JÜRGEN UDOLPH

Center for Name Research—Göttingen

Göttingen Academy of Sciences

Research areas: Historical linguistics, hydronyms, place names, family names.

DOI: doi.org/10.35321/a1183-16

Grasilda Blažienė & Laimutis Bilkis (eds.)

LITHUANIAN PLACE, FIELD, AND WATER NAMES IN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT (= SERIES OF THE SOCIETY FOR BALTIC STUDIES 2 (SGBS 2)

baar-Verlag Hamburg 2019, 352 pages. ISBN 978–3–935536–41–7

The publisher’s announcement points out right at the beginning that the place, field, and water names of Lithuania share many features with names in other parts of Europe. This is an entirely correct assessment; however, the decisive contributions by K. Casemir, H. Krahe, W.P. Schmid, and J. Udolph, who have drawn attention to the commonalities between the Baltic region (one must not restrict oneself to Lithuania or Lithuanian) and Italy, the Adriatic, the Moselle region, northern Germany, or Poland, are not mentioned anywhere. It must not go unmentioned that the special position of Baltic in the hydronymy of Europe permits the basis for a model of the arrangement of the Indo-European languages that W.P. Schmid developed. This omission is regrettable—the relevant literature is cited at the end of the review.

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The editors of the volume, Grasil­da Blažienė and Laimutis Bilkis, who each also contributed articles, were assisted by the authors Veronika Adamonytė, Harald Bichlmeier, Dalia Kačinaitė-Vrubliauskienė, and Ilona Mickienė. Harald Bichlmeier unquestionably made the largest contribution to the volume: he translated most of the Lithuanian contributions into German and also served as scientific editor.

The volume contains the following contributions:

1. A preface by Grasil­da Blažienė and Laimutis Bilkis (pp. 7–10); 2. Harald Bichlmeier, Morphological and Semantic Analysis of the Water Names of Western South Aukštaitija (pp. 13–84); 3. Origin and Motivation of the Helonyms of Western South Aukštaitija (pp. 85–123); 4. Grasil­da Blažienė, Origin and Motivation of the Lithuanian Settlement Names in Alytus District (southwestern Aukštaitija / western Dzūkija) (pp. 127–183); 5. Dalia Kačinaitė-Vrubliauskienė, Origin and Motivation of the Oronyms of Western South Aukštaitija (pp. 185–220); 6. Ilona Mickienė, The Drymonyms of Western South Aukštaitija: Origin and Formation (pp. 221–249); 7. Ilona Mickienė, The Onyms of the Southwest Aukštaitija Region: An Overview of the Origin and Formation of Meadow Names (pp. 251–286); 8. Veronika Adamonytė, Origin and Formation of the Agronyms Connected with Human Activity in the Municipalities of Kapčiamiestis and Veisiejai (pp. 287–313).

The volume concludes with English summaries of the contributions (pp. 315–321) and an index of names (p. 350), which readers of the volume will gratefully welcome.

In the preface, G. Blažienė and L. Bilkis outline the research on Lithuanian toponymy conducted over the past several decades, a contribution that will appeal especially to those interested from outside the Baltic region. The field of research is outlined, and a brief but, in my view, important passage explains that onomastic traces from the language of the vanished Yotvingians can still be identified today. An important aid for the study of Lithuanian toponymy is a place-name database at the Research Center for Baltic Languages and Name Research of Lithuania in Vilnius. The volume focuses on research into field, mountain, water, and place names in the area under investigation. The preface rightly points out that the toponymy and hydronymy of Lithuania (one may add: of the entire Baltic region) are of particular importance for the overall picture, especially of the hydronymy of Europe (as I had already indicated at the outset by mentioning several names).

In his contribution Morphological and Semantic Analysis of the Water Names of Western South Aukštaitija, H. Bichlmeier examines approximately 330 names of streams, rivers, and lakes in detail, rightly drawing, among other things, on the research of A. Vanagas. The area under investigation is located

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in a contact zone of Lithuanian, Belarusian, and Polish dialects. The proposed interpretations are almost universally unproblematic; I will not discuss disputed cases such as the following in greater detail:

1. Atešys, whose striking equation with At(h)esis (> Etsch / Adige) is described as a “pseudo-equation” or as an “independently arising parallel formation” (p. 31), while the attested Baltic river name Atešė (mentioned in this volume on p. 148) is passed over,

2. a so-called “phantom root” *en–/ *on–, as H. Bichlmeier describes it, since all water names allegedly connected with it lie in Celtic territory (cf. J. Udolph Inn < *Penios? (2020), pp. 221–241),

3. skepticism regarding the previous etymology of Nėmunas, since in the connection with Latin nemus “(sacred) grove,” u-stem and s-stem would stand side by side, although W.P. Schmid discussed this in detail in Onomastica Slavogermanica 23, p. 23.

