The author proposes a new interpretation of the history of the name
of the former Saxon village and historical burgward Magdeborn. First, the endings
-<u>/-<un> of <Medeburu(n)>, as Thietmar von Merseburg writes in his
chronicle of 1012/1018, get a new explanation as *-ow or *-own. Second, it seems
that both a linguistic and extralinguistic analysis of the obviously false interpretation
of the Old Sorbian place name quoted by the chronicler himself may show
the history of the place name in a new light. It is guessed that the chronicler
had misunderstood the narrative about the name of the castle. A detailed analysis
is offered of two other cases – the persiflage of the Kyrie eleison by Slavs
as ukrivolsa and the mysterious provincia Nice – in which Thietmar seems to
approach certain facts and their narration with a similar lack of comprehension.
In conclusion, it is assumed that an earlier form of the oikonym Magdeborn was
a semantically plural term: *Medobori or *Medoborьje, meaning ‚honey pine
forest(s)‘. The two basic hypotheses about the oldest history of the name enable
to think of a development from a plural regional name to an adjectival oikonym
derived from the first. A third hypothesis goes still further in assuming that
the name *Medobori or *Medoborьje had been developed from *Medjiborьje/
*Medziborьje, ‚among pine forests‘.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:75806 |
| Date | 31 August 2021 |
| Creators | Koenitz, Bernd |
| Publisher | Deutsche Gesellschaft für Namenforschung |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 0943-0849, urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa2-757887, qucosa:75788 |
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