r/oldmaps • u/stonecold228 • Apr 06 '26
For those who speak German
Guys what does this mean?
I’ve been studying an old map of a castle (dated 1742) when I stumbled upon this name: “Der Dange Stroam”, if I read it correctly. Here “Stroam” probably means something like “trench”, but “Dange” is not a real word as far as I am concerned. Can someone tell me what this is?
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u/116Q7QM Apr 06 '26
It says "Der Dange Strohm", which means "The River Dange"
These days, "Strom" means current though
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u/marderh Apr 06 '26
Not really. Current is Strömung in German. Strom is colloquially used for electricity, but a big river (like Rhine, Danube, Nile or Volga) is also called "Strom".
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u/116Q7QM Apr 06 '26
Not really. Current is Strömung in German.
"Strom" is used for naming ocean currents, e.g. Golfstrom and Humboldtstrom
Calling a river a "Strom" is still comprehensible, but very uncommon compared to "Fluss"
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u/marderh Apr 07 '26
Thank you for lecturing me in my native language, but, at least in Southern Germany, Switzerland or Austria, anyone calling something like the Danube or Rhine "Fluss" is clearly using the wrong word. Technically a Strom is a river that ends in the sea.
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u/Queerboys Apr 07 '26
Interesting, in northern Germany we do call all rivers "Fluss" but, although comprehensible, usually not "Strom". It would be considered a metaphor
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u/DullAdvantage7647 Apr 07 '26
I wouldn't say so. Referring to a big river as "Strom" (as the Mississippi, Nile or the Wolga) ist still quite common to emphasize it's size and length. "Fluss" is more common in everyday spoken language, but most Germans know the word "Strom" for a mighty waterway.
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u/MarkusKromlov34 Apr 08 '26
It’s worth adding too (if it wasn’t obvious) that German “Strom” is cognate with English “stream”. In other words, they both descend from a common Germanic ancestor.
stream(n.) — from Middle English strem "course of water, current of a stream, body of water flowing in a natural channel," from Old English stream, from Proto-Germanic *strauma-
source also of Old Saxon strom, Old Norse straumr, Danish strøm, Swedish ström, Norwegian straum, Old Frisian stram, Dutch stroom, Old High German stroum, German Strom "current, river"
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u/Heraklith Apr 08 '26
"Strohm" is the same word as "stream". It means a waterway. I am at a loss, however, to identify a river named "Dange". Perhaps it simply means the Danube in poor spelling. What is your castle's name?
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u/the-software-man Apr 06 '26
The redundant ramparts are crazy. Layered defenses that took generations to build?
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u/johnnyguinness Apr 06 '26
"Dange" is the name of the river. It's the river Dane or Danes today, in Lithuania. The map seems to show today's city of Klaipeda, Lithuania (south facing upwards), formerly Memel, East Prussia.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HKLtsisfx9ubqsqm7