Nazwy służebne w ziemi wieluńskiej
Service Settlements in the Old District of Wieluń

Summary/Abstract: Most historians and linguists agree that so-called service settlements, named after the occupation of their inhabitants (always a kind of service or craft, e.g. Kobylniki ‘mare -breeders’, Kuchary ‘cooks’, Szewce ‘shoemakers’, Woźniki ‘cartmen’, Zduny ‘potters’, Złotniki ‘goldsmiths’), appeared as early as in the Middle Ages during the early phase of the feudal Polish State (10th–12th c. AD). There are eleven service settlements in the old Castellany of Ruda (later Wieluń Land) registered by the middle of the 16th century, namely: two villages called Bobrowniki (‘beaver breeders or hunters’, Lat. ca storarii, custodes castorum), Czastary (orig. Castary ‘roadworkers’, Lat. stratifices), Dzietrzniki (orig. Dzierżniki ‘flax-makers’, Lat. linifices), Komorniki (‘tax-collectors’, Lat. camerarii), Kowale (‘blacksmiths’, Lat. fabri), Łagiewniki (‘vessel-makers’, Lat. lagenarii), Mączniki (‘flour-makers’, Lat. panifices), Rudniki (‘ore-miners’, Lat. me tallifossores), Sokolniki (‘falconers’, Lat. falconarii), *Win(i)ary (‘wine-makers’, Lat. vinearii, vinitores). The analysis of the geographical distribution of the toponyms shows that most of the service settlements were concentrated around Ruda (near Wieluń), the seat of the castellan. Occupational names are also found in the Wieluń area, registered in official documents at a later time, e.g. Cieśle (‘carpenters’), Tokary (‘turners’). Two problematic toponyms (Czastary and Dzietrzniki) are discussed in the present study; the occupation of their inhabitants (belonging to the sphere of service settlements) is identified. A number of further place names of the Wieluń district are reviewed, some of which cannot be connected with service or occupational names, e.g. the lost village called Rekinczi.

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