Sauerland
German edit
Etymology edit
First mentioned in 1266 as Suderlande; the -d- started to disappear around 1400. The first part is possibly a corruption of a Westphalian Low German word for southern: compare süder-, Süd, Old Saxon sûðar, all from sūth, from Proto-West Germanic *sunþr. This is more likely than the theory that it is directly from sauer (“sour”, in this sense "poor soil"). The second part is related to Land.
Pronunciation edit
Proper noun edit
das Sauerland n (proper noun, strong, usually definite, definite genitive des Sauerlandes or des Sauerlands)
- A hilly region of Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalia
- Synonym: Süderland
Usage notes edit
- There are märkisches Sauerland and kurkölnisches Sauerland.
Derived terms edit
See also edit
- Latin: de Suderlande (as in Henricus de Suderlande)
Further reading edit
- “Sauerland” in Duden online
- Sauerland on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de
- Westfälisches Urkunden-Buch. Fortsetzung von Erhards Regesta historiae Westfaliae. Siebenter Band: Die Urkunden des kölnischen Westfalens vom J. 1200–1300, Münster, 1908, p. 563, Nr. 1243: from the year 1266, in Latin and containing the name Wesselo de Suderlande (dative/ablative)