The Wendish Research Exchange - Schuster-Šewc, Heinz: The Place Names of Lusatia (Part III)

Lětopis Abstract 2011 1: Schuster-Šewc, Heinz: The Place Names of Lusatia (Part III)

This article represents the final part of the discussion about Sorbian place names and the current state of research into them, which was conducted in “Lětopis” 2008/2, 2009/2 and 2010/1. The author starts by discussing the problem of the reconstruction of the patronymic forms in Upper Sorbian, ecy/icy, which reflect the original accusative of ě (-ovicě, -icě), but not the nominative (-ovici, -ici). The original forms of -ovici (Naußlitz/Noslicy < Novosedlici), which usually appear in most of the previous works, are misleading because they may only refer to the inhabitants, but not to the place names. In addition, the formative model of –ej is analysed, which possibly conceals the older form -ъvь. This is followed by suggestions to explain further Upper and Lower Sorbian place names together with a complete list of the names discussed in the previous articles.