Pogesania
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Pogesania (German: Pogesanien; Latin: Pogesania; Lithuanian: Pagudė) was a territory of the Baltic Prussians. The reconstructed Prussian language name of Pogesania is Paguddi. The land was home to the Pogesanian tribe.
In the 1237 the foundation for the city of Elbląg (Elbing) was laid down in Pogesania. After the Teutonic Knights captured Old Prussia and founded their monastic state, the Bishopric of Warmia, centered at Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg im Ermland), was drawn along largely the same lines as the tribal dominion had been.
[edit] Etymology
The name Paguddi is thought to derive from the Prussian words pa, meaning near, and gudde, meaning bush (in keeping with the Prussian habit of naming places after geographical features). Another theory is that it derives from pa-gud, meaning near Russians, indicating the proximity to Slavic tribes.
German poets came up with their own etymology for the land. In Prussian mythology, each of the ten original lands of Prussia is named after one of the sons of King Widewuto; but only a few of the sons' names are actually given. Thus, the Germans created a folk etymology for the land (in German commonly called Hockerland or Hoggerland) traced to a King Hoggo. Pogesania was said to trace to his daughter, Pogesana. His other daughter, Cadina, lent her name to the town of Cadinen. Kadinen is now the city of Kadyny in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.
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