Unbekannte baltische Bezeichnungen aus dem Goldaper Kreis im Thorner Nachlass von Martin Gerss

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXXII (1993) BALTŲ ONOMASTIKOS TYRINĖJIMAI KRYSTYNA SZCZEŚNIAK UNKNOWN BALTIC DESIGNATIONS FROM THE GOLDAP DISTRICT IN THE THORN ESTATE OF MARTIN GERSS* Martin Gerss’s Thorn estate, consisting of 130 numbered handwritten pages, contains, besides German official names, designations of places and physiographic features, including their genitives, from the Masurian, Warmian, and Upper Silesian regions, dating from the mid-19th century. They were collected, at the request of the Masurian Martin Gerss (of whose life, only the dates and places of birth and death are undisputed), from local people in these regions by Protestant pastors, most of whom are known by their first and last names from the signatures they appended to their letters. Professor Ludwik Zabrocki had already called attention to the study of this document in 1948, so far without success. The value of the estate is indisputable. A collection of such a large number of designations, together with their equivalents used in the region in question and their genitives, dating from the mid-19th century, must not be overlooked. These designations authentically reflect, in an unequivocal manner, the complicated history of naming in Warmia, Masuria, and Upper Silesia. In today’s paper I would like to limit myself to the material on naming from the Goldap District, located in Masuria. It had an exceptionally interesting history, as well as a complex settlement history, which is still reflected in the place names, although its traces have been somewhat obscured over time and by the deliberate actions of many generations belonging to different nationalities and religious communities. In the 19th century, Lithuanians, Germans, and Poles lived together in this area; the Poles were mainly Masurians whose ancestors had come from neighboring Mazowsze. Sermons were given in churches to Catholics and Protestants in three languages: in German on Sundays and feast days, in Polish every two weeks, and in Lithuanian five times a year, in the parish of Dubeninki, while in Zytkiejmy they were given almost exclusively in Lithuanian until the end of the 18th century. * The paper printed here was presented at the VI International Congress of Balticists. 166 were preached. In the past, the Old Prussians and the Yotvingians also played a role in colonization. Some place names currently in use in this district may serve as evidence: Kalniszki, Garbaś, Wilkasy, Szyliny, Rominta, Mieduniszki, Goldap, Lenkupie, Grabowo or Jabłońskie, Szczki and Tatary. The Thorn estate contains 168 settlement designations from the Goldap District, excluding the communities of Goldap and Zabin. All the designations date from 1861 to 1865 and are arranged in 8 separate lists, one of which contains only the genitives of the names. Besides German official designations indicating the character of the settlement (Abbau, Köln. Dorf, Etablissement, Foersterei, and similar terms), each entry gives the designation used locally and its genitive. Where more than one official or regional name occurs, this is reflected in the register; the same procedure was followed where several different genitives were recorded locally. Some settlements were entered in two or even three lists. Their official designations do not differ, whereas the versions recorded locally vary in the degree to which they display Masurian dialect features, providing further evidence of the authenticity of the Thorn estate. I discussed the reflection of the aforementioned Masurian dialect features in the designations of this district at the May conference in Bialystok, and the influence of German orthography on the spelling of regional designations at the immediately preceding congress, Colloquium Prutenicum, in Warszawa. Today I would like to focus on designations of Baltic origin that, in the forms recorded in the Thorn estate, have not been documented in any accessible source, either before or since. My paper will address both official designations and regional names. A. Among the 168 settlement designations of the Goldap District mentioned in the Thorn estate, there are 6 designations for settlements that today lie outside Poland. They are: Czelsnershute zu Rogainen-Kielery, Kielerow, Kelerow, Krageningen (Kraginnen), Kraginy, Kragin, Kruginnen, Ribbenischken, Rybeniski, Rybenisk, do Rybenischk, Sausleszuwen-Sausleziewo, Sausleziewa, do Sauslesziewa, Warlin (Poggenkrug), — do Warlini, na Warline, do Warlina, Wyszuponen-Wyzupony, do Wiszuponen. They draw attention to themselves through the replacement of the primary suffix -ininkas in place names Krageninki (Krageninken) by the secondary suffix -inas in Kraginy, which may be observed in the German official place name. In my opinion, this was undertaken through official channels, while in colloquial speech only the form with -inas is recorded. In the other groups, the German calque of a designation of Lithuanian origin is noteworthy: Warlin-Poggenkrug. The Lithuanian common noun varlynė, “a place where many frogs occur,” corresponds to the humorous name