The Wendish Research Exchange - Bily, Inge: Personal Names in Old Sorbian Place Names Between the Rivers Saale and Bober

Lětopis Abstract 2016 1: Bily, Inge: Personal Names in Old Sorbian Place Names Between the Rivers Saale and Bober

Although much good research has already been done on personal names in the former Old Sorbian contact area, there has been a lack until now of a reference work in the form of a guide, which brings together Slav personal names reconstructed from place names in an easily accessible form. Until now, these personal names, which often represent the only proof of a personal name in this field, can mostly only be elicited from the evaluation sections or indexes of the relevant books of place names. Valuable comparative material for research on both Slav personal names as well as for further work on Slav place names can be gained by working on Slav personal names, which have been reconstructed from place names from the former Old Sorbian contact area. This material is based on old forms of evidence, which in a few cases go back as far as the Tenth Century. Using this material as a basis, it is possible to develop detailed analyses and highly resilient syntheses in relation to both personal and place names. Starting from the desire to fill the gap described above, we have taken on the task of producing a guide to Slav personal names, which have been reconstructed from place names in the former Old Sorbian contact area. This article describes the conception, outline, as well as the structure, of the guide and presents one example.