Neighbours who disappeared: non-settlement names with the element Žid (‘Jew’) in Bohemia

0584579 - ÚJČ 2024 RIV PL eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Dvořáková, Žaneta
Neighbours who disappeared: non-settlement names with the element Žid (‘Jew’) in Bohemia.
Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press, 2023 - (Bijak, U.; Swoboda, P.; Walkowiak, J.), s. 99-120. ISBN 978-83-233-5305-8.
[International Congress of Onomastic Sciences /27./. Kraków (PL), 22.08.2021-27.08.2021]
Institutional support: RVO:68378092
Keywords : anoikonym * minor place name * Bohemia * Jew
OECD category: Linguistics
https://wuj.pl/en/book/onomastics-in-interaction-with-other-branches-of-science-volume-1

In this paper, I focus on non-settlement geographical names (anoikonyms, microtoponyms or minor place names, i.e. names of fields, meadows, forests, waters, roads, etc.) which preserve traces of the Jewish population in Bohemia, i.e. a part of present-day Czech Republic. The research is based on the Collections of anoikonyms gathered between 1963 and 1980. Names containing the element Žid (‘Jew’) are quite common here, e.g., Židák (56), Židovka (93), Židovna (157), etc. They differ in terms of age and are located throughout Bohemia. These names are motivated by: (1) places where Jews lived and where they were buried (e.g., Jewish cemeteries were often called Židák), (2) the ethnicity or religion of land owners, (3) tragic events (e.g., the field in Lžín U mrtvého žida ‘at the dead Jew’s’), (4) metaphors (names using the adjective židovský ‘Jewish’ as a synonym of a separated place or land of bad quality). Some minor place names arose from the personal name (surname or nickname) Žid and it cannot be ruled out that some anoikonyms, which are assumed to originate from a common noun or ethnonym, also come from a personal name. In many cases, these names are the last memories of Jewish neighbours who disappeared.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0352502