| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: At the eastern edge of Lower Lusatia, we find a mixture of three languages. Originally, it was an Old Sorbian settlement area, but after the conquest by the Ottonian rulers in the High Medieval Era it became a Sorbian-German language contact zone for centuries, as many other regions in Eastern Germany. However, in 1945, the situation changed fundamentally, as all former German territories east of the Oder and Neiße rivers became part of the Polish state, and a new Polish toponymy was created. Dealing with toponymy in Eastern Lusatia, we find a complex situation: Sorbian names were Germanized, but German names were Sorabized, too, in the context of the re-birth of Sorbian culture in the 19th century. Finally, the new Polish names were not totally new, but in many cases influenced by their Sorbian and German predecessors. |
