Names] 1, editorial board L. Balode, V. Blažek, G. Blažienė, V. Kardelis, A. Ragauskaitė, S. Temčinas, J. Udolph, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos instituto leidykla, 2008.

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LVŽ II – Dictionary of Lithuanian Place Names [The Dictionary of Lithuanian Place Names] 2, authors L. Bilkis, G. Blažienė, M. Norkaitienė, A. Ragauskaitė, M. Razmukaitė, D. Sviderskienė, editor-in-chief L. Bilkis, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos instituto leidykla, 2014.

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Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXVI

Nomina Geographica Europaea. Bibliographische Sammlung zu europäischen Orts-, Flurund Gewässernamen

Nomina Geographica Europaea. Bibliographical collection of European place, field and water names

S U M M A R Y

This article analyzes a collection of geographical names consisting of approximately 450,000 names, which has been freely accessible on the Internet for several months. The collection is entitled –

Nomina Geographica Europaea. Bibliographical collection of European place, field and water names.

It can be found at the following address: https://adw-verwaltung.uni-goettingen.de/ortsnames/images_lightbox.php. The article provides a more detailed description of this collection. Its origin, principles of compilation and structure are described in greater detail. It is also emphasized that use of the collection is completely free of charge and access is open to all interested persons.

The second part of the article presents the example of the migration of Slavonic tribes to the Balkans and shows how this collection, with its large volume of data, can be used—the information accumulated in the collection of geographical names makes it possible to create maps that are important for determining the routes by which Slavonic tribes migrated southward.

Received 5 November 2021.

JŪRGEN UDOLPH

Centre for Name Research – Göttingen / Rosdorf, Steinbreite 9, D–37124 Rosdorf near Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Göttingen

Research Centre Place Names between the Rhine and Elbe – Onomastics in the European Region Robert-Koch-Str. 29, D–48149 Münster [email protected]

Straipsniai / Articles

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