Home > German placename etymology

• Celtic names, used in prehistoric times in the southern and western parts of the German language area. Examples: Mainz (from Latin Moguntiacum, derived from a Celtic name), Remagen (from Latin Rigomagus, from a Celtic name meaning "king's field").

• Latin names:
  • from classical times, when the southern and western parts of the German language area belonged to the Roman Empire. Examples: Koblenz (from Confluentes "joining rivers"), Köln (Cologne) (from Colonia "colony"), Aachen (from Aquae "springs"), Augsburg (from Augusta "city of Augustus" and the Germanic suffix -burg).
  • from medieval times, when Latin was the language of church and administration. Examples: München (Munich) (from monachus "monk"), MünsterMunster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. Population: 269. 2003), area 302. In 2003, Munster hosted the Central European Olym (from monasterium "monastery").

• SlavicThe Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages are the languages of the Slavic peoples. They form a distinct group of Indo-European languages, with speakers in most of Eastern Europe, much of the Balkans, parts of Central Europe, and the northern pa names. From the Iron AgeIn mythology, the Iron Age is the age following the golden, silver and bronze ages and characterized by a general degeneration of talent and virtue, and of literary excellence. In Roman literature the Iron Age is commonly regarded as beginning after the t until recently, Slavic languages such as PolabianPolabian Spoken in: Germany Total speakers: extinct Ranking:not ranked Geneticclassification: Indo-European Slavic West Lekhitic Polabian Official status Official language of: ISO 639-2: sla SIL: POX The Polabian language was a group of Slavic dialects sp, Sorbian and SlovenianSlovenian or Slovene language ( slovenski jezik slovenScina is one of the Slavic languages. It is spoken by approximately 2 million speakers worldwide, most of whom live in Slovenia. It is one of the few languages to have preserved the dual grammatical nu were spoken in many eastern parts of the German language area. Examples: BerlinBerlin [ bɛrˈliːn ] is the national capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,387,404 inhabitants (as of September 2004); down from 4. 5 million before World War II. Berlin is located on the rivers Spree and Havel in the northea, Chemnitz (from Caminici), Leuna (from Lunaw), Rostock (from Old Polabian rostok "river fork"), Schwerin.

• Germanic names:
  • from prehistoric times. Typical forms are:
    • with the suffix -um or -heim (cognate to English home and the English place name suffix -ham). Examples: Bochum, Borkum, Büsum .
    • with the suffix -ingen (meaning "descendants of", used with a personal name as the first part). Examples: Göttingen, Sindelfingen, Sigmaringen, Tübingen.
  • German names from medieval times. Some typical forms are:
    • with the suffix -stadt or -stedt ("city"). Examples: Darmstadt, Neustadt.
    • with the suffix -burg ("castle"). Examples: Hamburg, Freiburg, Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Regensburg, Salzburg, Straßburg (Strasbourg).
    • with the suffix -berg ("mountain"). Example: Heidelberg, Nürnberg (Nuremberg).
    • with the suffix -dorf or -torf ("village"). Example: Düsseldorf.
    • with the suffix -furt ("ford"). Examples: Erfurt, Frankfurt.
    • with the suffix -brücken or -brück ("bridge"). Example: Saarbrücken, Osnabrück.
    • with the suffix -hausen ("house"). Examples: Mülhausen, Schaffhausen.
    • with the suffix -feld ("field"). Example: Bielefeld.
  • German names from modern times. They usually follow the established patterns. Examples: Wuppertal (" Wupper valley"), Karl-Marx-Stadt (" Karl Marx city"), Wilhelmshaven ("William's harbour", referring to King Wilhelm I of Prussia).