"morten thoresen" <
motho-@...> wrote:
original article:
http://www.egroups.com/group/cybalist/?start=1204
> Poland:
>
> Olsztyn (Cold mean Oldertun - "Oldtown)
It certainly could not have originated there. The original German name
was Allenstein. But this is an interesting one. Does anyone here know
the origin of Olsztyn? Before Poland claimed South East Prussia after
WW2, it was called Allenstein in German. Allenstein in itself is a
distortion of a previous Old Prussian Baltic toponym relating to the
name of the river that flows by it - Alna. Maybe the Prussian
place-name could have been Alnastabs, though it is an unlikely
combination, unless "stabis" (stone) had some specific local meaning.
But by the time of the crusades against the Prussians, some of their
Southern lands were already under Polish influence, so Olsztyn could
have been a Polish innovation. Though the German version Allenstein
still implies the presence of Aln-. Anyone have any ideas about
possible Polish etymology for Olsztyn?
As for any tun- cognates in Baltic, I do not think there are any.
-pilis is the usual suffix for a town or fortress.
Martin