From Ärenzen to Téinten: The crazy world of Luxembourgish place names

The thorny issue of which language should be given prominence on signs at the entrance to villages in Luxembourg was once again on the agenda in parliament this week, during a debate about the promotion of the Luxembourgish language.

The official place name in German or French is written in capital letters at the top, and the Luxembourgish version is written in italics at the bottom. “Why not the other way around?” asked Fred Keup from the populist conservative ADR during Wednesday’s meeting of parliament’s culture committee.

Place signs in Luxembourg became bilingual almost half a century ago, and the question of why the yellow sign was not arranged in reverse order, i.e. first the Luxembourgish version, then the German or French name, is just as old. A Luxemburger Wort report published on 13 March 1976 already tackled the question.

“Recently, new signs have been put up in our country, such as here in Steinbrücken, which bear the Luxembourgish place name in addition to the French one – a good initiative to preserve our national character. Perhaps it would have been even more original if the two inscriptions had been turned around,” the article states.

A 1976 report in the Luxemburger Wort on the first bilingual place-name signs to appear in Luxembourg © Photo credit: LW Archive

Luxembourg place names are sometimes complicated and cause confusion. The town of Hautbellain is called “Beesslek” in Luxembourgish, while Basbellain is known by the Luxembourgish name “Kierchen”. Of course, this has some historical roots, but it is not practical either. “Haut” and “Bas” in French means “upper” and “lower” but this is not reflected in the Luxembourgish name.

In the case of Bascharage and Hautcharage, the Luxembourgish name is slightly more aligned, with the local names “Käerjeng” and “Uewerkäerjeng” (or upper Käerjeng), respectively.

The language variants are often very similar, such as in the case of Hesperange and “Hesper” or Niederanven and “Nidderaanwen”. But sometimes they are miles apart: Tarchamps is called “Eeschpelt” in Luxembourgish, Petit-Nobressart is translated as “Kleng Elchert”, Clemency becomes “Kënzeg”, Hollenfels is simply “Huelmes”, and it’s “Kiischpelt” for Wilwerwiltz.

Then there are also Luxembourgish names for one place that in French is actually two, such as “Helpert” referring to Boevange and Tuntange.

How are you supposed to find your way around? And which spelling variant, which dialect should you agree on, as the places have different spellings even in Luxembourgish? “Angsber”, “Angsbreg” or “Angelsbierg” for Angelsberg? “Ärenzen”, “Ärenz” or “Iernzen” for Ernzen? “Tënten” or “Téinten” for Tuntange?

But language is not just limited to place and field names.

Anyone travelling on foot, by bike or by car will discover a hugely diverse linguistic landscape again and again, from signs for the “Service Incendie”, the “Route barrée”, the “Ramassage scolaire” to the “Déviation”, the “Atelier Communal” and on to the “Propriété privée” and the “Drive-in Foodvillage”… Should all of these also be in Luxembourgish?

Writing is omnipresent in public spaces. The most diverse types of signs and lettering form the linguistic landscape of a place or a community.

To this end, University of Luxembourg is running the Lingscape project, which allows users able to upload photos of signs and lettering to an interactive map for research purposes.

(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translation and editing by John Monaghan)