A
History of the Ohrum Name
The town
of Ohrum is part of the municipality known as Oderwald in the southern
part of the German state of Lower Saxony. Oderwald has a total area
of approximately 35 square miles, 7000 inhabitants and is made up
of seven villages: Ohrum, Heiningen, Floethe, Dorstadt, Cramme,
Boerssum and Achim. The town of Ohrum has approximately 500 inhabitants
and is a 4-hour drive to the north of Frankfurt, Germany, approximately
200 miles.
Town
limit at the Oker River
Ohrum is located on the
west bank of the Oker River, which was the border between the Halberstadt
and the Hildesheim catholic dioceses between 814 and 827 A.D.
Oderwald is mostly a
farming area but is also well known for its scenery and as a recreational
haven.
In 780 A.D., Karl the
Great introduced Christianity (by force) to the Saxonian residents.
The first baptisms in this forced conversion were performed on the
Oker River at Ohrum. In the 12th century, many monasteries were
founded in the Oderwald area, some of which are still standing today
and are open to the public.
Medieval church in Ohrum
In 1997,
Professor Dr. J. Udolph published The Place Named Ohrum, 747-1997.
In this paper, he attempted to document the word Ohrum as it relates
to current and medieval languages.
Although he admits that
his research was not conclusive as to the exact origin of the word,
parts of his research shed some light on the possible origins of
the family name Ohrum: Family names have only been in existence
for the last five or six centuries. It is a common assumption that
family names originated either from one’s trade, or from the
name of the place from which one came. Based on this, one can reasonably
assume the family name of Ohrum originated in the place named Ohrum.
Dr. Udolph’s research
lists names such as Arem, Orem, Horum and Orum appearing as early
as the 12th century for the town in Germany presently known as Ohrum.
He attributes the introduction of the "h" in Orum to the
lengthening of the pronunciation of the vowel "o," based
on the theory that the spelling of most words was changed over time
to fit the pronunciation used in the local dialects.
The present spelling first appeared in 1568, corresponding to the
time when family names first started to be used, fitting the theory
that, at some point after 1568, a man from Ohrum needing a second,
or family name, took the name of his hometown.
Dr. Udolph’s research also provides an extensive evaluation
of the meaning of the word Ohrum. Based on his research, the most
likely origin is from an ancient Germanic language.
Germanic is a term used
to describe old Nordic, and other languages, considered to be sister
languages to German. Pieces of these languages are still evident
in modern words in languages such as Danish, Swedish and German,
although specific words have disappeared. Dr. Udolph’s research
documents words in as many as three ancient Germanic languages that
could have evolved into the word Ohrum. Almost all of these words
have meanings relating to water and the surrounding landmasses.
From the many words listed in his research, the most logical conclusion
is that Ohrum comes from various ancient words meaning "village
or home on a sand bank near a body of water" or, since the
body of water is named the Oker, Village on the Oker River.
December 1999
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