Now after a year of working on the German newspapers, I have finished the full descriptions of the first half of the century. As per usuall, many peculiarities were found and more questions remain to be answered. One of them has to do with historic place names. Newspapers often report the last occurrences from very small towns and settlements and with shifting political boundaries mainly in the western part of Eastern Europe in the regions of Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, and Prussia, it is very unclear to which places the headlines make a reference to. Often, reading the news report will reveal the area where the news originated from and laborious search in the Czech Old Maps project and Walter Sperling´s Geographische Namen in den böhmischen Ländern has helped to solve some of the toponymic brain-twisters, yet others remain unclear.
I have put together a list with all toponyms in the spelling in which they appear in the sources and I am seeking help from the community in locating these places with their today´s name. If the news give information on the whereabouts of their origin, I have noted them in square brackets in the hope that this might make potentially unclear cases more clear. Any suggestions, either in the comments field below or at jh230@st-andrews.ac.uk is much welcomed.
(Specifications in round brackets represent additional information found in the news text)
[Specifications in square brackets represent conjectures]
A
Aiste [Aistersheim?]
Arineque
Arion
Affende
Auxone
Arien [fr, Aire-sur-la-Lys; Ariën aan de Leie, nl?]
Auance (Luxembourg)
Avendi
Anerbach (Zwickau)
Astracan
B
Beer (Seeland)
Brachsund
Beurnt (Dunkirk)
Beel (Saint-Omer)
Bris
Barckwitz
Briefflingen (Regensburg)
Bourberg
Bassee
Bajel
Bilßig (Pilsen)
Boriel
Bolonia (Fonterabia)
Busch [’s-Hertogenbosch?]
Bruch [Bruges?]
Bourberg
Bilitz [Bielice?]
Bördehunde (Stade)
Bettaw [Bettau?]
Birna [Pirna?]
Bousingen (Ypres)
Blienbeck [Lower Rhine]
C
Calwitz
Cada (Rackonitz)
Cadan
Caadan [Prague?]
Cläue (Switzerland)
Caminitz [= Kamenice?]
Calmsee
Cortrych / Cortreich
Cortrych
Coda
Chastillet
Cartau [Karthaus, dt; Kartuzy, pl]
Caminitz
Cräfnig
Charlevilles [Charleville-Mézières?]
Cößlin
Günneckens
Constants (Normandy, Jersey)
D
Deusingen
Darneton (Lamloy)
Dreckvoerde (Bremen)
Doures (Pleymuyden, Toulon, Neuhatel)
Datich
Depfingen [Breisgau]
Dels / Delspurg
Döppel (Bohemia)
Dommeln
Duyns
Dorn [Torun, PL?]
Doren [Torun, PL?]
Diselitze (Selestat, Alsace)
Dierenhoven
Dirna (Hungary)
Dort (Geldern, Breda)y
Dornick (Utrecht)
Druynen
E
Etre au Pont
Engloy
Elsterfeld (Solingen)
Eiteltaub
Espoy
Ebertzhausen [Ebertshausen?]
Egra [Eger?]
Einböck [Einbeck?]
F
Freihenwaldt
Falckenau
Friedburg (Meissen)
Fielckingen
G
Glockau [Klockau, Glockau?]
Glatta
Glattau (Pilsen, Bohüten)
Gottorf [Castle, Schleswig?]
Gorckom
Gertraudenberg [Osnabrück?]
Gustran
Gobißlaw
Geuweyler
Goth (Brussels)
Gräbelsbaum
Gerowitz (Moravia)
Gesuditz
Guyic
Gilobitz
Glatta
Grumau
H
Hochstrassen
Hollweck (Styria)
Högau [Hegau, BW?]
Höge (Verden)
Hülst
Honßcote
I
Inauniont
Itzstein
J
Jochenthal
Javier (Liegnitz)
Jeßdorf [Silesia]
Jungen Puntzel [Bolesławiec?]
K
Königsfahl [Poland?]
Kaisersmarck
Kößting
Künzberg
Königswarter Schantz [Valy u Mariánských Lázní?]
L
Litzheim
Leutsch (Neuensahl)
Lammgen
Lorenzen (Saar)
Lentzen (Berlin)
Licha (Spain)
Leutzen (Schausen, Osterburg)
Landrechic
Loiß
Lutin (Schwerin)
Leitzhazsen (Hirschfeld)
Liesstenhoeck
M
Masiers
Maynungen [Meiningen?]
Mahnsit
Malmühe
Mechelburg
Moerspuy
MünchenNeuburg
Margenburg
Mendelingen
N
Newburg (Rinteln area)
Nuewerck (England) [Newark-on-Trent?]
Newenfahl
Newgarden (Pletzkow)
Namen
Neuß [Opole, Poland; NOT Neuss, Lower Rhine]
O
Ober-Zapfen
Opsahl
Obßfelt [Gorleben]
Ostorp (Piedmont)
Osteckelo
Obergrundt
Ortenitz
P
Passingen (Darmstadt)
Pulckhaden
Pletede (Ratzeburg)
Piritz
Posingen (Darmstadt)
Pont Desé
Pelion (Barcelona)
Pilgrem
Pleymuyden
Parleduc
Poklitz (Pomerania)
Prümb (Alsace, NOT Prüm / Eifel)
Philippine (Bergen op Zoom)
R
Razena [Ohrazenice, CZ?]
Renevil
Reiningen (Moselle)
Redlingen (Westphalia)
Rockenzahn (Thauß)
Ronnen
Rehne
Rhetel (Brno)
Rosignol
Rothmünster
Rühl (Holstein)
Rutenplan
Russach
Retschis
Roteney
Reuss [Russia?]
S
Sparenberg
Sittart / Sittert
Sitta (Luben)
Sogk
Sandflieth (Rosedaal, Brabant)
Stuckhart
Schluytz
Stattberg (Kassel)
Schäff-Ulenheim
Schluys
Schluyß
Settschin
S. Truyen
Schlackenaw
Sirowitz
Syre (Russian Headquarter)
Silain
Salsaden (Flanders)
Striga
Siedholm
Schütt
Stoploch
Schlitta (Bohemia)
T
Ter Gow (Friesland, Groningen)
Töpel
Telzsch (Iglau)
Theysingen
Teutschenbrod (Bohemia)
Trübel
Thoren [Torun?]
Tschebotin
Trettow (Holstein)
Tzenßbochaw (Poland, probably typo)
Tryto
U
Uerdenburg
V
Valencin [Valenciennes or one of the various French Valencin-sur … ?]
Vlyssingen [Vlissingen?]
W
Wellisch
Wehl (Hamburg)
Wallstein (Molsheim, Alsace, Kreuznach)
Wouwe
Warene
Wattene
Weedek (Bremen)
Wodian
Wodinaw
Wodino [Vodňany?]
Wehel [Wehl, NL?]
Y
Ypß (Austria)
Z
Zawings
Zoouß (Witlingshofen)
Zuo (Liège)
Züpz
Zülling
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Jan Hillgaertner (November 24, 2014). A Call for Help: Puzzling About Places pt. II. newspaperhistory. Retrieved April 27, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/sbqm