German toponymy


Placenames in the German language area can be classified by the language from which they originate, and by era.

German names from prehistoric and medieval times

Suffixes

  1. -ach,. Examples: Echternach, Salzach.
  2. -au. Examples: village and town names' suffixes on former Polabian Slavs territories: Lübbenau, Plau. See also: German naming convention of Polish town names during World War II as an analogy: http://kpbc.umk.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=87575.
  3. -au, -aue, see German words or Aue. This meaning of -au describes settlements by streams and rivers. Example: Passau, the town Aue, rivers named Aue.
  4. -bach or Low German -bek. Examples: Amorbach, Ansbach Reinbek, Wandsbek.
  5. -berg, -bergen. Examples: Bamberg, Heidelberg, Nürnberg, Königsberg, Landesbergen. Also reduced -burg, e.g. in :de:Bydgoszcz#Vom%20Mittelalter%20bis%201772|Bromberg ← Brahenburg.
  6. -brücken or -brück. Examples: Saarbrücken, Osnabrück, Innsbruck.
  7. -bühl, or -bühel. Examples: Dinkelsbühl, Kitzbühel.
  8. -burg. Examples: Hamburg, Augsburg, Luxembourg, Regensburg, Salzburg, Straßburg.
  9. -dorf or -torf, Low German dorp/torp cf. English "Thorpe". Example: Düsseldorf, Reinickendorf, Kleinblittersdorf.
  10. -ey. Example: Norderney, Hacheney.
  11. -feld or -felde. Examples: Bielefeld, Mansfeld, Saalfeld.
  12. -furt. Examples: Erfurt, Frankfurt, Klagenfurt.
  13. -hagen. Example: Hanshagen.
  14. -halde oder -halden. Examples: Haldensee, Osshalden near Crailsheim.
  15. -hausen. Examples: Mülhausen, Mühlhausen, Recklinghausen, Schaffhausen.
  16. -haven, or -hafen. Examples: Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Friedrichshafen.
  17. -heim, -ham or -am, -hem or -em, -um . Examples: Alkersum, Bochum, Borkum, Pforzheim, Kirchham, Schiltigheim, Mannheim, Mülheim, Hildesheim, Bad Windsheim.
  18. -hof, -hoff or -hofen. Examples: Hof, Bechhofen, Diedenhofen.
  19. -hufe. Example: Grünhufe.
  20. -hut. Examples: Landshut, Waldshut.
  21. -ing or -ingen, -ungen, -ung, -ens. Examples: Göttingen, Esslingen, Straubing, Esens.
  22. -kirchen or -kirch. Examples: Feldkirch, Gelsenkirchen, Neunkirchen.
  23. Low German -oog or -öhe, -oie, -ee . Examples: Dutch Schiermonnikoog, Hiddensee.
  24. -ow. Examples: village and town names' suffixes on former Polabian Slavs territories: Bützow, Neubukow, Stäbelow, Malchow, Teterow, Güstrow.
  25. -roth, -rath, -rode, -reuth, or -rade. Examples: Roth, Bayreuth, Overath, Wernigerode. It can also be used as the prefix Rade-: Radebeul, Radevormwald.
  26. -stadt, -stedt, -stätt, or -stetten. Examples: Darmstadt, Eichstätt, Ingolstadt, Neustadt.
  27. -stein. Examples: Allenstein, Bartenstein, Königstein.
  28. -tal or -thal. Examples: Wuppertal, Roßtal, St. Joachimsthal.
  29. -wald or -walde. Examples: Greifswald, Creutzwald, Regenwalde.
  30. -wang, -wangen, or -wängle. Examples: Feuchtwangen, Ellwangen, Nesselwängle.
  31. -wend, or -winden. Examples: Bernhardwinden near Ansbach, Wenden near Ebhausen.
  32. -werder, -werth, -wörth, or -ort. Example: Donauwörth, Finkenwerder, Kaiserswerth, Ruhrort.

    Prefixes

  1. Alt-, Alten- or Low German Olden-. Examples: Alt Eberstein, Altenberg, Oldenburg.
  2. Groß- or Großen-. Example: Groß Kiesow, Großenhain.
  3. Hoh-, Hohen-, Höch- or Hoch-. Examples: Hohenschönhausen, Hohkönigsburg, Höchstadt.
  4. Klein- or Low German Lütten-. Example: Klein Kiesow.
  5. Neu-, Neuen- or Low German Nien-. Example: Neuburg am Inn, Neuenkirchen, Nienburg.
  6. Nieder-. Example: Niederschönhausen.
  7. Ober-, or Oberst-. Example: Oberhausen, Oberwesel, Oberstdorf.
  8. Wendisch-, Windisch- . Example: Wendisch Baggendorf, Windischgarsten. This sometimes refers to the original language of the inhabitants. Other examples: Böhmisch Krummau, Unter-Deutschau.
  9. Unter-. Example: Unterliederbach.
Some settlements have the name of a river or the province attached to their name to distinguish it from an one carrying the same name. The distinguishing word can be added in parentheses, or connected to the name with prepositions an der/am, ob der, auf or in/im, or separated by a slash. Examples are:
Often, attachments or prepositions are abbreviated in the official names, e.g. Berg b.Neumarkt i.d.OPf., or compare Landau in der Pfalz and Landau a.d.Isar, or Langenfeld and Stolberg
Sometimes, a descriptive word is attached to a new settlement, that was once budding of another one and except for the attached word has the same name.
The old Germanic Gaue districts were established by Charlemagne; earlier derivations were Gowe" and "Gouwe. One can still find the old Gouwe for example in Haspengouw or Gäu as in Allgäu.

German names from modern times

They usually follow the established patterns.
  1. Celtic names, used in prehistoric times in the southern and western parts of the German language area. Examples: Mainz, Remagen, Wien or Celtic Wedunia, Zürich
  2. Latin names:
  3. * from classical times, when the southern and western parts of the German language area belonged to the Roman Empire. Examples: Koblenz, Köln , Aachen, Augsburg and Augst.
  4. * from medieval times, when Latin was the language of church and administration. Examples: München , Münster, Neumünster, Fraumünster, Grossmünster. See also minster.
  5. Slavic names: Prior to the medieval Ostsiedlung, Slavic languages like Polabian, Sorbian, Pomeranian, and Slovenian were spoken in the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The German settlers and administration in many cases adopted existing Wendish placenames, for example Rostock, Dresden, and Berlin. For the same reason, many German placenames ending in -anz, -gard, -gast, -itz, -ow, and -vitz or -witz have Slavic roots. Due to spelling and pronunciation changes over the centuries, the original Wendish term in most cases is not preserved. Also, some placenames combine a German with a Wendish term. The German suffix - can be related to the Slavic -ow and -ov when derived from the Old German spelling.