Field Names

Flurnamen or field names are the names (field designation) of a small-scale part of the landscape (field) - such as mountain peaks and valleys, forests, pastures, meadows, fields, floodplains, creeks and ponds, paths, Gewanne [arable land divided into several strips with a common boundary line], (field boundary, parcel, field, where the plow was turned) or subdivision of the field, especially in three-field farming, in order to achieve an even distribution of soil quality) and paths to individual parcels outside settlements. They contain old - not seldom also foreign - linguistic material, which is often handed down over many centuries and allows conclusions about the settlement history. The fields are important sources of the regional past and signposts to local history.