Abstract
Hitherto, only short presentations of Danish lund-names have been
written, usually giving a picture of the lund-names as a very old
name type, i.e. because they can be connected to the Old Norse religion through qualifiers that consist of the names of heathen gods. This survey, however, shows that most of the Danish lund-names are relatively young, dating back to the late Viking Age and the Middle Ages, and some even younger than that.
The survey shows huge inequalities within the group of Danish lund-names. This becomes very clear when comparing taxes for settlements
denoted with other generics in King Christian V's land register
from 1688. The lund-settlements in Sjælland and Lolland-Falster
pay taxes as high as settlements denoted with Iron Age nametypes;
therefore they must be just as old. The lund-settlements in
Jylland seem to be a great deal younger; they pay taxes similar to
those paid by settlements denoted with name-types from the late Viking Age and the Middle Ages. When comparing the distribution of the lund-names in this survey with the distribution of names in -torp a very interesting picture is revealed (figs. 2 and 4). It seems that the lund-names fill out an area in the middle of central
Jylland where there are few torp-names. Moor is dominant in that
area, and maybe small woods were so significant there that this has been stressed in the names rather than the type of settlements they were.
There are no linguistic conditions in the names in this survey
that can prove undoubtedly that the names are older than the early Middle Ages. However, there are certain examples of Nordic godnames among the qualifiers, but a number of factors argue against a general understanding of the lund-names as sacred: only 2,4 % of the names in this survey are certainly sacred, the age differences within the group of lund-names are large, and a lot of the settlements
denoted with lund-names are so small and insignificant that they cannot have had any particular importance at any time.
written, usually giving a picture of the lund-names as a very old
name type, i.e. because they can be connected to the Old Norse religion through qualifiers that consist of the names of heathen gods. This survey, however, shows that most of the Danish lund-names are relatively young, dating back to the late Viking Age and the Middle Ages, and some even younger than that.
The survey shows huge inequalities within the group of Danish lund-names. This becomes very clear when comparing taxes for settlements
denoted with other generics in King Christian V's land register
from 1688. The lund-settlements in Sjælland and Lolland-Falster
pay taxes as high as settlements denoted with Iron Age nametypes;
therefore they must be just as old. The lund-settlements in
Jylland seem to be a great deal younger; they pay taxes similar to
those paid by settlements denoted with name-types from the late Viking Age and the Middle Ages. When comparing the distribution of the lund-names in this survey with the distribution of names in -torp a very interesting picture is revealed (figs. 2 and 4). It seems that the lund-names fill out an area in the middle of central
Jylland where there are few torp-names. Moor is dominant in that
area, and maybe small woods were so significant there that this has been stressed in the names rather than the type of settlements they were.
There are no linguistic conditions in the names in this survey
that can prove undoubtedly that the names are older than the early Middle Ages. However, there are certain examples of Nordic godnames among the qualifiers, but a number of factors argue against a general understanding of the lund-names as sacred: only 2,4 % of the names in this survey are certainly sacred, the age differences within the group of lund-names are large, and a lot of the settlements
denoted with lund-names are so small and insignificant that they cannot have had any particular importance at any time.
| Translated title of the contribution | Danish place-names in -lund: Prefatory remarks |
|---|---|
| Original language | Danish |
| Journal | Norna - Rapporter |
| Issue number | 86 |
| Pages (from-to) | 75-115 |
| Number of pages | 41 |
| ISSN | 0346-6728 |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |