The Wendish Research Exchange - Koenitz, Bernd: Unwürde, Lubij, Dažin, Stwěšin and Other Names of Old Sorbian Origin. (Part II)

Lětopis Abstract 2011 1: Koenitz, Bernd: Unwürde, Lubij, Dažin, Stwěšin and Other Names of Old Sorbian Origin. Miscellanea and Some Arguments of a Systemic Nature (Part II)

Onomastic analysis should interpret the entire development of a name; it should not be limited to the recent form nor to the oldest one, for all forms have their own causal background (Šmilauer). It seems that in the modern literature about Lusatian place names this rule has not always been sufficiently obeyed. So, in a number of cases, new Sorbian forms have been explained as being caused by the influence of Germanized ones, although an inner Sorbian development could well have led to a given later state. Furthermore, a satisfactory solution cannot always be provided by simply “making a calculation,” starting either from the oldest form and moving forward, or going back from the latest one. In this sense, in the 2nd section alternative interpretations of Dažin and Dźěžnikecy, Njeznarowy, Łuwoćicy, Lutobč, Radska, Zemicy and Tumicy are proposed. Attention is paid to some names whose history includes an unexplained disappearance or the appearance of a particular sequence. Certain aspects of Njeswačidło and the Coswig names were re-examined. An interesting solution was found in the case of the “mysterious” name Stwěšin, which suggests that it is derived from a hypocorism of an older Slavonic borrowing of Stephanus.