The Wendish Research Exchange - Wenzel, Walter: Onomastic Contributions to the Settlement History of the Dobrilugk Monastery

Lětopis Abstract 2013 2: Wenzel, Walter: Onomastic Contributions to the Settlement History of the Dobrilugk Monastery

This essay contains an analysis of the Slav and German place and personal names of the area under investigation in order to come to conclusions about the settlement history of the former monastery of Dobrilugk. The findings of Slav archaeology are taken into account in this process. According to evidence from place names and archaeological finds the area of the lower Kleine Elster was settled relatively late by the Sorbs, as the Slav place names of the monastery area do not belong to the oldest groups. Inhabitants’ names ending in -ici and the names of the group Kosobudy/Žornosěky are therefore missing, the -jane-names are only represented by Dollenchen.

The German place names can generally be regarded as typical of the period of eastern settlement. There is a preponderance of names ending in -dorf, followed by those ending in -aue. Those Slav personal names studied from the middle of the 16th Century from the seminary are similarly very different from the names of central Lower Lusatia. The picture provided by German personal names, in this case surnames, around Dobrilugk, is determined by names from terms describing their trade and office. A table provides exact information about this. In an evaluation of settlement history the quantitative relationship of the Sorbian to the German share of the population is illustrated by means of a map. The German inhabitants are in the majority. From the evidence of the place names there were Franks among the German settlers, but the majority came from the Low German language area. Dutch settlers played an important role in the cultivation of the land.