At 9:03:19 AM on Thursday, January 8, 2004, tgpedersen
wrote:
> According to Udolph's maps the place-names (PN in the
> genitive +) -leben/-lev "fief(?)" and *haugaz "hill,
> mound" have approximately the same distributions:
> Thuringia, Schleswig and Eastern Denmark with Scania (I'd
> have to vouch for *haugaz on the latter, since Udolph's
> map doesn't cover, but I think it holds).
> So, in those areas someone (ie. a king) at one time had
> the power ti distribute the land to his men,
This doesn't follow at all. First, the generic (<-leua>,
<-lebo>, <-leiba>) clearly goes with OHG <leiba>, OS <le:va>
'Hinterlassenschaft', ON <leif> 'Erbschaft', OE <la:f> 'what
is left, relic, remains'. There is nothing here to indicate
how the Magolf of Magolfeslebo (now Molschleben), for
instance, acquired his estate.
'Fief' is in any case a very poor gloss, no matter what
sense is intended. The term is an anachronism, and even in
the period in which it is customarily applied, it had a
variety of meanings, many of which do not fit the
traditional picture. (This picture is to a considerable
extent a theoretical construction of medieval and
post-medieval lawyers that bears only passing resemblance to
the situation on the ground, especially in the period before
1100. For details see Susan Reynolds, _Fiefs and Vassals_.)
> and some were buried in mounds.
Brian