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Grasilda Blažienė

Baltic Place Names in East Prussia

Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005, 413 S.

ISBN-10: 3515088458, ISBN-13: 9783515088459

(Hydronymia Europaea. Edited by Wolfgang P. Schmid. Special Volume III)

This monograph has two prefaces: one is by the editor, Wolfgang P. Schmid, and the other by the author of the monograph, Grasilda Blažienė. The monograph consists of two parts (the main section and two appendices). The main section, entitled “Baltic Place Names in the Subregion of Nadruvia (east of the Deime) and in the Northern Parts of Natangia, Bartia and Warmia (as far as the Pregel)” (pp. 15–233), was written by Grasilda Blažienė. Appendix 1 (pp. 235–346) is by the Polish linguist Rozalia Przybytek and is entitled “Place Names of Baltic Origin in the Southern Part of East Prussia.” This appendix examines Old Prussian place names in areas that now belong to Poland. Appendix 2 (pp. 347–396) is entitled “Baltic Place Names in Pomesania.” The monograph includes a list of abbreviations for cited sources and relevant literature (pp. 397–410), as well as a list of other abbreviations and special characters (pp. 411–413). A map of East Prussia completes the monograph.

The monograph is dedicated to the founder and editor of the series in question, Prof. Dr. habil. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang P. Schmid, on the occasion of his notable anniversary.

In the main section, entitled “Baltic Place Names in the Subregion of Nadruvia (east of the Deime) and in the Northern Parts of Natangia, Bartia and Warmia (as far as the Pregel),” Grasilda Blažienė investigates 746 place names. Of these, 423 are attested in various sources from the period before the Second World War. After the Second World War, 328 Prussian place names in the Kaliningrad region were replaced by Russian names in a shortsighted manner and without any connection to the earlier names. It is commendable that the latter names are also included in the work (e.g. Zori, Zverevo, Železnodorožnij, Želudevo, Žukovka [p. 233]). Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Grasilda Blažienė discovered in historical sources 329 place names not mentioned by J. Gerulis and other researchers. In the research work, such place names are marked with a special character before the lemma. Grasilda Blažienė found these place names primarily in handwritten sources and, for the most part, in the folios of East Prussia

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and of the Teutonic Order, as well as—particularly importantly—in the documents and historical sources preserved in the Prussian Cultural Heritage Secret State Archives in Berlin.

In another part of the research work, namely the aforementioned Appendix 2, Grasil da Blažienė examines Baltic place names in Pomesania.

The way the place names are presented is interesting. The place name attested in the sources is marked in bold and given in the form in which it was formerly used or is still used, e.g. Abschwangen or Żutawka Sztumska. All variants attested in the historical sources are listed, together with their locations and dates: thus, Abschwangen is recorded as Appuswangen in a document dating from 1365 (making a total of 20 variants) (p. 15); Żutawka Sztumska has 33 recorded instances, beginning with Pozolowe in 1249 (pp. 395–396). The place names are examined at the morphological level by dividing them into root morphemes, prefixes, and suffixes. Root morphemes are identified by drawing on etymological correspondences in Prussian and in the languages most closely related to it, such as Lithuanian and Latvian (where such correspondences exist); material from other related languages, namely Slavic and Germanic, is also, of course, considered. In most cases, the monograph’s author has succeeded in interpreting word formation and origin convincingly and with sound argumentation. It should also be emphasized that the author carefully reviews her predecessors’ findings, substantiates some of them with new research data, substantially revises others, and in many cases refutes the interpretations of other researchers. The author carefully reviews all known interpretations of the origin of the place name Appuswangen (p. 15). She also correctly explains the word formation of Pozolowe (1249), reconstructing *Pa-sulav-/*Pa-sulōv-, where *Pa- functions as a prefix (cf. Lithuanian pa-miškė), and *sulavā or *sulōvā functions as the stem morpheme meaning “island” (p. 396). That this word was also used by the Prussians in this sense is evidenced by the Lithuanian equivalent sulava “island,” cited in the dictionaries of Nesselmann and Kuršaitis, which, according to Brodowski, entered from Goldap in Prussian Lithuania and from Polish dialects by borrowing as żulawa “island.”

The place name Zinten (Heiligenbeil District) is attested in historical sources as Sinthin, Czinthen (1363), and in similar forms. The author quite correctly reconstructs the archetype Old Prussian *Zint- and relates it to the Prussian personal name Szinte (p. 233).

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The Lithuanian verb žiūtyti (-ija, -ijo) “to insult one another, quarrel, argue; hesitate, waver” (Dusetos, Daugėliškis, Užpaliai – LKŽ_XIX 1037), which can be regarded as a denominative derived from žīntas “someone who quarrels, who argues,” may be cited as an argument in favor of such an approach. It has long been recognized in relevant research that a subregion of northeastern Lithuania (Zarasai, Dusetos, etc.) and the southwestern Baltic and Prussian area³ are linked by a bundle of isoglosses. The study “Baltische Ortsnamen in Ostpreußen” by Grasilda Blažienė, published in the series Hydronymia Europaea, a series financed and issued by German editors, should be regarded as an original and thoroughly conceived scholarly research work.

Simas Karaliūnas

Lietuvių kalbos institutas

P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lietuva

Giacomo Devoto

Baltistikos raštai · Scritti baltistici

Edited by Pietro U. Dini and Bonifacas Stundžia

Vilnius: Tyto alba, 2004, pp. 263[1], ISBN 9986-16-383-8

According to the preface (p. 9) here for the first time are published all of Giacomo Devoto’s Baltistic writings which have for the most part historical significance, not only in the sense of linguistic historiography but also in the broader sense of the cultural bonds between Italy and the Baltic (particularly Lithuania). Today newer discoveries and more modern scientific methods have gone beyond the theoretical and factual statements encountered in Devoto’s writings. Nevertheless the works published here show the maturity of Italian Baltic studies attained during the interwar period and seem to emphasize the direction of their further development. Devoto’s articles are divided into two groups, (i) Linguistics and (ii) Literature and other subjects. They are published in Lithuanian translation in the first part of the

³ Cf. S. Karaliūnas, Baltų praeitis istoriniuose šaltiniuose II. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2005, 239–240, 310–311.

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