Toponymy (Names of Places)

A study of Imperial Toponymy: Volume X: Wissenland

-Monsieur Geoffrey Leblanc, Lecturer of’ Reikspeil and Imperial History’ at the University of Paravon

- Edited and translated from Brettonian by Otto Gerten of the University of Altdorg for Imperial consumption and study.

Chapter XIV: The Toponymy of Sonnefurt

Towns and Villages

Sonnefurt

Sonnefurt is named after the Sonnefurt, the ford that appears in the River Sonne that allows traders to cross and opens the link to the other side and to Kreutzhofen.

The River is named after King Sonne who had his fort on the location Sonnefurt now occupies and met a grizzly fate in its waters.

Thalfang

The roots of Thalfang come from a crude reworking of the name of the god Taal and the old Imperial word ‘fang’ meaning ‘catch’ or ‘haul’.

The origins for this naming come from the old legend which states that once, King Aschen, another tribal chief of the region and cousin of Kings Sonne and Eieten, came across an incredibly old man fishing at the fork between the River Soll and the River Aschen. He did not recognise the man who was fishing as one of his tribe, and believed him to be poaching fish that rightly belonged to his people. He challenged the man and the man made a deal with the King, stating that if he could catch more fish than the King, he was entitled to keep his haul. The legend states that during the competition, the fish just jumped out of the water at the man’s feet, and the King caught nothing. The angry King begrudgingly let the man take his catch, but the man refused, giving the huge amounts of fish to the King as a gift. The man then disappeared, and the King realised he had been blessed by the god Taal. He quickly set up a shrine to the god, and moved his fortress to this location, where he enjoyed bountiful fishing and his tribe flourished in the name of his god.

Ertingen

Ertingen stems from the name of a former tribal king, King Eieten and the suffix ‘–ingen’, meaning ‘descendants of’.

King Eieten is famous as being the King who slew the great King Sonne, making him the mightiest King in the region, inheriting the lands of his cousin and merging the tribes. However, the intense rivalry of the tribes meant they did not want to coexist or move to the large fort at the Sonnefurt. As such, King Eieten decided to build another fort across the river for only his tribe, his descendants. The two forts were linked by a ferry but were not merged. It is perhaps this relationship that explains why the towns are still not merged.

Ostrach

Ostrach literally means ‘east of the River’ in the old Reikspiel.

Due to it being a relatively recent town development, springing up post 1707 and the Orc rampages, it does not benefit from a rich back story. The town is indeed located east of the River Soll (although maps of the Barony and of Wissenland seem to show it to be on the South side, due to the infamous ‘Wissenland slant’ employed by Imperial cartographers). It is the only large settlement in the Barony not to be found on the River’s edge, owing to why it might be so distinguished as being distant from the River.

Strazen

Strazen roughly means the ‘lost one’.

This name refers back to it having been the former fort of King Eieten, but when he lost in a battle against his cousin, King Aschen, the fort was razed and he was forced to flee into the Dieten Hills to save his tribe.

Bezeinhof

The closest translation of Bezeinhof is ‘the square marked with warnings’.

This is thought to originate from the very early beginnings of the town, in 1805, when a very small settlement was established on the edges of the Martinswald, still rife with dark beasts that had fled to hide in there after the disintegration of Gorbad’s invasion. It is said that the entire settlement were slaughtered and disappeared without a trace, but strange markings were left on the buildings threatening any more settlements. This attack provoked a purging of the Martinswald for the next ten years, and it was declared fit for habitation and felling in 1815. The villagers of the newest town chose to remember their former settlers by naming their town after their fate, a reminder to themselves that dark things lay in the forest.

Martinskorf

Martinskorf simply means ‘Martin’s Courtyard’.

This was named as on the towns establishment in 1815, a statue to Father Martin was erected and the simple villagers decided to name it after their meeting place.

Places

The River Sonne

The River Sonne which gives the town and Barony its name is named after an ancient King, King Sonne. The King ruled over the lands around Sonnefurt, his primitive fort residing where the town now rests. The river took his name as it was in the river his body was unceremoniously tossed after he was brutally cut down by one of his cousins, King Eieten.

Ancient tales tell that he met with Lacothea as his body and spirit entered her holy waters and bargained with her to become the spirit of the river. It is said that he controls the appearance of the ford, for he wanted to spite his cousins by controlling their usage of the waterway, being able to render it entirely useless at his whim.

The Aschen Hills and The Aschen River

The hills are named after King Aschen, who had a large hill fort in the hills before his legendary encounter with Taal upon which he moved his tribe down to the fork between the two Rivers and established Thalfang. The River is only named the Aschen River as its source is derived in the Aschen Hills.

The Dieten Hills

The hills, an amalgamation of the word ‘the’ and King Eieten’s name were not named as he had a fort there, but as that is where he was killed and buried. The mysterious barrow found in this hills is said to be his, and due to his vengeful spirit he is believed to still roam the hills with his armies, who were crushed their by the converts of Father Martin, for King Eieten was the only King not to turn to the way of Sigmar, and was subsequently subject to the Father’s hammer.

The Bezau Hills

In Reikspiel ‘bezau’ translates as ‘entranced’, making the closest translation of the ‘Bezau Hills’ the ‘entrancing hills’.

This stems from 1804, when the green lights stemmed from the Martinswald upon the opening of ‘Morr’s Chasm’, the huge pit that emerged magically and is presumed to lead to the underworld. The goat and sheep herders of these foothills were the first to notice these lights, as their sheep began to wander uncontrollably towards it, as if possessed by the mystical lights. Thus, the hills gained their name.

The Martinswald and the River Martin

The forest (wald in Reikspiel) and the river are named after the legendary hero Father Martin, a follower of Sigmar and the bringer of religion and unity to the warring tribes of the region. Upon his return from the Battle of Blackfire Pass, he began a mission to cleanse the woodland, lasting many, many years, often leading the armies himself. It was on one of these excursions, many, many years later, he was to fall foul of Goblin trickery and succumbed to a poisoned arrow. He became entombed in the Sanctuary of Sigmar he had established and the people of the Barony named the woodland in his honour. The River was then named in the local tradition of what it passes through, being the Martinswald. The bridge that crosses this river is also the Martin’s Bridge, and whilst this is only named due to the river it crosses, it does bear carvings depicting his life, acting as his memorial.

Editors note. By the time of printing this 4^th Edition of Monsieur Leblanc’s compilation, in 2526, the Martin’s Bridge was destroyed in resistance actions against the Kroppenleben occupiers. It has been rebuilt in a memorial to these resistance fighters. The masonry that survived the blast is now kept in Father Martin’s shrine in Sonnefurt’s Sanctuary of Sigmar.