What does "Leschnitz" mean?

Leschnitz derives from the Slavic root les/lessa/leszno meaning "forest" or "deciduous forest." The name translates to "Ort im Walde"—Place in the Forest. It belongs to Group 7 of Slavic place names (forest-derived names) in Adamy's classification.

What do the -witz and -itz suffixes mean?

These Slavic suffixes mean "village," "place," or "settlement." The suffix -witz is related to the Latin word vicus (village). Interestingly, these suffixes were sometimes added to German root words to make pronunciation easier for Slavic neighbors (e.g., Birkwitz, Buchwitz, Peterwitz).

How did place names change between German and Slavic?

Names underwent significant transformations as both populations tried to make them pronounceable. The -ow/-aw endings became German -au (Glogow→Glogau). Some names were translated, others lost their original names entirely and received new German names. Many Slavic names persisted even in areas that became German-speaking.

Why is toponymy relevant to absence studies?

Place names are "the only surviving witnesses to conditions of long-past days." When cultures are displaced or erased, their names often persist as linguistic ghosts. The name Leschnitz preserves memory of the forest that was cleared for settlement—an absence encoded in language that has outlasted the forest itself by centuries.

Silesian Toponymy

The Origin and Meaning of Place Names

Place names are the only surviving witnesses to conditions of long-past days. Heinrich Adamy's 1887 scholarly work "Die schlesischen Ortsnamen" (The Silesian Place Names) provides systematic documentation of how these linguistic artifacts preserve memory when all else has been erased.

For the Laboratory of Absence, toponymy represents a crucial form of linguistic archaeology: names that persist even when the cultures that created them have been displaced, expelled, or forgotten. The name Leschnitz itself derives from the Slavic root meaning "forest"—a reminder that settlement began with the clearing of primordial wilderness.

The Name Leschnitz

According to Adamy's classification, Leschnitz belongs to Group 7 of Slavic place names—names derived from forests (vom Walde). The entry on page 22 of his work records:

German Name	Leschnitz
District	Gr. Strehlitz
Old Slavic Name	Leznitz
Meaning	Ort im Walde (Place in the Forest)

The root les, lessa, leszno in Slavic languages means "forest" or specifically "deciduous forest." Related place names include:

Laasan, Laasen, Laasnig, Lahse → Waldau (Forest settlement)
Lassowitz, Lasswitz, Lauskowe → Walddorf (Forest village)
Leschen, Leschna → Förstchen (Little forest)
Leschkowitz, Leschnig, Leschnik → Walddorf (Forest village)

The name thus encodes the primordial condition of the land: dense forest that had to be cleared for settlement. The forest that once defined this place has been absent for centuries, yet its memory persists in the name.

Preface (1887)

"The present work has not only the purpose of presenting a picture of conditions in Silesia at the time of its first settlements, but also the intention of contributing to the clarification of many obscure place names. And indeed, the interpretation of these names is very suitable for providing information about the earlier conditions of the land and its inhabitants.

Place names are faithful and reliable reporters of facts, and in many cases the only surviving witnesses to conditions of long-past days.

Unfortunately, a large part of Silesian place names, because of the abbreviations and distortions they have suffered over many centuries, are not suited to render this service. Therefore it was first necessary to seek out the original form of the place names in order to recognize their meaning."
— Heinrich Adamy, Breslau, April 1887

Adamy's sources included the Silesian document collections, particularly the Regesten of Dr. C. Grünhagen, the scientific works of Professors Markgraf, Nehring, Weinhold, and Buttmann, and the "Overview of Silesian Settlements" by Knie.

Land and People in Ancient Times

Silesian place names, like all geographical names, are never meaningless sound combinations, but always the expression of a thought that filled the first settlers when they founded the place. Very often they wanted to show gratitude to their leader by choosing his name, while other times the location and soil conditions gave occasion to name the settlement accordingly.

The collision of languages created profound transformations:

"Where foreign peoples invaded a land and different languages came into manifold contact, as in Silesia, there many place names suffered such significant changes—as each side tried to make them pronounceable—that they have become almost unrecognizable today."

From the overwhelming number of names speaking of forest and swamp, we recognize the unceasing struggle of the colonists against these powers. The cultivated stretches were still scattered like islands in the sea within the immense forest that covered the land.

Key insight: Slavic and German place names are mixed almost everywhere in Silesia, yet so that in Upper Silesia the Slavic names predominate, and in Middle and Lower Silesia the German names. It would be a great error to conclude from Slavic place names that Slavic is spoken there. The language boundary is quite different; for the German immigrants in the Middle and Lower Silesian lowlands introduced the German language almost everywhere they significantly enlarged a settlement, but retained the Slavic place name.

I. Slavic Place Names (11 Groups)

Group 1: Fortress Names (Kastellaneien)

The oldest fortifications, established by Polish or Bohemian rulers for defense. Names derive from location, purpose, or the castellans who administered them. Examples: Breslau, Liegnitz, Schweidnitz, Glatz, Glogau, Sagan, Ratibor.

Note: Glatz derives from Kladsko, meaning "wooden fortress made of tree trunks."

Group 2: Fortified Cities, Castles, Monasteries

Settlements protected by fortifications or strong ring walls, later elevated to cities under German law.

Group 3: Names from Occupations of Serfs (Hörigen)

Villages named after the obligated services of their serf inhabitants:

Strehitz, Lobkowitz → Hunter/Archer villages
Liskau, Liskowitz → Fox-hunter villages
Jelline, Jeltsch → Deer-hunter villages
Bobrek, Bobrownik → Beaver-hunter villages
Sokolnik, Zukelnig → Falconer villages
Rybnik, Reibnitz → Fisher villages
Bartnig, Bartkerei → Beekeeper villages

Group 4: Names from Founders

Villages named after their founders:

Urbanowice = Village of Urban
Jannowice = Village of Johann
Belkau = Village of Bialek
Polkwitz = City of Bolko

Group 5: Names from High Locations

Gorkau = Mountain village, and similar elevated settlements.

