Onomastykon dla każdego — o modułowej strukturze artykułów hasłowych w serwisie Dolnoserbske mjenja | Niedersorbische Namen: O modułowej strukturze artykułów dotyczących pochodzenia nazw własnych w serwisie internetowym Dolnoserbske mjenja | Niedersorbische Namen

Abstract

A large, diverse database on the Lower Sorbian language comprising several dictionaries, corpora etc. has already existed for several years. This database (www.dolnoserbski.de) is compiled, managed, and supplemented by the Sorbian Institute. It also includes proper names. After establishing detailed, practical information about the grammar of the names (declination), the goal of the next step was to include etymological information. Instead of a scholarly repository of the entire onomastic knowledge about Sorbian names, the aim was to create a bilingual (Lower Sorbian and German) information service for a broader public. However, this requires much more basic information than would be necessary for an onomastician. When, how, and why Sorbian names were coined has to be explained not just in general, but also in connection with individual names. This includes information about the reasons for names, the role of the various suffixes the names were created with, and so on. To compile this extensive information, which not only presents the etymology of the basic morphemes but also full explanations of names, specific text modules were developed for all phenomena and aspects concerning multiple names. For example, an article about one name consists of a specific text about this name along with several of the text modules dealing with, for instance, the suffix and the semantic group to which the name belongs. Furthermore, Lower Sorbian broadcasting contains a series featuring short explanations of Sorbian settlement names and surnames which runs partly in parallel with the above-mentioned database project.