Zgornje Pirniče


Zgornje Pirniče is a settlement in the Municipality of Medvode in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia.

Name

Zgornje Pirniče and neighboring Spodnje Pirniče were attested in written sources in 1392 as Pernekk. The original form of the name may be reconstructed as the plural demonym *Pyrьničane, ultimately derived from the common noun *pyro 'spelt', referring to a local cultivar and meaning 'people living where spelt is grown'. Another possibility is that the name developed from a plural demonym derived from the Old High German name Bernhard or the Middle High German name Pernhart.

Church

The parish church in the settlement was built in 1990 and is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. There is also a chapel of ease in the village dedicated to Saint Thomas the Apostle. It has a late-Gothic chancel and a Baroque nave and bell tower.