Karl Heinz Eisfeld, 77 years old, is dedicated to documenting the traditional Bavarian place and field names in the district of Erding. He travels through the 26 municipalities of the region with a recording device and a trained ear to capture the original pronunciation of these names from the last living contemporary witnesses.
Eisfeld's commitment is part of a larger research project by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the Association for Place and Field Name Research in Bavaria e.V. The aim of this project is to document the dialectal pronunciation of around 55,000 Bavarian place names, which could otherwise be lost. The collected audio documents will be made accessible in an interactive map on the internet.
Eisfeld emphasizes the importance of the traditional pronunciation for historical and local historical research. He explains that the dialect often allows conclusions to be drawn about the origin of the place names and thus contributes to the understanding of regional history. For example, the changing pronunciation of place names can be used to trace language change, such as the development from "Oustern" [ˈɔʊstɐn] to "Ostern" [ˈɔstɐn] or from "Muich" [mɔɪç] to "Milch" [mɪlç] (meaning "Easter" and "milk" respectively).
The reactions of the people in the district of Erding to Eisfeld's project are consistently positive. The residents recognize the value of this project for the preservation of their cultural heritage and actively support it. Eisfeld himself, as a dialect speaker, sees this commitment not only as a challenge, but above all as an enrichment and is motivated to stand up for the preservation of this heritage.
Through such initiatives, an important contribution is made to the protection and care of the Bavarian dialect and its diverse place and field names. They make it possible to preserve the linguistic diversity and cultural heritage of the region for future generations.