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German names for Central European towns
This article deals with the German language names of towns and cities in Central Europe.
Many place names in Central Europe, mostly in the former Imperial Germany and in former Austria-Hungary, but now located in non-German-speaking countries, have traditionally had their German equivalents. Some of them have been used for ages of German presence in the area, while others were simply German transliterations of local names or names invented in the 19th century. In many cases, towns or cities were inhabitated by significant numbers of members of two or more ethnics groups, including German-speakers.
The earlier was the case with towns inhabited by Germans at least since the Middle Ages, like for instance Breslau or Stettin. The latter was the case of, for instance, Polish towns annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, like Chodziesen, Jarotschin or Hohensalza.
As long as the places were part of Germany or Austria-Hungary, these German names were used invariably in German - and usually in English and most other languages too - while the local Slavic, Magyar or Romanian inhabitants always used their own traditional names for the places in question. After World War II, when the German populations were expelled, the German names gradually fell into disuse in German, especially for the minor towns. German names of major cities like Danzig or Breslau are still recognizable and frequently used (Danzig about half the time; Breslau somewhat less). In only a few cases, the use of the German name persists invariably ,e.g. in the case of Prague, which is almost exclusively referred to as Prag in German, while the Czech name Praha is rarely used.
Non-German-speaking Countries where a significant number of cities and towns have alternative German names
Further Examples
These are some of the names that ware more different in comparison to the current versions.
External link
- Wortschatz-Datenbank, a page listing the usage of words in German newspapers; searches for old German names of now-Polish cities show that most of their use is in historical contexts, while the Polish names are generally used when reference is made to the present-day cities
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