Does anyone know the meaning of "au" at the end of a town name e.g. Spandau?
Maybe like English "ea" e.g. Chelsea ( Old English island or eyot ) ??
Thanks John
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Sign up to join this communityDoes anyone know the meaning of "au" at the end of a town name e.g. Spandau?
Maybe like English "ea" e.g. Chelsea ( Old English island or eyot ) ??
Thanks John
The -au ending in German place names can have many different meanings.
In the north-eastern part of Germany, it is usually a germanised spelling of the originally slavic suffix -ow. The official name of the then independent town (now a district of Berlin) was changed from Spandow to Spandau in 1878. The town originates from a Hevelli (slavic) settlement and the usage of the name Spandow can be dated back to 1197.
In slavic place names, the ending -ow can have different meanings and the exact origin or meaning of Spandau is unknown.
The suffix au has different meanings if it is in the name of a town or a place.
In order to have a broader view on this ending, i will write both of them shortly even if you asked only the ending used in towns.
The first meaning describes a place in water (mostly an island) and it comes from germanic suffix ahwõ. If you research a little bit the history of Aachen, you will see that there is a relationship between this suffix with its name. The name of Aachen comes from latein and it simply means Aqua (You can see the similarity between Aqua wirh ahwõ). Another examples are Rheinau and Lindau.
If you see au in town names, it comes from slavic ending -ow -owa -awa. The most famous example is Moscow becomes Moskau. Another example Hanau was Hagenowa in the past.
This should come from the word die Aue
which means meadow
according to Leo.