The Wendish Research Exchange - Wenzel, Walter: Social Differentiation of Lower Sorbs in the Late Middle Ages and In the Early Modern Period, as Reflected in...

Lětopis Abstract 2011 2: Wenzel, Walter: Social Differentiation of Lower Sorbs in the Late Middle Ages and In the Early Modern Period, as Reflected in Their Surnames. Based on Sources From the 14th Through 18th Centuries

Using Lower Sorbian surnames based on political-institutional, socio-economic and class-specific terms this article attempts to describe in greater detail the development of the social structure of the Lower Sorbian rural population in the centuries after the German conquest in the late middle ages and the early modern period. The names in question are not only recorded statistically, and the oldest references listed and explained etymologically, but are also presented on ten maps, so that an exact idea of their geographical spread can be conveyed. The investigation, which is also based on the relevant findings of historical research, is extended to include a larger number of Lower Sorbian professional names in order to obtain a deeper insight into the social, economic and social differentiation caused by the growing division of labour.