4. Alnà, since a root *el–/ *ol– assumed in obsolete spelling could not be attested, “because there is simply not a single continuation of a root of this structure in any individual Indo-European language,” prompting one to ask where, then, the two or three dozen water names in Europe containing *el–/ *ol– (without an identifiable initial consonant) come from, including streams such as Elbe, Aller, Wolga (W is an East Slavic prothesis), and so on.

L. Bilkis investigated the names of swamps, moors, water holes, and the like (“helonyms”). Their origin is rarely disputed because their meaning is often quite transparent. As with a large proportion of water names, the share of anthroponymic origin is not particularly high; more than ¾ are appellative in origin. It may be added that these proportions increase considerably further in favor of appellative origin for the names of flowing waters. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that recent studies of German water names also often assume human activities as the basis for naming.

G. Blažienė addressed Origin and Motivation of the Lithuanian Settlement Names in Alytus District. By “motivation,” the author understands, following W. Wenzel, “the reasons that prompted the name-givers to designate a particular settlement with a particular name” (p. 125). She processes the material separately by municipalities and communal districts, identifying primarily deanthroponymic, detoponymic, and deappellative formations. I found little that would warrant supplementation; however, regarding the place and water names Seirà, Seirijai, Seirijis (pp. 33, 53, 166), declared unclear and mentioned several times, for which a connection with Latvian seiris “clumsy person” is rightly rejected, I would point to the convincing list of numerous derivatives

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from the Indo-European root *sei-/*soi-/*sōi-/*si-/*sī- “to drip, flow, be moist” in A. Greule, Vorund frühgermanische Flußnamen am Oberrhein, 1973, pp. 150–152, which takes up a proposal by J. Otrebski Contributions to Name Research 12 (1961), pp. 264f.

D. Kačinitaitė-Vrubliauskienė’s contribution is entitled Origin and Motivation of the Oronyms of Western South Aukštaitija. Oronyms (= mountain and hill names; for a different view, see pp. 185f.) generally designate elevations. In Central Europe, they are of very different ages. They are often recent, but Alps, Harz, Ifen are in part very old. In a lowland such as Lithuania, a height of only a few meters is sufficient for something to be called a “mountain” or “hill” in everyday language. There are names of appellative, anthroponymic, and toponymic origin; many oronyms are so-called primary formations, formed without an additional formative element. When listing the names, I noticed the relatively high proportion of hybrid mountain names, which usually contain a word borrowed from Slavic (pp. 197–200).

The contribution by I. Mickienė concerns the drymonyms (forest names) of Western South Aukštaitija and their origin and formation. She begins with a list of studies presented to date and explains the area under investigation (the Alytus and Lazdijai districts). The 336 drymonyms examined are listed according to appellative and anthroponymic origin; among the drymonyms consisting of syntagms, the high proportion of Lithuanian miškas “forest” is striking. The largest proportion of forest names is of appellative origin.

The contribution by the same author, I. Mickienė, on the onyms of the Southwest Aukštaitija Region is structured similarly and offers an overview of the origin and formation of meadow names. Meadow names constitute a very high proportion of the names in the area under investigation, so the analysis was limited to a few selected municipalities. It should be emphasized that specialized studies of meadow names have scarcely been published to date in Germany, for example. Here they are usually classified among “field names.” One should note, however, that old place names were not infrequently originally field names, which also included names of meadows. In I. Mickienė’s list, a German name researcher occasionally encounters names that he knows—usually through Slavic equivalents; I mention here, for example, Lithuanian lankà “large level meadow” (Krumme Lanke in Berlin). The summary of the contribution makes clear that almost half of the meadow names examined contain physiographic terms—certainly not a surprising finding. In this context, it must be regrettably noted that German place-name research still lacks comprehensive

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and reliable works on geographical terminology. A completely different picture emerges when one looks, for example, at the Slavic countries. The final contribution in the volume was written by V. Adamonytė, with her study of the origin and formation of agronyms connected with human economic activity in the municipalities of Kapčiamiestis and Versiejai. By agronyms, the author understands names for fields, arable land, fallow land, meadows, and the like, which in German terminology are called “field names.” A few lines later, this is stated more precisely: “The subject of this contribution is the designations of geographical objects connected with agricultural activity...” (p. 288). The author transferred almost all the results of the collections of these names, conducted in 1935–1937, into the Geoinformation Place-Name Database and is therefore thoroughly familiar with the material. The field name Amelýnas posed problems for her; she rightly cites a connection with Lithuanian ãmelÿs. I would suggest considering whether it is connected either with the family of Lithuanian ãmalas “mistletoe,” or—less probably—whether it is a pre-individual-language formation from a root *om-, to which Ohm, Amance, Ems and others may be assigned; Omulew, a tributary of the Narew, should then also be included (see J. Udolph Name Studies on the Germanic Problem (1994), Berlin–New York, pp. 246–251). As was to be expected, most agronyms are appellative in origin (p. 311).