Poggenkrug. In the countryside, a Polonized Lithuanian form with variable grammatical gender was recorded: do Warlina (masculine gender). This phenomenon is characteristic of the area in question, so that here I 167 the variation in the inflection of the name Goldap brings to mind. While in the nominative der Goldap or die Goldap occurs, in the genitive only der Goldap is possible! Another name in this group, Rybeniski, Rybenisk (in another letter, the soft (s) was rendered as (sch), hence the spelling Ribenischk). Masurian features were also recorded in the name Sausleziewo, which appears in the official form given in the Thorn collection as Sausleszuwen and, in Gustav Leyding’s proposal, changed to Leszczowo through phonetic substitution of the second element and omission of the first (with the generally Polish suffix -owo instead of the primary suffix characteristic of the area in question, -ewo). The names in this group also contain the Lithuanian ùpė, contrary to the more frequent type, recorded as Jodupeny, Wyżupeny, in contrast to Bahupiany, Jodupiany. B. Two Baltic place names recorded in the countryside differ from those encountered thus far and have an unmistakably Lithuanian origin. They are Pablindzie, do Pablindziow, Blindiszki (both can be linked to Lithuanian blindė “salix caprea” with different suffixes). It is worth pointing out a further consequence of the effort to preserve the Baltic character of the names: they show no influence from the Masurian language. The situation is somewhat different in the case of a name recorded among the local inhabitants as Presławka, Presławki. Here, pres + lauk, an Old Prussian form, has been well preserved, though in Polish it was adapted by necessity as ławk. The widespread adaptation of rural names to the Masurian language in their written forms makes it possible, in this particular case, to preserve Old Prussian (s) instead of Lithuanian (š). C. All the other names, which I have not encountered in the sources known so far, retain their clearly Baltic character in all its principal dialectal features. They are: 1) Masurianization, often accompanied by palatalization. It occurs in spellings such as Absiermyńki, Absiermyńkow, Absiermyńik; Dobawiski, Dobawisk, Dubawiński, do Dobagiśk, do Dubagiśk (where, in my opinion, (g) should be read as (j)). They were written down by a pastor accustomed to German handwriting. I discussed this phenomenon in greater detail at the congress immediately preceding the Colloquium Prutenicum. I interpreted it as the recording of palatalization of (v) before front vowels and the transition of the polyphonemic group (vi, v’e) to (j), expressed by someone for whom writing (j) as (g) was entirely normal. (This spelling is derived from German handwriting.) The following names are also recorded in their Masurianized forms: Wielkie i Małe Kalnuśki, do Kalnuśk, Kulsy; Markawiski, do Markogiśk; Mazutki; Miciule; Zitkiemy, do Zitkiem, Zitkiemy Małe and Płockieny. 2) The approximation of (a) to (o), which is conspicuous in spellings such as do Uśkolniow (Nom. Uszkalnie do Markogiśk (Nom. Markawiśki). 3) Palatalization of the type miotła=nietła, in the name Nieskrupie, do 168 Nieśkrupih (!) and in the official designation Meszkrupien (today Meszno). 4) The occurrence as a continuation of an earlier (o) -o, which generally marks the genitives of the names under investigation: do Pablindziow, Tuniow, Pablow, do Kepurdegow. 5) Soft pronunciation of (k, g) before front vowels, as evidenced by the spellings Zitkiemy, Plockieny, Skajzgierki, do Skajzgierk. D. The names of two settlements in Goldap County have two official designations. They are written as Rominté (Binnenwalde) and Kalweitschen Gross (Miesiszken), while three rural names were recorded for the first settlement: Rominté, Rominta, Binnewald // Bunnenwalt (Bunnenwaltu) and Tertak (Tertaku), with the Masurian shift from ar>er. For the other settlement, the following were recorded in the countryside: Kalweycie Duze, Kalweycie Male, Kalweycioa, Kalweyciow Małych. The second official version was supposedly documented because it was no longer known in the countryside. Names in the Toruń estate in the light of currently valid forms. The majority of the analyzed names, especially those recorded in the countryside, have a distinctly Baltic character. Evident proof of this includes: Absiernyńki, Absiernyńk, in contrast to the current forms: Obszarniki; Uszkalnie, do Uśkolniow, as opposed to the current loan translation Podwyżna. An interesting fact to note here is that the German official name in use since 1938 was Bergerode. Like the names mentioned above, the current Bledziszki, Pobłedzie, Pełkowo, Dobowo, Markowo, Będzieszewo and Meszno derive from Baltic roots, corresponding to those recorded in the Toruń estate: Blindiszki, Pablindzie, Pełkawiszki, Dubawiśki, Markawiśki, Padyniszki and Nieśkrupie. It should be noted here that this Baltic origin had already been obscured or concealed by the German official name, which sometimes appeared as the sole form and sometimes as a doublet of another form. The Toruń estate already records this for Abschrinen alongside colloquial place names: Absiernyńki; Dobawen — alongside Dobawski; Markowen — alongside Markowischken. In all these cases, the German official name had a strong influence on the establishment of the currently valid names. Interestingly, even the Masurian Gustaw Leyding-Mielecki, who lived half a century after Gerss, recorded in his lexical material not the Baltic forms but only Obszarniki, Pełkowo, Dobowo, while the German names show no trace of Baltic origin. However, the Toruń estate includes such official names as: Kalckaunen, Macznorkehmen, Matzukehmen, Pauczkehmen, Staczausen, Thewelkehmen—alongside names recorded in the same source: Kalkowo, compared with the current Kolkowo; Mocnarki, do Mocnark, today Maciejowięta, Mażutki, today Mażucie; Plockieny, Staciowka or Bordzie, today Barcie—which make it easier to discover the etymology of the names and their original forms, forgotten both in nineteenth-century naming and in present-day toponymy. There is also a settlement that in the Toruń estate has two official desig- 169 nations, namely Klein Jeralischken, Herzogstal, whereas the colloquial forms Hercogstal, do Hercogstalu are used. This may be connected with a new wave of German settlement in the area, where Germans from Salzburg settled at that time. Conclusions 1. The Thorn estate of Martin Gerss contains credible toponomastic data from the area of Warmia, Masuria, and Oppeln Silesia, which reflect the naming situation in the aforementioned regions by listing administrative names (with their doubles, if any) and colloquial names (also including double terms, if they occur), together with their genitives. 2. This presentation of the toponomastic material makes it possible to establish the linguistic situation, and also indirectly that of the nationalities, on the basis of the situation at the time (the 19th century). In the case of Goldap County, three peoples lived there: Lithuanians, Poles, and Germans; the importance and number of the Lithuanians declined, while those of the Poles increased correspondingly, namely the Masurians, as clearly reflected by the names recorded in the countryside, which contain many features of the Mazovian dialect, including, among others, the characteristic phenomenon of Mazurization and extensive palatalization. A new wave of German settlement began in this period, as evidenced by the adoption of a new place name, a Polonized German one, unlike the concurrently existing Baltic written language. 3. The toponomastic material contained in the estate includes names not previously recorded. Since it reflects a range of dialect features and includes the genitive forms of names, it is, in my view, an important resource that connects data excerpted from local documents by Wojciech Kętrzyński (whose originals, as is well known, were lost during the evacuation of the archive in Königsberg) with materials also collected in the countryside by Gustav Leyding-Mielecki. These are valuable to toponomasticians, historical linguists, and researchers into the past of this region. 4. Most of the investigated Baltic names lost their origins through a complex Lithuanian-German-Polish transposition, carried out in varying sequences. The following names still in use today are reminders of them: Podwyżna, Kolki, Kolkowo, Markowo, Dobowo, Maciejowięta and Stachowięta, Meszno and Czarne. 5. The aforementioned change occurred: a) independently—in the area with a predominantly Lithuanian population, settlement from Mazovia began to develop. Village inhabitants decimated by disease, epidemics, and wars were often replenished by people from Mazovia or neighboring Masurian counties. 170 b) deliberately, through activities: 1) of German authorities, for example Dobauen, whereas in the countryside only Dobawiski, Dubawiski was recorded. 2) of the Commission for the Determination of Place Names, which operated in Poland after the end of the war in 1945. By decision, it approved Podużyzna, which Gustav Leyding-Mielecki proposed instead of Absiernyńki, Uszkalnie, although Užbały was retained. Thus Kiejsty and Markowo, Dobowo came into being, modeled on the German administrative names Markowen, Dobawen. It must be added here that this tendency was not always pursued consistently. In Goldap County, many names ending in -iszki were retained, so the names Markowo, Dobowo and Pełkowo were not necessary. 6. The Thorn estate and its material therefore warn above all against drawing conclusions too hastily on the subject of the primary formation of names in linguistically mixed-population areas, and confirm my previous caution in using Taszycki’s classification of name types for the study of names in the county area mentioned. UNKNOWN BALTIC PLACE NAMES FROM THE GOLDAP AREA IN THE THORN ESTATE Abstract The Thorn estate (mid-19th century) contains 168 names of inhabited places from the Goldap area. A considerable number of them are clearly Baltic in origin, e.g., Poblindzie, Kalniszki, Wilkasy, Garbas. The Baltic origin of some oikonyms is difficult to trace because of later changes resulting from the influence of German and Polish. Occurrences of translation (e.g., Warlin – German Poggenkrug) indicate that bilingualism or rather multilingualism existed in these regions. 171