Talk:German placename etymology

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What about more-or-less modern 'exotic' names like Kalifornien, Brasilien, Croustillier?

These are in the German Exonyms article; some (e.g. places in the US) that are missing there can be found in the corresponding article of the German Wikipedia. Edwing 23:12, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Prehistoric/medieval

Originally the article had subsections for German names "from "prehistoric times" and "from medieval times." There was no reference or explanation why some suffixes were considered "prehistoric" in origin and the others "medieval". I therefore combined the two into one category Olessi 20:09, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes it can be established archeologically how old a place is. If the place is prehistoric, it can be assumed that the name is prehistoric too, since places rarely change their names, unless there is a good reason to believe otherwise. For some places it is known that they were medieval foundations, so it is likely that their name is also of medieval origin. I added the reference. Chl 01:36, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Magna Germania tribes

I added "citation needed" for the statement that "-owe, -au and -gowe, and -gau" were used by Slavs because of earlier settlement by Germanic tribes. Olessi 14:20, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Moved to talk page since no reference was provided: "Today's existence of wide-spread German(ic) -owe, -au and -gowe, and -gau shows that even when the first Slavs came into Magna Germania, they and the rest of the Germanic people continued the old Germanic names. The Western Slavic people, who were first in Greater Moravia, then Bohemia, later Poland (all previously territory of Magna Germania), also took up the Germanic place designations, such as -wig (-vik or vik) as in German : Wikinger (English: Vikings)." Olessi 15:19, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Languages

The German word for city hall, Rathaus, was Polonized into ratus.

This surely is correct, but does it belong here? I'd say "city hall" is a designator rather than a "proper" place name in the sense of "California". If noone objects, I'm going to delete this some time soon since it doesn't fit the subject of the article. Edwing 23:12, 13 April 2007 (UTC)