My comments can offer only a few suggestions, but it may have become clear that an interesting volume on Lithuanian toponymy has appeared here. Although it primarily enriches research on the Lithuanian and Baltic name stock, for some names the connections extend beyond the Baltic region and are therefore also significant for researchers of other regions.

LITERATURE

Casemir Kirstin, Udolph Jürgen 2006: The Significance of Baltic for Lower Saxon Place-Name Research. – Baltȳ onomastikos tyrimai: Aleksandrui Vanagui atminti, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 114–136.

Krahe Hans 1957: Prehistoric Linguistic Relations from the Baltic Countries on the Baltic Sea to the Areas around the Northern Part of the Adriatic. – Treatises of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Volume, no. 3 [In commission with], Steiner, Wiesbaden, Mainz: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur.

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Schmid Wolfgang P. 1994: Old Europe and Germanic. – Linguisticae scientiae collectanea: selected writings by Wolfgang P. Schmid. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, ed. by J. Becker, E. Eggers, J. Udolph, D. Weber, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 334–346.

Schmid Wolfgang P. 1994: Baltic Water Names and Prehistoric Europe. – Linguisticae scientiae collectanea: selected writings by Wolfgang P. Schmid. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, ed. by J. Becker, E. Eggers, J. Udolph, D. Weber, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 175–192.

Schmid Wolfgang P. 1994: Greek and Old European Hydronymy. – Linguisticae scientiae collectanea: selected writings by Wolfgang P. Schmid. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, ed. by J. Becker, E. Eggers, J. Udolph, D. Weber, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 167–174.

Schmid Wolfgang P. 1994: Latin and the Old European Theory. – Linguisticae scientiae collectanea: selected writings by Wolfgang P. Schmid. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, ed. by J. Becker, E. Eggers, J. Udolph, D. Weber, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 175–192.

Schmid Wolfgang P. 1994: Indo-European Models and Eastern European Prehistory. – Linguisticae scientiae collectanea: selected writings by Wolfgang P. Schmid. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, ed. by J. Becker, E. Eggers, J. Udolph, D. Weber, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 226–247.

Schmid Wolfgang P. 1988: On Some Celtic–Baltic Name Correspondences. Festschrift for Werner Thomas on his 65th birthday, ed. by P. Kosta, Studia Indogermanica et Slavica, Munich: Otto Sagner, 49–56.

Udolph Jürgen 1999: Baltic Elements in Lower Saxony? – Florilegium Linguisticum. Festschrift for Wolfgang P. Schmid on his 70th birthday, ed. by J. Becker, E. Eggers, J. Udolph, D. Weber, Berlin, New York: Peter Lang, 493–508.

Udolph Jürgen 2011: “Baltic” and “Slavic” in North German Place Names. – Interference Onomastics. Names in Border and Contact Areas in History and the Present, ed. by W. Haubrichs, H. Tiefenbach, Saarbrücken Colloquium of the Working Group for Name Research, 5–7 October 2006 (= Publications of the Commission for Saarland Regional History and Folklore Research 43), Saarbrücken: Commission for Saarland Regional History and Folklore Research e.V., 313–331.

Udolph Jürgen 1990: The Position of Poland’s Water Names within Old European Hydronymy. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag.

Udolph Jürgen 2017: Homeland and Expansion of Indo-European Tribes in the Light of Name Research. – Acta Linguistica Lituanica 76, 173–249.

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Udolph Jürgen 2020: Inn < *Penǫs? 100 Years of the Association for Place- and Field-Name Research in Bavaria, Inc. – 80 Years of Wolf-Armin von Reitzenstein. An Onomastic Birthday Tribute, ed. by Rüdiger Harnisch. Blätter für oberdeutsche Namenforschung 57, 345–365.

Submitted on September 15, 2020.

JÜRGEN UDOLPH Steinbreite 9, D-37124 Rosdorf, Germany [email protected]

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