Sorbian Place Names

The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview on the specifics of Sorbian place names. It also provides examples of Sorbian subject headings.

The names of geographical locations have changed over their history. In addition, there are at least two names for each town, in Sorbian and in German. A few larger settlements have a different spelling in the Upper or Lower Sorbian language.

Examples: 

Cottbus (German)

Chóśebuz (Lower Sorbian)

Choćebuz (Upper Sorbian)

Place names mentioned in Sorbian-language publications are mostly spelled according to their Sorbian name. As of today (2023), there is no reliable online database that will translate a town name from Sorbian into German. Wikipedia or print publications might be the best choice until such a database exists. The recommended German print references are for Upper Lusatia: (1) Die Ortsnamen der Oberlausitz, by Jan Meschgang (Domowina-Verlag, 1973), (2) Oberlausitzer Ortsnamenbuch, by Walter Wenzel (Domowina-Verlag, 2008). For Lower Lusatia: Niederlausitzer Ortsnamenbuch, by Walter Wenzel (Domowina-Verlag, 2006).

Creating Access Points for Sorbian Place Names

The main access point for the Sorbian place name should be created in accordance with the database of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Since this database ignores diacritical marks, please verify the correct spelling in the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names. The town name in the Sorbian language(s) is/are added as a variant form(s) as needed, with qualifying information in English and in parenthesis.

Examples (in MARC format):

151  Bautzen (Germany)

451  Budyšin (Germany)

451  Budyšyn (Germany)

781  $z Germany $z Bautzen

There are no Sorbian town names that include an acronym, initial, or abbreviation. There are however hyphenated town names (e.g. Pančicy-Kukow = Panschwitz-Kuckau) that are a result of a merger, town names with a slash (e.g. Nowa Wjes/Sprjewja = Neudorf/Spree), or town names with more than one word (Wulka Dubrawa = Großdubrau). 

For bibliographic records that need qualifiers for an area larger than a town or city, a jurisdiction for a municipality or county could be created. 

Examples:

Bautzen (Germany : Landkreis)

Cottbus (Germany : Stadtkreis)

As for the primary regions of Lusatia, Library of Congress uses their English names:  

Lower Lusatia (Germany) [name authority file, LC is in the process to change it to a subject heading]

Lusatia (Germany) [subject heading]

Upper Lusatia (Germany) [subject heading]

Upper Lusatia (Margraviate) [name authority file]

For information on Sorbian language and literature please consult the chapter Sorbian Languages and Literatures.

For a listing of classification numbers on these topics please consult the chapter Sorbian LC Classification Numbers for History and Ethnography.

For a description and the handling of Sorbian personal names please consult the chapter Sorbian Personal Names.

For Sorbian corporate names please consult the chapter Sorbian Corporate Names.

[submitted by Milan Pohontsch, July 2023]