Egijus <segijus@...> wrote:
> Do anybody can explain to me, what meaning and origin is of
>these placenames, located in Hungary: Szalmas, Szarvas, Dabas,
>Bene, Gava, Gelenes, Pilis, Szepes and Vertes?
Szalmas ['sOlmOS] < szalma "straw;" Szarvas ['sOrvOS] < szarvas
"deer" (verbatim: "horned" or "having antlers" < <szaru> and
<szarv> meaning "horn," "antler" and corneal matter -
whence e.g. <szaruhártya> "(eye) cornea").
Vertes (Vértes?) could have something to do with <vér> "blood".
"Dabas" could be Dobos < dob "drum;" dobos [doboS] "drumbeater."
The rest: I don't know. Of Szepes ['sæpæS] I know only this: it
is a province now in Slovakia. Its Slovak name: Spi [spiS]. In
German, it is called Zips [tsips]. Hence the term Zipser
Deutsche for some ethnic Germans who were colonized (from
Szepes/Zips) in the region Bucovina (North-West of the
Romanian principaliy Moldavia). Of both West-German (12th-13th c.)
extraction and later on from other provinces (esp. Southern
germanophonous ones, incl. Austria). The province name
Bucovina evolved only under Austrian occupation (18th c.).
(Note that in Hungarian, unlike in Polish, "sz" has
to be read [s], not [S]. So don't you see in any
Hungarian Sz--- words Lithuanian Sh--- words. ;o))
>Egijus
George