Die Schriften des Waldschulmeisters di Peter Rosegger: uno sguardo sui nomi alpini all’inizio del XIX secolo

Abstract

Peter Rosegger’s successful novel Die Schriften des Waldschulmeisters was first published in 1875. It contains Andreas Erdmann’s diary. In this novel, Andreas Erdmann is a schoolteacher at Winkelsteg, a small village situated in a densely wooded area of the Austrian Alps. My paper focuses on Andreas Erdmann’s description of name usage among the inhabitants of the area at the beginning of the 19th century. The inventory of first names is rather small. While special patronymic forms (e.g. Hansl-Toni-Sepp) ensured the identification of individual persons, family names were still unknown. As the introduction of a parish register required the use of family names, Andreas Erdmann gives the villagers new surnames on the basis of their characteristic features, profession or place of residence.