Gnieździeń i Gniezno. Nazwa najstarszej stolicy Polski. Deliberacje

• Authors: Jerzy Nalepa

Title variants

EN

GNIEZDZIEN AND GNIEZNO - NAMES OF THE OLDEST CAPITAL OF POLAND. DELIBERATIONS

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The author refers to the article by W. Hensel, who developed a thesis that the name Gniezno, inscribed on the coin of Boleslav the Great as GNEZDUN CIVITAS was originally composed of two elements, made up of two words 'knez' (prince) and 'dun' (fortified settlement). Expressing his critical opinion of this thesis, the author, after the analysis of the earliest written records, suggests a hypothesis, claiming that there existed two variants of the name: Gniez(d)no and Gniezdzien, whereas the first variant was original and referred to the lake: *Gnezd6no (jezero) >*Gn'ezd'no (jez'oro), where 6 stands for a high reduced front vowel called 'jer'surviving in the historical slavic languages. This is confirmed by numerous names of lakes ending with -no in the Gniezno area. The second variant must have originally stood for the hilltop over the lake: Gniezdzien (hilltop) and in the course of time the fortified settlement built there: Gniezdzien (fortified settlement) - *Gnezd6n6 (gord6) > *Gn'ezd'en (grod). Following the rejection of the second element, the name Gnezden remained and then Gniezdzien, that is the name which functioned as the name of the capital of the Piast state until the 12th century, and later disappeared superseded by a dehydronymic permanent form, standing for the original lake and the settlement on its banks - Gniezdno, transformed into modern Gniezno.(Original paper published with the German summary)

Keywords

EN

GNIEZNO; LIMNONYMY; POLAND; TOPONYMY

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk
• Journal: Slavia Antiqua: rocznik poświęcony starożytnościom słowiańskim
• Year: 2005
• Volume: 46
• Pages: 63-92
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Jerzy Nalepa

• J. Nalepa, Nilstorpsvägen 35, 224 56 Lund, Sweden

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01082471