Group 6: Names from Low/Wet Locations

Mokrau = Swamp place, and settlements in lowlands or marshes.

Group 7: Names from Forests

This group includes Leschnitz and related names. See detailed etymology above.

Borau = Forest village (from bor, pine forest)

Group 8: Names from Tree Species and Plants

Dombrowa = Oak hill (from dub, oak)
Jawor = Maple place

Group 9: Names from Animals

Jeltsch = Deer place (from jelen, deer)
Wilkau = Wolf village (from wilk, wolf)
Rakowitz = Crayfish village

Group 10: Names from Terrain and Soil

Kamin = Stone mountain

Group 11: Names from Administrative Purposes

Sandowel, Poseritz = Court place, judgment site
Panthen, Panthenau = Lordly village
Biskupitz, Bischwitz = Bishop's village
Münchwitz = Monk's village

Special Note: The "Lub-" Names

A semantically and phonetically related group expressing emotional attachment to place:

Lüben, Lauban, Lubom, Leubus, Leubusch, Lublinitz, Leobschütz, Lubschau, Lubthal, Lewin

All share similar meaning: Beloved place, friendly place, joy-valley—comparable to German names like Liebau, Liebenau, Liebenthal.

II. German Place Names (13th-14th Century)

German colonists from Thuringia, Franconia, Saxony, and the Netherlands arrived in the 13th and 14th centuries. Their place names express feelings, wishes, hopes, and memories, as well as the terrain they found.

Most commonly, colonists chose the name of the man who obtained permission from the territorial lord, under whose leadership they wandered, and under whose protection they established the town or village. This man usually remained the first judge, bailiff, or mayor for his lifetime.

Group 12: Distorted Founder Names

German names so altered through abbreviations and sound shifts that they have become unrecognizable.

Group 13: Recognizable Founder Names

Many beautiful old German names echo the time of ancient heroic sagas.

Groups 14-20: Terrain-Based Names

Group 14: High locations on mountains and heights
Group 15: Low locations at water and swamp
Group 16: Forest-derived names
Group 17: Tree species and plants
Group 18: Animals
Group 19: Terrain characteristics and soil components
Group 20: Administrative and public purposes

Historical context: The mountain regions of Hirschberg, Löwenberg, Lauban, Landeshut, Waldenburg, Neurode, and Habelschwerdt are almost entirely free of Slavic place names. This indicates that at the time of German immigration, these mountain regions were still completely uninhabited and covered with primeval forest that also formed the border forest. The Germans founded the first settlements here, cleared the forests, and created access routes.

III. Prussian Period Names (post-1741)

Place names from the Prussian period (Group 21) date from 1741 onward, when Silesia became one of the most valuable provinces of the Prussian state. Particularly numerous are settlements created through the care of Frederick the Great for his newly acquired land.

Many of these names express Prussian patriotism by including names of the Prussian royal family and great men who served king and fatherland. Others owe their origin to mining, railways, or other favorable transport and economic conditions.

Understanding Suffixes

Slavic place name suffixes all carry the meaning of village, market town, place, colony, settlement:

Suffix	Meaning	Notes
-witz	Village	Related to Latin vicus. Sometimes added to German roots to ease Slavic pronunciation (Birkwitz, Buchwitz, Peterwitz)
-itz	Place	Variant of -witz
-schutz	Settlement	Common in Upper Silesia
-in, -ine	Place	Feminine suffix form
-ow, -aw	Place	Transformed to German -au: Zoraw → Sorau (Crane-city), Glogow → Glogau (Hawthorn-city), Grottkow → Grottkau (Castle-city)

Historical Document Gallery

The following images are scanned pages from Heinrich Adamy's original 1887 publication, "Die schlesischen Ortsnamen: ihre Entstehung und Bedeutung" (The Silesian Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning), published by Priebatsch's Buchhandlung in Breslau.

Title page (cover) - "Die schlesischen Ortsnamen" by Heinrich Adamy, Breslau 1887

Interior title page - "Ein Bild aus der Vorzeit" (A Picture from Prehistoric Times)

Page 7 - German place names of the second period (13th-14th century)

Page 22 - Slavic forest names including the entry for Leschnitz: "Ort im Walde" (Place in the Forest)

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "Leschnitz" mean?: Leschnitz derives from the Slavic root les/lessa/leszno meaning "forest" or "deciduous forest." The name translates to "Ort im Walde"—Place in the Forest. It belongs to Group 7 of Slavic place names (forest-derived names) in Adamy's classification.
What do the -witz and -itz suffixes mean?: These Slavic suffixes mean "village," "place," or "settlement." The suffix -witz is related to the Latin word vicus (village). Interestingly, these suffixes were sometimes added to German root words to make pronunciation easier for Slavic neighbors (e.g., Birkwitz, Buchwitz, Peterwitz).
How did place names change between German and Slavic?: Names underwent significant transformations as both populations tried to make them pronounceable. The -ow/-aw endings became German -au (Glogow→Glogau). Some names were translated, others lost their original names entirely and received new German names. Many Slavic names persisted even in areas that became German-speaking.
Why is toponymy relevant to absence studies?: Place names are "the only surviving witnesses to conditions of long-past days." When cultures are displaced or erased, their names often persist as linguistic ghosts. The name Leschnitz preserves memory of the forest that was cleared for settlement—an absence encoded in language that has outlasted the forest itself by centuries.