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Karl Hohensinner: Zur Datierung des mittelbairischen -ch-Schwundes anhand der urkundlichen Überliefrung der Siedlungsnamen auf mhd. -ach in Oberösterreich

Using the collections of early spellings for the habitational names formed with the collective suffix -ahi, which were published in conjunction with the place-name compendium of the province of Upper Austria (Ortsnamenbuch des Landes Oberösterreich), as source material, the present article investigates the development of this place-name element and its linguistic implications. On the basis of these early forms, an attempt is made to look again at the question of the date of the loss of -ch in the Bavarian dialect of Middle High German. This phenomenon, which occurs in conjunction with the erosion of final syllables and the weakening of consonants, affects final -ch in words like Bach, Pech, Milch and Bauch. It is appropriate to use place-name material to date this loss of -ch, since it does not appear in the normal written language. The use of such material is a well-tried method in the Vienna school of dialectology. From the 15th century onwards, OHG -ahi, MHG -achshows loss of -ch or is remodelled to -inger. The second of these two features reflects association with the address-names in -inger belonging to the old Bavarian habitational name-element -ing. In contrast to this, we find hypercorrect -ach-endings in Slavonic names for bodies of water in -a, in habitational names of the type Gastach, and in names in -au. The results which emerge from the present investigation support Eberhard Kranzmayer’s dating of ca. 1300. In addition, the forms examined here provide comparative material for related phenomena observed in the valley of the Lech.