Book Presentation Karl Hohensinner

KARL HOHENSINNER, born in 1967, grew up in Grein on the Danube; a Germanist, historian, cultural scientist, and writer; studied German studies and history at the University of Vienna; dissertation on settlement names in the lower Mühlviertel. His main areas of work include onomastics (especially place and family names), the history of time, everyday life, and mentalities in Upper Austria. Research projects on National Socialism in the Strudengau, and on settlement and family names in Upper Austria. He is involved in the long-term project "Place Name Book of the Province of Upper Austria" and teaches at the Institute of German Studies at the University of Vienna. He is also a freelance collaborator at the Adalbert Stifter Institute of the Province of Upper Austria.

Regarding the lecture: Family names ending with the letter sequence "-inger" are very common in Upper Austria. In some areas, there are many "-ingers," while in others, there are few. Is there a connection with place names ending in "-ing" or with other place names? Does this "-inger" have a specific meaning? Does it indicate that someone lives in a certain place, comes from a certain place, or can it also express an occupation or even a characteristic? For example, does the name "Reisinger" mean a "traveler," someone who comes from a town called "Reising," or was someone involved with "Reisig" (brushwood)?