THE VILLAGE
NAHE
 http://www.gemeinde-nahe.de/
Nahe is situated abt 30 km (abt
19 miles) north of Hamburg at the national road no. 432 between
Norderstedt (18km) and Bad Segeberg (20km) in the spring
area of the small river Alster, which forms the well known Hamburg
City lake. Nahe has abt 2300 inhabitants and forms an administrative entity
with ist neighbour villages Tangstedt, Kayhude, Itzstedt, Oering, Seth
and Sülfeld. http://www.amt-itzstedt.eu/
History of the village
The landscape as we find it today has been
formed by the last ice age about 10.000 years ago. After the melting
of the last remains of ice pockets in about 20 -40 m depth the ground surface
collapsed in our region. The resulting dips were filled with water, developped
turf moor or deep creek valleys. The area of Nahe is surrounded from the
West, North and North-East by such creek valleys which developped from
an earlier tunnel valley. In the South and South-East the moorish creek
of the upper Alster is close by. For quite some time the whole region
of the upper Alster probably was a shallow lake.
The elevation of abt 20 to 36 m of this
area surrounded by natural borders in the open landscape might have lead
to the feeling of being save for the first inhabitants. Fossils from the
middle stone age (ca 7000 – 3000 B.C.) indicate first settlements.
Findings dating back to the older iron age (abt 900 B.C.) lead to
the result that in this area there was an uninterupted settlement until
today.
The oldest known written proof of the village
Nahe dates from November 1457. In a sales contract from the Hamburg
cathedral administration reads: „living near the Nah in the parish of Sülfeld“.
In this document it also appears that the
jurisdiction (high court and low court) of the parish Sülfeld
was situated in the manor Borstel (Gut Borstel).
This denomination (to de Nah) which was
used some 550 years ago has been preserved in our „Plattdeutsch“ (= low
German dialect) until today.
[Here follow some examples in low German.
– see German text page]
As explanation for the name of the village
one can conclude that it means „near to the Water“. According to the „Historisches
Ortsnamenslexikon von Schleswig-Holstein“ (= historical encyclopaedia for
location names) the name „Nahe“ means „narrow river“ „narrow waters“. In
any case the name leads to the above described location of the settlement
surrounded by water. The today’s written form „Nahe“ derives from the later
used official administrative language.
Abstract of the prologue
by Heinz Richter „Nahe anno dazumal“
Published by Geiger-Verlag,
7240 Horb am Neckar, 1988 – ISBN 3-89264-226-5 |
